354: Turning a Personal Challenge into Your Greatest Strength with Amanda Pascali
Wed Jan 14 2026
What if the very thing that makes you feel like you don't belong is actually your greatest creative gift?
In this moving conversation, I sit down with Amanda Pascali, a singer-songwriter, translator, and Fulbright Fellow who's turned the experience of never quite fitting in into her life's work. A Harrington Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin, she researches Italian studies and ethnomusicology while revitalizing centuries-old Sicilian folk songs for modern audiences. Having built a community of hundreds of thousands online, she's proven that the space between cultures isn't empty—it's where authentic connection is born.
Amanda translates and reinterprets the work of Rosa Balistreri, one of Italy's first women to publicly denounce social inequality through music, bringing women's perspectives to stories that have long been filtered through a male gaze. Her latest album, Roses and Basil, transforms ancient lullabies and protest songs into something that speaks to anyone who's ever felt like the outsider looking in.
What makes Amanda different—and why this conversation felt so essential—is that she's not here to tell you how to fit in. She's here to show you what becomes possible when you finally stop trying. She understands the exhaustion of pretending, the power of claiming your own space, and how the very thing that made you feel different can become your greatest source of strength.
In this episode, you'll discover:
How feeling like the "weird girl" became the foundation for authentic artistryWhy Amanda picked up a guitar at 12 and decided to create space for herself through musicThe story behind her Fulbright Fellowship translating Sicilian folk songs in a UNESCO-endangered languageHow she reinterprets centuries-old songs to center women's voices and experiencesHow to use ancient wisdom to speak to our most modern strugglesWhat it's like to balance online visibility with real-life authenticityWhy she believes music is how we say the things we can't say with spoken word
This conversation reminds us that our greatest challenges often hold our greatest gifts. When you stop pretending to fit in and start trusting who you really are, you create:
✨ Ease in finally letting go of the exhausting performance of trying to belong—which frees up energy to honor what matters most to you, pursue work that aligns with your values, and show up authentically in every space you enter
✨ Joy in discovering community with others who also don't fit the mold—in finding your unique voice when traditional paths don't serve you—and in creating rituals that ground you and reconnect you to what's meaningful
✨ Impact by centering voices and...
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What if the very thing that makes you feel like you don't belong is actually your greatest creative gift? In this moving conversation, I sit down with Amanda Pascali, a singer-songwriter, translator, and Fulbright Fellow who's turned the experience of never quite fitting in into her life's work. A Harrington Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin, she researches Italian studies and ethnomusicology while revitalizing centuries-old Sicilian folk songs for modern audiences. Having built a community of hundreds of thousands online, she's proven that the space between cultures isn't empty—it's where authentic connection is born. Amanda translates and reinterprets the work of Rosa Balistreri, one of Italy's first women to publicly denounce social inequality through music, bringing women's perspectives to stories that have long been filtered through a male gaze. Her latest album, Roses and Basil, transforms ancient lullabies and protest songs into something that speaks to anyone who's ever felt like the outsider looking in. What makes Amanda different—and why this conversation felt so essential—is that she's not here to tell you how to fit in. She's here to show you what becomes possible when you finally stop trying. She understands the exhaustion of pretending, the power of claiming your own space, and how the very thing that made you feel different can become your greatest source of strength. In this episode, you'll discover: How feeling like the "weird girl" became the foundation for authentic artistryWhy Amanda picked up a guitar at 12 and decided to create space for herself through musicThe story behind her Fulbright Fellowship translating Sicilian folk songs in a UNESCO-endangered languageHow she reinterprets centuries-old songs to center women's voices and experiencesHow to use ancient wisdom to speak to our most modern strugglesWhat it's like to balance online visibility with real-life authenticityWhy she believes music is how we say the things we can't say with spoken word This conversation reminds us that our greatest challenges often hold our greatest gifts. When you stop pretending to fit in and start trusting who you really are, you create: ✨ Ease in finally letting go of the exhausting performance of trying to belong—which frees up energy to honor what matters most to you, pursue work that aligns with your values, and show up authentically in every space you enter ✨ Joy in discovering community with others who also don't fit the mold—in finding your unique voice when traditional paths don't serve you—and in creating rituals that ground you and reconnect you to what's meaningful ✨ Impact by centering voices and...