LEAP Connect
LEAP Connect aims to bring both needed and inspirational leadership dialogues to the community. Through a series of accessible monthly leadership conversations, trainings, networking opportunities and more, participants will build the tools and resources needed to inspire change within their personal and professional communities.
Upcoming Session
Breaking the Perfectionism Trap: Reclaiming Your Time and Energy
Perfectionism and toxic productivity often go hand in hand, driving us to do more, be more, and achieve more—at the cost of our well-being. In this interactive workshop, we’ll explore how perfectionist tendencies fuel burnout, procrastination, and self-doubt. Through guided reflection, practical exercises, and evidence-based strategies, you'll learn how to challenge perfectionist thinking, set sustainable goals, and cultivate a healthier, more compassionate relationship with productivity. Walk away with actionable tools to break free from the cycle of 'never enough' and embrace a more fulfilling, balanced approach to life and work.
LEAP Connect leadership workshops are free, accessible to the public, and are intended to bring a safe space to the community. Participants can walk away from the sessions with the tools and resources necessary to increase their leadership skills and inspire change.
About Israa Nasir
Israa Nasir, MHC-LP, is a New York City based psychotherapist, writer, and the author of Toxic Productivity (available for preorder now) Her work is centered on transforming the way we talk about mental health, taking it from a place of shame to a place of empowerment. A Pakistani-Canadian child of immigrants, she has a specific focus on mental health, identity formation, and healing for the AAPI immigrant (first and second generation) community. Israa has been featured in NBC, Vox, Huffpost, Teen Vogue, and other major publications and been invited to speak at corporations such as Google, Meta, and Yale.
2025 Season
August
TBD. Check back soon!
September
Understanding ADHD and Neurodiversity
Neurodiversity is more than a buzzword—it’s a powerful framework that recognizes and values the natural diversity in how brains work. ADHD is one of many neurodivergent ways of thinking, often misunderstood as simply a deficit in attention or hyperactivity. In reality, ADHD comes with its own strengths, challenges, and unique ways of experiencing the world.
In this workshop, we’ll explore what it means to be neurodivergent, how ADHD fits into the broader concept of neurodiversity, and why shifting from a deficit-based view to a strengths-based perspective is so important. We’ll also discuss practical strategies for managing focus, energy, and executive function, along with ways to create environments that support neurodivergent individuals.
Whether you identify as neurodivergent, suspect you might, or want to better understand and support those who do, this session will provide valuable insights and tools to navigate the world through a neurodiversity-affirming lens.
October
TBD. Check back soon!
November
Reimagining Your Relationship with Your Parents: Healing Across Generations in the API Community
Many Asian and Pacific Islander (API) adults carry unspoken stories, expectations, and wounds from their upbringing—often shaped by migration, sacrifice, silence, and survival. In this workshop, we’ll explore how to reimagine our relationships with our parents, even if they never change. Drawing from the Parents Reimagined program, this session will offer insights into common intergenerational dynamics in API families and provide practical tools for fostering emotional resilience, deeper connection, and personal liberation. Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of their relational patterns, along with pathways for inner healing and change.
December
Beyond Achievements: Setting Intentions for the New Year That Feel Meaningful, Not Just Productive
As Asian Pacific Islanders, many of us have been raised to equate success with hard work, achievement, and meeting the expectations of our families and communities. We’ve been taught that productivity is proof of our worth—but what if true fulfillment isn’t about doing more, but about aligning with what truly matters to you?
In this workshop, we’ll take a culturally-rooted approach to setting intentions that prioritize joy, balance, and personal meaning over external validation. We’ll explore the unspoken pressures that shape how we define success, unlearn hustle-centered goal-setting, and reframe intention-setting as a practice of self-trust and agency. Through guided reflection and community conversation, you’ll walk away with intentions that feel deeply aligned—not just another list of expectations to meet.
This is your space to honor both your cultural roots and your evolving desires as you step into the new year with clarity and confidence.
This workshop is tailored to the API experience but is open to all allies and community members.
Thank you to our LEAP Connect sponsors
