This week’s mix: Forbes, belonging and practical AI

Reading time: 3-4 min

This week’s edition mixes a little celebration, a little learning, and a short reflection on belonging.

My Forbes Moment

I shared about my 35 Before 35 list this summer, and it seems that step by step, I’m checking the boxes.

“Be in Forbes Magazine” now has proof, as I received an honorary mention in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Romania edition.

AI to (actually) use or play with

Today’s plan was to share a simple workflow built with the new AgentKit from OpenAI, but I got stuck in the identity verification step that’s required to test the project and make it shareable. While I figure that out (and Reddit confirmed I’m definitely not the only one facing this issue 😅), I wanted to share something useful you can try.

Here’s a prompt I use to think and write better. It turns AI into a reflection partner, not a content generator, helping you explore an idea step by step and optionally transform it into a one-page article.

The prompt is worth saving. It’s below, exactly as I used it:

I'm writing a short piece/article (one A4 page). Your role is to guide me through a structured exercise that helps me think critically, organize my ideas, and then shape my responses into a narrative draft.

You should not write the article for me! Instead, ask me one clear question at a time, keep me on track, and help me expand on my own answers. After I answer each question, you may share 1–2 additional prompts or insights to deepen my thinking, but the content should come from me exclusively!

Here’s the structure to guide me through (this will become the flow of my article):

• Clarify why I want to write this and who it’s for (this becomes my opening line and context).

• Explore the central theme or question I want to address (this sets up the article’s focus).

• Identify 2–3 main ideas or arguments I want to make (these form the body).

• Develop each idea with examples, stories, evidence, or at least one external source I’ve read (this gives depth and credibility).

• Consider counterpoints or challenges (this makes my thinking balanced).

• Tie everything together into a clear takeaway (this is the conclusion).

• Reflect briefly on what I learned in writing this (this can be the closing note, optional).

Guidelines for you (AI):
• Ask one question at a time and wait for my response
• Don’t generate full paragraphs unless you’re rearranging my words into a draft flow
• Encourage me to use at least one source I’ve read (book, article, podcast, study)
• Keep me moving toward a coherent piece, not just a list of answers
• Once we finish, help me stitch my responses into a one-page article draft (introduction → body → conclusion).
• Clearly indicate when the exercise is finished and remind me to save my draft.

Let’s begin!

Belonging, Bias, and the Dance Between Comfort and Growth

The past weeks I had coffee, dinners, and events with people from all parts of the world.

This is New York City, the whole world sharing one city.

The comforting thing about it is that being different is not odd, it’s the norm. Still, I’ve noticed how we all slide between diversity and familiarity, between newness and the safety of what feels like home.

As a Romanian abroad, I see it in small moments:
- Meeting a Latino whose communication style feels instantly familiar.
- Chatting with an Indian friend about the idea of community and realizing our mindsets overlap on this.
- Laughing with friends about “these Balkan guys who really know how to behave with women”, just because we grew up with similar cultural expectations.

We crave a “safe zone of no judgment” where we can just be. Yet when you’re outside your country, "familiar" stretches. A dinner could include Romanians, Balkans, Latinos, French, and suddenly “our people” becomes a bigger circle compared to the idea of it from back home.

For me, self-leadership comes from these small, daily moments of self-awareness. It’s about using these insights in other contexts and strengthening our mindset.

It’s noticing our filters, why we gravitate toward what feels safe, but then intentionally slide toward what stretches us. It’s understanding the lens we use to see the world and having the courage to disagree without needing to change someone. It’s choosing when to stay in comfort, when to lean into difference, and how to stay rooted in who you are.

Brené Brown, for sure, does a better job explaining this.

“True belonging doesn’t require you to change who you are, it requires you to be who you are.”

But I was thinking that in order to be who you are, you first have to know who you are, and that sometimes means facing parts you don’t like. I hate my procrastinator tendencies, yet many of my best ideas have come in those “procrastination moments”.

Jordan Peterson captures the tension very well when referring to “balance”:

“To straddle that fundamental duality is to be balanced: to have one foot firmly planted in order and security, and the other in chaos, possibility, growth, and adventure.”

So we keep one foot in the known and the other in the unknown. This is what I like to call a safety balance.

When we think about belonging vs exploring, it’s good to ask ourselves: Where do we seek comfort, and where do we resist growth, and why?

Wishing you a balanced week, with plenty of unknowns, and one foot in your safe space!

Silvia