Luvvie Ajayi Jones: Professional Troublemaking and the Power of Making Good Trouble

The Unmistakable Creative Podcast

Srinivas Rao

Society & Culture

4.8 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 2 February 2026

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Luvvie Ajayi Jones challenges the cultural expectation that harmony is more important than justice. As a professional troublemaker, she argues that speaking up in rooms where bad ideas or unjust systems persist is not just necessary—it is our responsibility. Drawing from her Nigerian heritage and her grandmother's fearless example, Luvvie explores how we've been conditioned to shrink ourselves, hide our superpowers, and accept being called "too much" instead of claiming our full selves. She breaks down why we fear asking for what we want, why boundaries are gifts rather than selfishness, and how imposter syndrome can actually drive us to do better work. Her framework for professional troublemaking reframes discomfort as worthwhile when it serves a larger cause.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	As you probably notice, this month, we're bringing you our Life of Purpose series and revisiting
0:04.6	some of our most transformative episodes. Tune in to explore expert insights and practical
0:09.4	strategies on help, performance, and community well-being, all aimed at helping you achieve
0:14.4	personal and professional fulfillment. If you sign up for the newsletter, you'll not only get
0:18.5	recaps of the key ideas in each interview, but at the end of the series, you'll receive our free Life of Purpose ebook.
0:24.7	What you have to do is go to UnmistakableCreative.com slash LifePurpose. Again, that's
0:28.9	unmistakablecreative.com slash life purpose.
0:36.2	I'm Sreeny Rao, and this is the Unmistakable Creative Podcast, where you get a window into the stories and insights of the most innovative and creative minds who started movements, built thriving businesses, written bestselling books, and created insanely interesting art.
0:49.6	For more, check out our 500 episode archive at UnmistakableCreative.com.
0:57.0	Love you. Welcome to at UnmistakableCreative.com. Lovie, welcome to The Unmistakable Creative.
0:58.7	Thanks so much for taking the time to join us.
1:00.8	Thank you so much for having me.
1:02.7	It is my pleasure to have you here.
1:04.2	So I actually found out about your book by way of your publisher.
1:07.7	And anybody who has a book with a title professional troublemaker, I thought, yeah,
1:12.9	this is somebody I definitely want to have a conversation with because this sounds like somebody
1:17.0	who I would get along with very well. But before we get into the content of the book, I want to ask
1:21.2	you what I think is a very relevant question given what I know about your story. And that is where in
1:25.1	the world did you grow up? And how did that end up impacting the choices that you've made with your life and your career? Yes. I grew up in Nigeria.
1:36.0	I think that is everything about how I, how my career unfolded and how who I am today because
1:42.7	everything we do is cultural.
1:51.0	Being born and raised in Nigeria, there's a different type of bravado that we have as a people because we have to soar in a country full of, it's full of people who have this
	...

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