Have you ever asked someone "Where are you from?" and watched their face light up - or watched them quietly shut down? Have you ever wondered whether that question, asked with the best intentions, might still be doing harm? Or felt the discomfort of not knowing whether to ask at all?
Boosted is the podcast that reveals the unwritten rules of professional success that nobody teaches you in school.
Hosted by Trina Boos, founder of Boost Academy of Excellence, this show delivers actionable tips to build your professional presence and advance your career through real workplace scenarios and human stories.
To kick off Season 2, Trina shares the most personal keynote of her career - delivered live to nearly 1,000 professionals at CIBC's International Professionals Network Signature Event. The topic? A single question that divides people almost perfectly down the middle. Asked well, it builds genuine connection. Asked poorly, it can make someone feel reduced to a category, othered, like they'll never quite belong.
Trina was told by etiquette experts, DEI practitioners, and HR professionals alike: never ask it. And yet her own experience - as an immigrant from Trinidad who has lived across multiple countries and cultures - told a very different story. So she set out to explore the nuance most people skip past entirely. When does this question connect? When does it divide? And how do you navigate it with care, whether you're the one asking or the one being asked?
In this episode, Trina walks through real stories from her own life - including her late father's extraordinary gift for human connection, a moment that went sideways and then beautifully right, and a colleague whose own answer to this question would require a whiteboard and forty minutes. She also introduces the GRACE Framework, her five-part practical guide for navigating one of the most powerful - and most complicated - questions in professional life.
This episode is essential for anyone working on diverse teams, leaders looking to build genuine cultural connection at work, immigrants and international professionals who have lived this question their entire careers, and anyone who has ever wondered whether a simple question could mean so much more than it seems.
