Even-Keeled: Mental Health, Identity and the Culture of Business

Even-Keeled takes its name from the sea. It describes a ship that holds steady while the tides shift around it. This space holds that same intention: essays that question, reflect on, and challenge the stories we've been told about the mind, identity, and the culture of business we navigate daily. Balancing Mind, Life and Then Some.

All Essays

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To Be or Not to Be – Work is the Question
Life
12 min read

To Be or Not to Be – Work is the Question

What happens when you step away from work to find out who you are without it? A reflection on identity, capitalism, and the courage to pause.

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Why Sharks – and Sales – Deserve Better Stories
Then Some
9 min read

Why Sharks – and Sales – Deserve Better Stories

Sharks have survived for 400 million years, but salespeople have managed to villainize themselves in far less time. Both deserve better than the one-dimensional stories we’ve given them, and it starts with understanding what ethical selling actually looks like.

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Depression : a Taboo and a Trend
Mind
9 min read

Depression : a Taboo and a Trend

Depression may be a trending topic, but as the data shows, much of it remains taboo: invisible, misunderstood, and largely untreated.

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Life
Born in Champagne, Never Had a Drop: Lessons in Belonging
January 15, 2026 10 min read

I’ve spent 43 years navigating a world that treats “I don’t drink” as a problem to solve. I’m still trying to understand why that bothers people more than it bothers me.

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Mind
Depression : a Taboo and a Trend
December 29, 2025 9 min read

Depression may be a trending topic, but as the data shows, much of it remains taboo: invisible, misunderstood, and largely untreated.

Read More
Then Some
Why Sharks – and Sales – Deserve Better Stories
December 26, 2025 9 min read

Sharks have survived for 400 million years, but salespeople have managed to villainize themselves in far less time. Both deserve better than the one-dimensional stories we’ve given them, and it starts with understanding what ethical selling actually looks like.

Read More
Life
To Be or Not to Be – Work is the Question
November 24, 2025 12 min read

What happens when you step away from work to find out who you are without it? A reflection on identity, capitalism, and the courage to pause.

Read More

RECENT POSTS

Born in Champagne, Never Had a Drop: Lessons in Belonging

January 15, 2026 • 10 min read
Read More

Depression : a Taboo and a Trend

December 29, 2025 • 9 min read
Read More

Why Sharks – and Sales – Deserve Better Stories

December 26, 2025 • 9 min read
Read More

To Be or Not to Be – Work is the Question

November 24, 2025 • 12 min read
Read More

Hello, I’m Nadya

Even-Keeled has been years in the making: born from a need to make sense of the contradictions we live with, the ones society insists aren’t contradictions at all. I write from lived experience across continents and contexts, grounding personal stories in research and data, not to prove points, but to question what’s often accepted as settled.

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