.004 Natascia Radice

In early fall of 2015, I was on a solo traveling trip and looking to stop somewhere in the Middle East before continuing toward India. A fellow TEDx’er connected me to Natascia, an Italian gem-of-a-human who lives in Dubai. Natascia (organizer, filmmaker, producer extraordinaire) had never met me before in her life, let alone communicated with me online. This didn’t matter - she immediately offered up her home to me as a place to stay in Dubai and ended up showing me around throughout my stay.

This moment of pure generosity and kindness is the perfect introduction for Natascia. She exemplifies what it means to live your life with your hands and heart open, available for opportunity, friendship, and joy. Natascia is tough, strong, and very resilient. She’s someone who tackles challenges on her own, leads a remarkably intelligent and passionate life that is self-driven, and she helps others along the way. She’s the kind of person you wish you could stumble upon in life; someone who feels like you were meant to cross paths so you could share with each other the crazy ideas and thoughts you have, and to support one another.

Natascia, I am so grateful that we met 5 years ago. You shine with compassion and kindness and every time we speak you leave me feeling inspired and eager to start a new project, reconnect with myself, look forward, and practice self-care. You have the ability to be wise and youthful (in the best way) at the same time. You have such a big heart, one that is constantly churning with ideas on how to help better the lives of everyone, from those closest to you, to women everywhere, to complete strangers.

Thank you for trusting me to come into your home and experience a snippet of your life and home. Thank you for being such a powerhouse of empathy and for always seeing the good in situations and in people. Thank you for having the coolest button-pressing/talking dog, and thank you for always making me smile and laugh. You are a change-maker, an author, an experience-maker, a filmmaker, a generous soul, and a true friend. Thank you for being you.

-BD