I'm so totally honoured to share that I spoke at The Rise to Millions Conference in Paris and received a Legendary Woman of Impact Award there recently 🥳🥳🥳
It was the last weekend of October to be exact
As I stood in front of the crowd, trying to find the words to express how honoured I was, I ended my speech by saying something like: “Well, this wasn’t on my bingo card, but it’s real, and it’s happening because I chose to follow my dreams...literally"
Here's what I meant by that 👇🏾
My grandma was born in the village in Nigeria at a time where girls were not sent to school
That meant from then until the time of her passing in 2022, she never learned to read or write
Despite this, she worked her butt off as a trader in order to afford my mum's school fees when she was growing up
This is because, to this day, education is not free in Nigeria
My mum was then able to move to the UK in the early 80s, where I've been born and raised, and push both me and my sister all the way to degree level
Have you ever heard of a BHAG?
(pronounced bee-hag)
According to Jim Collins and Jerry Porras, who coined the phrase, it stands for "Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal"
It can be defined as follows:
"It’s a goal that has a clear finish line so you know when you have achieved the goal. And it’s one that you have a 50 percent to 70 percent chance of achieving. It’s not something so outlandish that it’s highly unlikely that you will ever achieve it, but it’s definitely something you’ll have to stretch yourself to make happen" (Rachel Rodgers).
Although BHAGs have many benefits
Such as:
If you follow me on social media then you’ll know that I love to do monthly recaps
In these reels I, not only share what I got up to (visually) during a particular month, I also share what I learned (through a voice over)
When I think about July, it just feels like there were so many lessons learned
Which is unusual because I can usually distil it down to one thing/theme
The reason being because I achieved a major goal. I put on a retreat for women in business who want to go from stumped to savvy about how to get PR for their businesses (Media Magic)
See 👇🏾
How many times have you shrunk or downplayed your personality? And how many times did you think doing this would help you advance in the business world? One of my earliest memories of being told I was being “too much” was the feedback I’d get on my school report cards. They often read, “Nina is great, but she talks too much.” Well, all I can say is look at me now (lol). I literally get paid to speak and coach other women to use their voices to pitch the media and tell their stories.
But I’m not the only woman who’s turned her “too much” into her superpower. I recently asked my IG community what they got in trouble for when they were younger and how they’ve turned that into their superpower as adults and businesswomen. Here are some of their responses:
Last week we talked about 3 disempowering life and business beliefs
Remember that, sis?
As we stand at the beginning of a new year, I think it’s important that we discuss how to make it a success
If you’re anything like me, you’ve entered this year with a set of goals and things that you would like to achieve
Here are 4 lessons that we can learn from the widow in 2nd Kings 4:1-7 about how we can do that:
Not only does girls’ socialisation impact their ability to promote themselves and be visible, it can have negative repercussions for them when they do
For example according to The Harvard Business Review article, "Nice Girls Don’t Ask”:
“Women who assertively pursue their own ambitions and promote their own interests may be labelled as bitchy or pushy”
This means that “They frequently see their work devalued and find themselves ostracised or excluded…”
“More typically [these responses] are a product of society’s ingrained expectations about how women should act”
Meaning that women can be impacted by societal expectations and gender norms:
Internally (in terms of what they are taught to believe that they can be, do or have and therefore go towards)
Externally (in terms of what other people believe that they can be, do or have and are therefore give them access to)
The answer?
Through their video, “If Cinderella were a Guy,” Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo (of Rebelgirls.co) highlight the fact that women are impacted by misogyny as early as childhood
Which, to summarise a previous post, is because of:
A lack of representation of well-rounded female main characters in children's books and TV shows
Linear representations of main female characters (e.g. as damsels in need of rescue by men)
This then gives way to confidence issues by the time most girls reach primary or elementary school
(More so than boys)
Which manifests into issues such as imposter syndrome by the time that these girls become women
According to Cate Luzio’s Forbes article, “A Missing Factor in Women’s Leadership: Confidence“:
“The constant second guessing and self-reflection on what we [as women] can or cannot do and our fear of self-promotion has a significant impact on our ability to advance our careers”
She also adds that “although there are various factors missing in women’s leadership, [she] would argue that confidence is one of the most pressing”
One of the things that I love about Mahlah and her 4 sisters (Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah), though, is their show of confidence
For example
