When I was little, I would sit glued to the TV for hours upon hours watching my favourite shows during my spare time
Shout out to you if you also grew up watching Nickelodeon, The Disney Channel and Cartoon Network!
Up to today I still remember many theme songs, but do you know what else I still remember?
Years ago, my good sis Michelle told me I have the gift of communication
When she said this, I thought, “Yeah, I have a way of communicating, I can speak to others, teach, write, and use my gifts to convey big ideas”
But what I’ve also come to realise over the years is that my gift of communication fuels my curiosity about language
Hi, I’m Nina, and I’m a word nerd
I get curious when I hear or see a word that I’ve never come across before or suddenly have the urge to know where the origins of a phrase comes from
Even if I’ve heard it lots of times in the past
One such phrase is “North Star”
We often hear people talk about something being their North Star
I’ve always understood what this phrase meant as the thing that gives us purpose or fuels us towards a particular goal
Or our why
But, recently, I’ve been curious about why we say “North Star” in the first place
Here’s what Google told me:
If you follow me on Instagram, you would have seen that I recently went live with the lovely Gladys Obaze
She's a coach and brand strategist who helps creative women heal, grow, and build thriving, and authentic brands that attract success
One of the questions she asked me was how PR has helped me
Well...
The short answer: it changed my life
The longer version?
When the ladies attended Media Magic, in Tulum (Mexico) last July, 0% of them knew how to get relevant PR opportunities
I know this because of the results they got from my PR readiness assessment
This means that, at that point, I could have given them the exact language, structure and anatomy of a successful pitch but it would have meant nothing because they didn't then know how to pitch platforms where their ideal clients were actually hanging out
Which is an issue because showing up on such podcasts, magazines, stages and so on leads to not getting a return on your efforts or investment
By the end of the retreat, though, I had them assess themselves again and the results revealed that 100% of them knew how to do this
What led to this success was…
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 👇🏾
What kind of birthday celebrant are you?
Are you the sort of person who:
A) Is very low-key (as in “I don't celebrate at all” or “if I do, it's just on the day?”)
B) Is more of the mindset that the whole month is your birthday?
I'm the latter, as in:
I always say “October is my birthday” even though it’s only technically today
(October 3rd, on the day of sending this email)
This whole idea of October being my birthday is not just this self-centred wish to make it all about me, though
Believe it or not…
It has always been a celebration of life and an acknowledgement that there but by the grace of God go I
Earlier this week I attended the funeral of Mr Williams, my old secondary (or high) school teacher
He was my very first form tutor and my chemistry teacher throughout
More than that, though, he was one of my favourites
It's literally impossible for me to talk about my best memories from that time without mentioning his humour, passion and huge impact
One of the things I remember most about him is that he practised something called “peer teaching”
I.e.
If I managed to solve a problem or really impress him with my work, he would have me come up to the board, write out how I solved the equation and talk both him and my classmates through my process
But the reason that he did this wasn't because he thought I was a science genius, but because he wanted to:
Check my understanding (or that I didn’t cheat!)
Give the class the opportunity to hear an explanation in language that they could understand and relate to
When Mr Williams was calling me to the front of the class to help my classmates, he didn't require me to:
Become more of an expert
Gain more experience
Jump through a bunch of hoops to prove myself before diving in (or further)
That wasn't an issue or what he was even looking for
What he wanted was someone who knew just a bit more than his other students and could share it effectively
And that's all you need when it comes to PR too!
