Why you are already enough

Why you are already enough

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!

How to make a positive impact in the world

How to make a positive impact in the world

“Thank you for being the sent one to do and show us how possible it really is to execute an idea- a God-given idea… This is so deeply encouraging, Nina, honestly…”

This was a message that I received from my good sis, Rebekah, shortly after coming back from hosting Media Magic…

(the luxury retreat that I held in Tulum, Mexico in July teaching business women how to get PR for themselves)

…and updating her on how well it went

A theme that I was surprised to see come up in many other conversations that I would go on to have with loved ones afterwards

Aside from being beautiful words (that still have me emotional even now), there are a few key take-aways:

How to live your legacy now

How to live your legacy now

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

What to do when people don't support you

What to do when people don't support you

When I first started to gain traction with PR it was as a blogger in the first quarter of 2017. However, by that December, I was ready to quit writing all together

Here's why 👇🏾

"If someone who I've considered a sister for 10 years could so misconstrue and under rate my writing," I remember thinking, "What hope is there that strangers will get me?"

And so, like I said, I seriously considered calling it quits with The Far Above Rubies Collection and all the business ideas that I hoped would come out of it

Fast forward to now and I am an award winning blogger, international speaker and freelance writer who has not only been able to monetise my gift but get featured on platforms such as Thrive Global, The TEDx blog, HuffPost, Bustle, Mic, Addicted2Success, Black Ballad and more. I also just got rave reviews for Media Magic (the luxury retreat that I held in Tulum, Mexico in July teaching business women how to get PR for themselves)

What led to this success was...

Why you need BHAGs

Why you need BHAGs

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:

Why who you know matters more than what you know

Why who you know matters more than what you know

Recently, I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon with my godson, Max

He just turned 2

We sang nursery rhymes (like the wheels on the bus), watched Baby Shark and played with the baby proof version of a marble run that I got him for his birthday

We had great fun lol

What's also great about Max is that, so long as he was occupied, he would leave me and his mum (my good sis, Isata) to chat

Which was great because we had so much to catch up on

The only time he'd interrupt us was to let us know that he needed help with something

Like fixing a toy, getting something open or what not

Which got me thinking, we need to be more like Max and not suffer in silence

Here's why

Why this simple question will get you anything you want in life

Why this simple question will get you anything you want in life

When I was a toddler, my mum says that I was mesmerised by the fireplace

So much so that I wouldn't heed her warnings not to go near it

One day, exasperated with this constant song and dance, she allowed me to touch the rail that guarded it

According to her, not only did I immediately pull my hand back from the heat, I never tried to get close to the fireplace again

In other words, this (newfound) fear protected me and kept me safe

Here’s my point 👇🏾

How to overcome imposter syndrome

How to overcome imposter syndrome

Before Sarah achieved her dream of conceiving Isaac, she disqualified herself- believing she was too old to do so

Hence the whole Hagar debacle

Yet Hebrews 11:11 makes it clear that she went on to receive "strength to conceive seed, and...bore a child when she was past the age..."

Which means that none of her "undesirable" circumstances changed in order for her to achieve her dream, so what did?

Sarah was able to do this "by faith" because "she judged Him faithful who had promised" (Hebrews 11:11)

In other words, she took her eyes off her perceived inadequacies and placed them on God

That was the game changer that helped her to get what she wanted and is the thing that has helped me in every iteration of my entrepreneurial journey, including my most recent one with Media Magic

My retreat for business women who want to uncover a quick and systemised process to pitch the media so that they can get onto more top platforms, be seen as industry experts, and start raking in larger paydays

Want to get out of the chokehold that imposter syndrome has on you too?