Hi everyone,
It's great to be writing to you again because last week was a lot for me and so many others in the world. If I had shared what was on my mind last week, you lot would have cancelled me, to be honest, 😄. Okay, today is a special day for women worldwide, but do we ask if there are other women not as privileged as those reading this who don't know what today means? There are millions of them. Women who have dreamt and have gotten tired of dreaming because they don't see a future where things could be different. Girls who are still not in school and girls who don't know what a different life may look like. There are two things you could do even though you can't change the world or the economic situation of many women:
Sponsor women (we'll have a newsletter dedicated to this)
Break the biases you have operated in
WHAT DO I MEAN when I talk about breaking the biases you have operated in? It took me a long time to break free from the hold of what the world sees when they look at me. When you look at your credentials and imagine that the world sees you as someone who graduated with a second-class lower, you begin to see yourself like that and start to play into the stereotype that you are not good enough and don't qualify for the best jobs in the global market. As soon as you get comfortable with that narrative, you stop putting in an effort, and it becomes the story you feed to yourself daily. This is an example of the bias you need to break free from.
The world sees me as a Black first, then a woman, and an African if they hear me speak. If they ask me where I'm from, a Nigerian, they act shocked or surprised when I tell them what I do and how accomplished I consider myself to be. A wise woman once said that you can't change your packaging (how you were born into the world), but you can focus on your content and presentation. You can beat the system if you stop paying attention to what the world feeds you about who you are.
You often tell yourself that you don't have what it takes to have a global career but are those thoughts originally yours, or have they been planted into your subconscious by the way the world sees someone who looks like you? When you realise that you have a lot of unconscious biases about and towards yourself, only then can you begin to dismantle these biases intentionally.
I've been playing an affirmation every morning - "I'm dope, and I'm Black". Working in an organisation as a minority identity, I'm constantly reminded of my identity as a Black woman, a migrant (people don't even care if you're a highly-skilled migrant. They just simply consider you a migrant), an African and Nigerian. As I'm reminded of these layers of my identity, there's a tendency to feel inadequate, but I make a conscious effort to rise above it and deliver my dopeness daily.
Ask yourself, have you done anything to improve your educational achievements if you're so bothered by it? Have you done anything to learn new skills if you're so upset by the things you don't know? Have you done anything to challenge your thoughts that foreign companies don't want to hire you? Have you applied for enough jobs or made your CV a world-class standard? Or are you just accepting that there's nothing you can do because the world has told you so?
Protect your mind—question everything you consume in the media. Guard your heart and surround yourself with loved ones who champion your efforts. Get close to people who defy rules and challenge stereotypes. You can be what you decide you want to be, and you just have to make sure it's coming from you, because only when it's coming from you can you feel free enough to change your mind and be flexible, soft and easy with life. When it's coming from the media influence, you feel stuck and frustrated because you're thinking about what "they" will say.
Happy #IWD2022. I encourage you to challenge your thoughts and share which of your biases you will be breaking in our career strategy coaching Whatsapp group.
xoxo
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