Christina Soname is an amazing woman with an exceptional training skill and knowledge. A first class graduate of economics she heads the consulting team at LYD Consulting Limited, and has
deployed training interventions for organizations like Google, Lagos Business School, GTBank, First Bank,amongst others.
Sharing with Women of Rubies, she relates her journey;
Childhood Influence
I can say my childhood played a key role in shaping my interests and preparing me for the things I do now. First, the values my parents instilled in my siblings and I are the kind that makes us stand out all the time. Values including love, integrity, faithfulness, kindness, mutual respect, etc. I was that child that converted my mum’s flowers to my pupils. I will hold a cane in my hand and start to teach ‘my pupils’ just the way my own school teacher taught me that day. My mum will scold me for flogging her flowers, and I will insist that they didn’t do their assignment that’s why I flogged them (lol). Watching my mum’s exceptional delivery as a teacher really made me proud of her. My dad himself was great at impacting knowledge. He taught in church periodically and I was so absorbed by his methods. My exposure to my amazing knowledge impacting parents has had a great influence on me and what I do today.
Inspiration
A number of things actually. My interests, my skill set, and my understanding of the future of work and the role my industry will play in that future. I think that an organization’s most valuable assets is its people and the best that people can do is hinged on what they know. Helping organization’s equip their people to perform at their optimum is one of the things that inspired my choice of career. Moreso, a lot of valuable impact will be driven by the knowledge economy, in the coming days.
Major principle One major principle that guides me is ‘whatever your hand finds to do, do well’. I believe that if a thing can be done, it can be done well. Consequently, my how is to give my best. I allow my value system override my emotions. Regardless of how I am feeling, my actions are driven by what I believe to be right, based on the values I live by. For example, I wake up on some days and just feel like staying in bed. Maybe because it’s been a demanding week or just a desire to sleep some more. Whichever the case, my value for faithfulness and my respect for my employer will fuel my next course of action.
Another major thing for me is constantly developing my skill set. It positions me to deliver great work. I place a lot of value on knowledge, including learning from others. For me it’s not just about the formality of learning, but how that knowledge can impact on the value I add to my clients, and my world at large.
Work Based Challenge
Speaking of corporate training, one major challenge is organisation’s not giving priority to learning & development. Staff Training is usually the first thing some organisation’s cut back on in a lean budget system. It’s a challenge when employers do not understand the importance of training their staff and how a more knowledgeable staff will produce better results leading to the achievement of the organization’s goals in the short& long run. Some employers’ concern is ‘what if the staff leave after being trained?’ In response I ask ‘what if they stay?’
If given a role to help other women
I have a passion to see women become the best versions of themselves. Every woman’s dream is valid. I will be involved in women advocacy, formulating & driving empowerment policies starting from the grass root that seek to educate the girl-child and engage women in communities on sustainable & transformational models of empowering them to reach their highest potential.
I will also partner with agencies and organisations with similar vision in ensuring that women receive all round development.
Being a Compere and finding balance
Oh yes, this is one fun thing about me. I have been compering events since my teenage years. I have very commendable communication and engagement skills which I have further developed, over the years. There’s a side of me that shows up when I compere events. It’s a fine blend of skill and humor. I have a bias for formal and semi-formal events, but I sometimes host informal events like bridal showers, baby showers, etc.
I balance things out by taking on just as much jobs as my schedule can handle. I don’t try to be everywhere. When I receive a brief for a job that I can’t handle because of my schedule, I recommend a colleague. I encourage my clients to give me advance notice.
Keeping a detailed calendar of events helps me a lot in balancing things out. I record things that have to do with my family time, study time, etc. in my calendar. The overall impact is I am able to give time to most of the things that matter, in sufficient proportions.
Voluntary works
Yes I place a lot of value on charitable work. Asides what I learned from my parents in that regard, one of my internship placements at the start of my career really influenced my interest in voluntary service.
My volunteer experience, teaching for 1 hour a week at a state owned secondary school was really transformational for me. I feel like I learned more from the students than I taught them. I had a lot of sober reflections in that season of my life that helped me take defining decisions with regards my own life and how I use my resources.
I have been a part of a number of projects with different NGO’s who deliver value in my interest areas. I also serve on the advisory board of an NGO. One major thing volunteering does for me is help me to be a more grateful human being.
Personal projects and activities
My husband and I are very interested in raising a godly home, and helping our contemporaries do same. To this end, we carry out a number of personal projects including hosting periodic meet ups where we have practical discussions about relationships and marriage. We encourage some level of accountability in these hubs.
Through my weekly publication on Instagram tagged ‘#dearyoungprofessional’ I share practical tips which help professionals and business leaders win at their daily endeavours. I am able to reach hundreds of young professionals weekly, through this platform.
Source of inspiration
The life of Jesus Christ challenges me the most. I am challenged by the fact that living is not necessarily in the length of years but in the quality of impact.
I have had different people I look up to, depending on the season I am. In my current season, I really look up to Mr. Bankole Williams and General Debola Deji-Kurunmi. These 2 outstanding global leaders have the most impact on me in my current season.
On being a Woman of rubies
I am a nurturer of my God-given abilities and an inspiration to other young women. It is great to know that just by being about my father’s business and living by the values I have come to adopt, others find some kind of inspiration in me and give themselves permission to let their light shine.
Advice to women aspiring to be in this field
I will say that the first task for any woman is to ensure that her heart believes what her head is saying. Whatever it is you desire to be, ensure that your beliefs about yourself and about life support your desires. It is possible to be saying you want something but you don’t even believe you can have it. Everyone’s belief system (i.e. their mindsets) eventually shapes their outcomes in life, whether they consciously realize it or not. Your beliefs are a product of a number of things like your upbringing, your experiences, your environment, etc. You must ensure that what you belief about yourself and about life, align with what you consciously desire to be or have.
For the person interested in consulting and corporate training, I suggest you take time to do some research on these fields of work. Understand what the trends are on a global scale, so you can take informed decisions that will position you appropriately in (for example) the choice of what aspect of consulting to go into, or what aspect of trainings to tap into.
Also take note of the required technical and soft skills and get them. The technical skills required will depend on the aspect of consulting or training you decide to go into. Some of the needed soft skills include excellent communication & presentation, people engagement and emotional intelligence.
If you can identify an internship opportunity to further enhance your skill gathering process, this will be very useful.
