self development Archives

In Career Gems December 19, 2022 By Esther Ijewere

How Jasmine Womack Helped Over 1000 Authors Become Six-Figure Storytellers

Jasmine Womack worked in education as a literature teacher for over 10 years but she didn’t want to be a teacher forever. Jasmine’s goal was to one day leave the classroom and become an academic coach, and eventually, an assistant principal.

But when she wrote and released a book at the top of her 11th year of teaching, things started to shift for her. She realized that she had created a product and if she could learn how to effectively brand herself, market, and sell it, she had the power to create the income she wanted to make.

Virtual Workshops

To fill her knowledge gap she turned to free virtual workshops. “I found them so valuable that I wanted to create my own,” she says. “I turned my book into a 21-day workshop that was called the Get Your HOUSE In Order Challenge and 400 people registered in about two weeks. I was floored.”

The challenge was a huge success. A few months later, people started asking her to host it again. She did. But this time, she charged a $10 fee for it. 30 people registered. She made $300 from something she’d already created and didn’t have to leave her house.

Jasmine realized she was on to something. However, she wasn’t ready to walk away from teaching— she enjoyed her career. That is until she experienced workplace harassment from her evaluating supervisor a year later.

Jasmine says she knew at that time that she had some serious decisions to make, but one thing that comforted her was that she had something to fall back on. In her side hustle, which eventually evolved to executive coaching and writing consultancy, she had perfected a system. She knew how to get clients, ensure results, and obtain quarterly cycles, and she had the work ethic to maintain it all. A year in, she was already making close to five figures per month on top of her teaching salary.

“That year ended up being my last year [in teaching] and it was one of the toughest decisions I made. I didn’t want to leave the way I was leaving – upset, angry, slightly bitter, and feeling like I was done wrong. But two months after the school year ended, I finally crossed the five-figure per month milestone and it was no looking back.”

How Jasmine Womack Transitioned

While Jasmine already had a working system, an entrepreneur’s mindset, and a strong work ethic before stepping into it full-time, the transition period wasn’t flawless. She still had to learn how to set a daily schedule, stay on schedule, and eliminate distractions.

“The biggest lesson came when I felt like I could do things when and how I wanted and as a result, I found myself struggling to balance [my] kids, who were at home during summer break, and staying up all night to work because I wasted the morning. It was this that helped me understand that the same systems and schedules in my career were established for a reason – and that if I wanted to continue to have success, I needed to establish these same daily routines and schedules in my business.”

Jamine’s Resillience

With that realization, Jasmine committed to doing what she needed to keep moving forward.

When I ask her to share some tips for setting goals, a schedule, and staying on task for first-time entrepreneurs she says, “Plan backwards. Determine the goals you want to reach by the end of the year. To accomplish the annual goal, understand the metrics you need to meet quarterly, then monthly (so you can reach the quarterly goals), then weekly (so you can hit the monthly goals), and then daily (to help you reach your weekly goal). Now, you know what you need to do each day, week, month, and quarter so that you can reach your goal by the end of the year.”

She also recommends time blocking your calendar. She suggests putting everything in your life and business on your calendar to ensure you are making time for it. Jasmine Womack includes vacations, content planning, and time off in hers.

Challenges & Success

“Success is filled with mountains and valleys,” Jasmine says when the conversation shifts.

While on the outside it may seem like her entrepreneurial journey didn’t have any major hiccups, she assures me that she had her fair share of challenges although she makes it a point not to complain.

One of the biggest challenges she says she had to overcome was herself. “Imposter Syndrome,” she says. “Online is a smokescreen and if you are not careful, you will find yourself looking at other people’s curated content and at times feeling like you don’t measure up. I’ve felt like this before, and even felt as if I wasn’t ‘doing enough’ but I had to quickly self-check. I committed to focusing on my stuff more than anyone else’s. I don’t look at other people, especially others in my industry.”

Work-Life Balance

Making time for her family and her health also got tricky while scaling a quickly growing business. “There was a point in time where my kids complained about how much I was on my phone and my husband felt like I compromised our marriage for the sake of building a business. And then there was my health, I gained over 40 lbs, primarily from dealing with the stress. I fixed this by having set starting and stop working times, communicating with my family if I had to work outside of those designated work periods, and outsourcing home responsibilities (cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping).”

When it comes to more nitty-gritty business challenges like learning about messaging, standing out above others in her industry, and pricing her products and services, she says those challenges don’t disappear on their own. As a coach herself, she believes in coaching and has hired coaches to help her with her messaging, and mindset around pricing in particular when she gets stuck.

Final Words

Jasmine’s final words for others looking to follow in her footsteps are: “Set your goal, pray about it, and go after it with all your heart. Don’t take your eye off the goal.”

Jasmine provides full step-by-step strategies and systems to her clients so they can duplicate her results with writing, launching, marketing, branding, and sales strategies.

If you’re trying to grow a business Join her text community and get free access to the Start Your Business Bundle.

Ijeoma Etuk: The Content Marketing Strategist Designing Content Calendars For Professionals

Ijeoma Etuk is the Lead Content Marketing Strategist at InkJay Creatives and Contracts with approximately 3 years of versatility in content writing, proficient researching and editing diverse content. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology from Ebonyi State University.

How Ijeoma is helping professionals seal deals and bag contracts through her Tailormade content calendar

Ijeoma’s Momentum

She has demonstrated records of accomplishments in proposing, outlining and impacting business owners on the wheels of “Content creation with InkJay” where she has taught over 4000 business owners how to attract their audience as well as target market, build credibility and make sales while engaging, inspiring, entertaining and educating them.

Designing Tailor-Made Content Calenders

She is known to have designed well above 80 tailor-made content calendars for brands/business owners, and these calendars can make any product become your Bestseller. Testimonials of her product/services from her clients make rounds, and her brand thrives on account of the never-ending positive reviews.

To being a content marketing strategist and content writer, Ijeoma has added a Certified Virtual Assistant badge to her badges from African Leadership group.

Ijeoma Etuk’s Socia Media Skills

She can professionally cater to social media management, Email management, Customer service support, Data Entry, Lead generation and General administrative tasks. At work/trainings, Ijeoma’ soft skills would get you. She is a lover of God and works conscientiously.

The Intentional Queen, Udunma Nnenna Ikoro Shares Behind-the-Scene Stories of How She’s Building an Empire with Her Content Writing Skills

Udunma Nnenna Ikoro is the Lead Creative Director at Communique ResourceHub, a multiple Amazon Bestselling Author, trainer, and speaker. The graduate of Linguistics and Communication Studies, is also a professional communication, Educational, and Book Project Consultant, Lead Editor, and Content Strategist.

She has a rich teaching experience of 14 years and runs an online English Academy as an English language teacher. Udunma Nnenna Ikoro is an advocate of Education, Youth Empowerment, Innovation in Reading Culture, Women, Cancer Awareness and screening, Volunteering, and a Sustainable Environment.

She is the convener of the TIWA SUMMIT, The Intentional Women Africa Conference and Masterpiece Writers Summit, first held in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. She helps writers, entrepreneurs, professionals, and authors birth profitable books and become internationally published authors, especially on Amazon.

She has consulted and published books for many professionals in different sectors. The Multiple Amazon Bestselling and Publisher, who has authored twelve books shares her inspiring journey with Esther Ijewere in this interview.

Childhood Influence of Udunma Nnenna Ikoro

My childhood was a discovery and an indirect preparatory ground for what I do today. As a little girl, I became a children’s choir mistress, wrote songs and poems though never published, then moved to writing stories. I had so many thoughts and insights above my age as a child, and my writing skill was discovered early.

In Primary two, I taught my fellow mates and held after-school tutorials for others which continued in Primary five where I oversaw primary four class in the absence of their teacher and even made notes and marked class work of the pupils in the public school I attended.

Growing up in the city of Aba, Abia State was interesting as I was surrounded by my lieutenants and loved by all as the only daughter. I had the best my parents could provide although our environment did not have many social facilities, we would spend time together with our parents. My Christian foundation coupled with great values and exposure to serving God in truth and sound education made me who I am today.

Inspiration Behind Tiwa Summit and Communique Resourcehub

As an intentional woman, I discovered that many women were living other people’s dreams and living in pain, and regrets and stuck in life and their careers without fulfillment. It was obvious that many challenges and dissatisfaction were linked to no self-discovery, low self-esteem, fears, undiscovered life’s purpose, stereotypes, self-sabotage and more which I explained with their solutions intensely in my book, The Intentional Woman.

Hence, The Intentional Women Africa was birthed to help women appreciate their beauty, strength, find their purpose and enhance their potential then manifest their greatness. I held FREE three days of training, summits, and conferences to help drive home the message of intentional living as a means of manifesting a woman’s greatness.

Communique ResourceHub is my business brand and a communication and publishing consulting company. I was inspired by the fact that I know too much to remain where I was before I stepped forward into social entrepreneurship.

My desire to help people communicate their ideas, stories, knowledge, and experience effectively and error-free, using digital technology on global and local platforms while making an impact, profit and building a legacy inspired me to go into editing, book writing and publishing consultation.

The need to help writers and aspiring authors self-publish their books as I did with Amazon without some traditional publisher’s drama inspired me to start what I do at Communique ResourceHub.

The Journey So Far

It has been awesome though quite challenging and rough. I did not let the challenges break me but brush myself up to play harder and smarter. If you would like to get people to believe in what you do, you should really merit the attention and trust they will deposit in what you do. The hitches opened my eyes to greater opportunities for capacity building, critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Challenges

Honestly, these challenges are peculiar to our environment aside from a few.

When I started and till now, people still struggle to believe I can deliver an excellent and standard job because they feel my brand is young, unknown and being resident in Africa. But my results over the years and consistency in creating content that boosted my credibility and visibility helped to reduce that and I have worked with majorly clients outside Nigeria so far, especially in Australia, the UK, the USA, Germany, Belgium, and New Zealand to mention but a few.

The issue of poor electricity supply cannot be overemphasized. It affects our productivity rate and skyrockets our products and services costs too. It affects my work in terms of the overhead cost, pricing, and turnaround time for a job. The cost of marketing to generate fresh leads and prospects is another challenge. Acquiring new upgraded gadgets and maintaining old ones.

How My Work Has Inspired Women Around Me

Many women who have encountered my intentional living message and lifestyle have been inspired to take their lives in their hands and turn it into a legacy. Many have gone ahead to start thriving businesses, build confidence to show up and be heard, and build others in their world.

I preach the message of shining brightly and illuminating others while helping them to shine their lights too because there is greatness in every person on earth.

Today, many call me The Intentional Queen because my life depicts everything about intentionality, results and manifesting your greatness no matter what the story used to be because YOU OWE YOURSELF YOUR GREATNESS. The world will only come around when you make, as they say, “success has many friends.”

Highlights of My Career as an English Language Teacher

I started teaching English Language in 2003, so, it is 19 years now. Being an English Language teacher is a privilege and a golden opportunity for me as a person.

The highlights include;

Being a part of students’ journey of becoming good in English Language.
As a teacher, I remain an English Language student to keep abreast with innovations.
I’ve had the privilege to teach students to attain success in their external and international examinations, especially IELTS.
Continuous learning while teaching others the language.
Raising leaders through other provided opportunities as a social mistress, class teacher, club coordinator, Press and Drama Club, etc.
Transitioning to an Online English Learning Academy tutor and global English language tutor.

Other Projects and Activities

As a multitalented and intentional woman with aspirations, I am usually keen to give life and manifest other parts of me that are the colors of my personality.

Some of my projects include my humanitarian and professional projects at Masterpiece Entrepreneurs and Writers Academy (MEWA). We hold writing competitions, free webinars, and content sharing in our community to help entrepreneurs, and assist writers in enhancing their writing skills to build and publish their digital products.

At The Intentional Women Africa, we hold training, summits, and conferences, and we focus on these projects; Education, Health, STEM and Skills acquisitions especially for underprivileged, unprivileged, living with disabilities women and girl children. We also hold mentoring sessions for secondary children on self-discovery and intentional living then, girl children on menstrual health.

I am also opportune to volunteer for other organizations like Revamp Africa as State Coordinator supporting teaching and mentoring of children in the public schools, UN, and YALI, to mention but a few.

On 17^th December 2022, we will be celebrating our 2^nd Anniversary and conducting a Cervical and Breast Cancers Screening for two hundred women with FREE treatment featuring business, health, Tech and life-seasoned speakers in Lagos, Nigeria.

Being An Amazon Bestselling Author

Becoming an Amazon bestselling author was not an easy journey, but I did it afraid even as a first-time author, in 2017 with my book, Phenomenal Parenting. I got helpful training and knowledge through paid and self-taught courses and research.

I intentionally replicated the same result with my second book which was an answer to questions from my audience on how I achieved bestselling book status. It worked even better. Ever since 2018, I have published many authors and their books hit Amazon bestselling books driving sales. Besides, my twelve books on Amazon are all bestselling books.

What Udunma Nnenna Ikoro Enjoys Most About Her Job

This is an interesting question and one I love to answer at every interview. There are many things I enjoy about my job but what I enjoy most is the fulfillment of serving my world with my expertise, experience, skills and knowledge from the comfort of my home, making an impact, profit and building a legacy as a writer while helping others great the life they enjoy too.

Three Women Who Inspire You and Why

My mum is my top inspiration any day. She is a good example of a Proverbs 31 woman. She is the true Intentional Woman, industrious and kind. Amongst all she taught me, I learnt patience from my mum while the Holy Spirit helped me to become a truly patient person.

To Those Trying to Learn Content Monetization

Writing is an expressive medium of communication. To make your writing craft profitable, your writing must be valuable to your audience. Profits go after values.

Profitable writing solves problems, answers questions, and transforms the reader.

Only a person of value can give value. Improve daily on your craft, write, and have a likable personality from your sharable content. Your content is relatable when it is experiential content. Be visible. Be intentional. Be consistent.

How to Support Women in the Creative and Writing Sector

Women in the creative and writing sector need support in the areas of promotion of their skills and work. If their work could be pushed to the right audience globally and locally, it is a way of appreciation and encouragement.

There is a need for valuable mentorship because it is a huge advantage to the woman who is trying to find her feet in the creative and writing sector.

Funding, purchases, and referral are invaluable support every woman and human being needs to grow and excel in their work.

Being a Woman of Rubies

I am a Woman of Rubies because I am a woman making an impact in the lives of many women all around the world. I have integrity and excellence as my personal and brand values. Daily I do my best to live by them in my relationship with people. I am a gift and unrepentant giver who gives and keeps giving to lift, help and support other people and humanity. I love lavishly and believe in helping others manifest their greatness.

How to Get My Books:

Available at Worital Bookplaze, Roving Heights and other books across Nigeria, Bambooks, Okadabooks, Apples Book and Amazon.

Phone number: 09098028001

How to Reach Udunma Nnenna Ikoro on Social Media

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nnenna-udunma-ikoro-10ab2848

Facebook: www.facebook.com/uikoro

Twitter: twitter.com/ikoroudunma

Instagram: instagram.com/udunmaikoro

Instagram: www.instagram.com/communique.resourcehub

communiquehub@gmail.com

My forthcoming cancer screening charity project:

The Intentional Women Africa’s 2nd Anniversary Conference and Cervical and Breast Cancer Screening Campaign.

Date: 17th December, 2022.

Venue: 1-7

Time: 8am

Screening fee: N7000

Registration link: bit.ly/TIWA2CBCS

Further enquiries : tiwacommunity@gmail.com 09098028001

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In Inspiration November 25, 2022 By Esther Ijewere

Nadia Murad: The Nobel Peace Prize Winner Who Set Up Fund For Survivors Of Wartime Rape

Nadia Murad was born into a farming family in Kojo, Iraq. She belongs to the Yazidi ethnic and religious minority. When she was 19 years old, the Islamic State attacked her village and killed 600 Yazidi men, including several of her family members. ⁣
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Murad and other young women were taken prisoner and subjected to beatings and rape. She managed to escape, however, and make her way to a refugee camp. There she was offered the opportunity to move to Germany, where she now lives.⁣

She was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 2018 alongside Denis Mukwege for ”their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict.”⁣
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On October 30, 2019, Nadia and Dennis set up a fund to provide reparations for survivors of wartime rape.⁣
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The Global Survivors Fund will provide tailored support to help people recover from the emotional and physical trauma they have experienced. This could be in the form of financial compensation, support to access healthcare services or return to education, or assistance with getting somewhere to live.⁣
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The fund will also support governments to set up their own reparation schemes.⁣
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Commenting on the development, Nadia said ”Reparations are a step toward restoring dignity to survivors who often do not have any means to seek justice for the pain and suffering they have endured.”⁣
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”A global fund is an innovative solution to providing survivors with a path towards healing, and it signals that our collective conscience acts in the name of humanity.”⁣

Nadia’s Story

“Nadia Murad is herself a victim of war crimes. She refused to accept the social codes that require women to remain silent and ashamed of the abuses to which they have been subjected. She has shown uncommon courage in recounting her own sufferings and speaking up on behalf of other victims.

“Nadia Murad is a member of the Yazidi minority in northern Iraq, where she lived with her family in the remote village of Kocho. In August 2014 the Islamic State (IS) launched a brutal, systematic attack on the villages of the Sinjar district, aimed at exterminating the Yazidi population.

In Nadia Murad’s village, several hundred people were massacred. The younger women, including underage children, were abducted and held as sex slaves.

While a captive of the IS, Nadia Murad was repeatedly subjected to rape and other abuses. Her assaulters threatened to execute her if she did not convert to their hateful, inhuman version of Islam.

“Nadia Murad is just one of an estimated 3,000 Yazidi girls and women who were victims of rape and other abuses by the IS army. The abuses were systematic, and part of a military strategy. Thus they served as a weapon in the fight against Yazidis and other religious minorities.

Watch: How To Be A Competent Leader

“After a three-month nightmare Nadia Murad managed to flee. Following her escape, she chose to speak openly about what she had suffered. In 2016, at the age of just 23, she was named the UN’s first Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking.” writes.

Source: Nobel Prize.org, Guardian

In self development November 21, 2022 By Women of Rubies

Chisom Winifred: Want To Be An Excellent Blogger? These Tips Are Here For You

Would you like to start a successful blogging career? Reading broadens your horizon. Read the works of other writers, read articles, newspapers, magazines, self-help books, and fiction books. Just read! If you read regularly, you would always have things to write about.

When most people start blogging, they get excited, announce it on their Instagram pages, add ‘blogger’ to their bios, and then – almost predictably – after a while, their creativity and consistency fade away, and drop drastically.

What has helped me stay consistent over the years, as a blogger, is that I consider blogging as a part of my legacy. My content, words, and ideas are forever on the web and anyone who searches my name would get a feel of the gift God gave me.

If you are about to start blogging or if you’re already a blogger, here are some tips that have helped me to creatively solve the problems I’ve faced:

Deal with your bias

We’re all biased in one way or the other. When it comes to subjects and issues, we always have our opinions based on our experience or on what we think is right, and most times, we are wrong about those opinions. Dealing with your bias when it comes to issues and topics you blog about helps you present your articles in a clear, wholesome way, devoid of personal judgment. Deal with your bias by doing adequate research before you write, present all your thoughts in your articles and give different perspectives on the matter. It shows your readers you are not a narrow-minded person and they are able to draw their own conclusions without you forcing your own opinions on them.

Also, learn to think clearly before writing. Analyze and understand ideas and arguments before expressing them. Thinking clearly makes you bold enough to write with assertion. It also helps you question if what you are writing is the truth or if it’s influenced by your biases.

Always research your blogging niche

Read a lot, listen to people, watch movies, and open your mind to learn from different sources. You cannot pour from an empty cup. Doing adequate research on topics you choose to write about arms you with the knowledge you need to pen down a good piece.

Get an editor

Getting an editor is very important. Imagine a pencil without an eraser. An editor not only serves to grammatically correct your work but also plays the role of a gatekeeper before your work is shared with the public. Having an unbiased mind go through your articles and give you honest and constructive criticism makes you a better writer and that way, you churn out awesome essays every time you write. A common problem most beginners face is the inability to afford an editor at the early stages of their careers, mostly because of financial constraints. What you can do is think of the other skills you have that the editor can benefit from and offer that in place of money. Since you can write, suggest ghostwriting for your editor in exchange for him/her editing your blog posts.

Planning

Always plan ahead. Create a monthly/quarterly content calendar for your blog. It helps you stay consistent and gives you plenty of time to research your topics before you write about them.

Read

Reading broadens your horizon. Read the works of other writers, read articles, newspapers, magazines, self-help books, and fiction books. Just read! If you read regularly, you would always have things to write about.

Tell your story

It’s advisable to always put an element of yourself in your stories. Tell your story in a way that only you can. Don’t fall under the pressure of trying to sound like someone else because you think that person is gaining more traction. You can never be excellent at copying someone, so learn to be the best version of yourself.

Be ready to deal with writer’s block

Writer’s block happens to the best of us. Most times, it is your brain trying to tell you that it’s time for a break. Whenever I deal with blocks, I try to relax. Breathe and think about why you are unable to write at that point. You can also write about the block, and what you’re feeling, and share it. That is solid content on its own. If you have a block about a certain area you are trying to write on, try writing about something that is entirely new to you.

Get an accountability partner

What happens when you don’t publish a post as you promised yourself you would? Nothing? Too bad. That is the beginning of the end of your blog. You need someone to keep you accountable. You can get your parents to help by sharing your dream with them, they’ll keep you on your toes.

Blogging is not as easy as most people think, it can be draining and often discouraging when it doesn’t pay the returns you’d like immediately. See blogging as an extension of yourself, a hobby you enjoy doing, and would continue to do even when you have zero readers. Think about it as your legacy, this would keep you going when no one is clapping for you.

I hope you found these tips helpful. Happy blogging!

Take a look at other related interviews we’ve had in the past:

In Career Gems November 21, 2022 By Esther Ijewere

Fly Fitness Factory Partners With Rubies Ink To Empower Women

Fly Fitness Factory recently partnered with Rubies Ink Initiative and Women of Rubies to empower women with basic skills. The women were trained online in different skills such as; Content Writing, Make-up and gele, and skincare.

Fly Fitness is one of the most popular fitness and wellness organizations in the ancient city of Ibadan. Their offerings includes but not limited to personalized training programs, wellness management, supportive community, group training sessions, nutritional guide, diet plans and lots more

Philanthropist and multi-award winner, Bolarinwa Kashif O who founded the company alongside his wife supported the women in a bid to strengthen their goal for wealth creation through poverty alleviation programmes.

Asides running his companies, the duo also give back to the society by supporting vulnerable persons, empowering the youths and organizing sensitizing workshops such as his; “School Is Not Scam” project.

An initiative aimed at fighting miseducation, and helping to reverse the trend that education isn’t ultimately profitable, especially amongst children of low-income homes, In a bid to restore hope, educational value and create a better Nigeria.

Their Fly Fitness Factory gym has become a safe haven for pregnant women, where they are assisted with stressless delivery through healthy exercise, the gym boasts of world-class equipment and it is one of the most visited in the ancient city of Ibadan.

Speaking on the why they supported the empowerment skills acquisition programme, the couple had this to say; “We love to see women excel in their chosen field, we believe that when these women are empowered, life becomes easier for them, we look forward to partnering with Rubies Ink and Women of Rubies for future projects beneficial to humanity”, they said.

Follow Fly fitness factory on social media to know more about their activities

Website: flyfitnessfactorg.ng

In Inspiration November 16, 2022 By Esther Ijewere

How Wendy Nwajiufor Is Using Her Youtube Channel To Touch The Lives Of Women In And Outside Canada

Wendy Nwajiufor fondly called Chylove by friends is an award-winning Content creator, Director, Executive Director and Entrepreneur. A graduate of Computer Science with Masters in Human Capital Managemnt. She has a passion for helping people and seeing everyone succeed and this led her to venture into many initiatives geared towards the empowerment of women and professionals to become the best version of themselves.

Wendy’s Partnership with Youtube

Her passion for sharing important information including, healthy and family living led her to start a YouTube channel that originally focused on unique and delicious meal recipes inspiring people through her humble lifestyle as a Nigerian Immigrant in Canada with her family.

As the channel grew, many of her community members and subscribers wanted her to share more of her Canadian Journey and lifestyle – which led her to enter into a partnership with YouTube in 2020 to reach more audience and today the channel has grown to over eighteen thousand (18k) subscribers. Incredible and remarkable success stories have been shared by her subscribers regarding how helpful her content contributed to their migrating to Canada.

Passion For Tech

Wendy Nwajiufor is also a Brand influencer for companies and organizations some of which are Teddy Blake, Zinff Optical, Biocosmetics, Wraptucknmore and many others. She is also a Director with BlackTECH – an organization that focuses on empowering professional immigrants with capability-building tech skills to beat underemployment. Wendy is also the Executive Director of the NIPCA Women in Tech Working group as well as the Founder of Intentional Women Foundation – an organization focused on supporting black and racialized women to become economically empowered thereby contributing meaningfully to their families and society.

Her passion and work have seen her travel to 5 continents and several countries including Dubai, the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, and South Africa. She is very passionate about family upliftment and women empowerment especially racialized and black women to become all they have aspired to achieve.

Other Area Of Expertise

Wendy‘s Specialty includes Business Development, Planning and Coordination, Business Analysis, Agile Scrum Master, Strategy/transformation and Content Creation. She’s certified with multiple international certifications such as SAP ERP Certified Human Resources (HR), PSM1, Certified Scrum Master (CSM), and Certified Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL). In her spare time, she loves having quality time with her family, shopping, Cooking, and listening to good music.

In self development November 6, 2023 By Women of Rubies

11 Tips For Choosing The Right Friends

Choosing the right friends in life is very important. Do you know that you can accurately predict where you’ll be five years from now? You can easily know where you’ll be going, what you’ll be doing, and what your income level will be. If you want to know how, the answer is simple: by the company you keep. The people you associate with have a major impact and influence on your personal success. You can tell where most people are going to end up in life simply based on who they hang around.

It is likely that your income level is in the same range as that of your closest friends. You talk about the same topics and you usually hang out at the same places. In many cases, you may discover that you’re reading the same books… or none of you are reading at all.

Although your five closest friends are your best buds, you have to evaluate your relationships when you are ready to make a change for the better. Relationships are like elevators; they are either bringing you up or taking you down. Every connection isn’t meant for the long haul… sometimes we find ourselves holding on toxic relationships that expired years earlier. 8This is why it is so important to make the right relationship choices. For your long-term success, you simply must choose the right friends.

Here are some secrets to choosing the right friends;

1. Associate higher. If you are focused on taking your life/career/business to the next level, then why not associate with people on that next level? Doing this will help expand your mind to greater possibilities. It is natural to feel most comfortable with people who are like you, and that’s OK. However, now and then it’s good to step outside of your comfort zone and spend time with friends who can expose you to greater things, new information and a higher level of living. If you value these friendships, you will soon find yourself advancing too.

2. Choose friends with similar values. While diversity is great in many ways, when it comes to your general values and beliefs, it’s best to keep core friendships with like-minded people. While you can respect others’ opinions and differences, choosing friends that hold similar values to yours will keep you from compromising or being negatively influenced by those that don’t uphold your values and the standards that you govern your life by. When friends have similar values, they can help keep each other accountable.

3. Choose friends with common goals. I like to call these your purpose partners. When you have friends with common goals, particularly as an entrepreneur, you can push each other. You can work on your goals together and encourage each other in reaching them.

4. Choose friends who can bring balance in areas where you are weaker. We all have our strengths and weaknesses — you know what yours are. With the right friends, you can tap into the talents, skills and abilities of those that have expertise in areas that you don’t. Maybe you aren’t the best at keeping your closet organized, but you have a friend that loves organizing — enlist her help! You might be a great writer and can offer assistance to a friend that is updating her resume. When you utilize each other’s strengths, everyone wins.

5. Choose friends that stretch, motivate and encourage you. These types of friends are also great purpose partners. No one wants a friend that is negative or down all the time. It’s usually the people that are uplifting and positive that we naturally want to be around. Which category do your friends fall into? What do your conversations with them sound like? The best types of friends will be there to offer a listening ear and help you put a positive spin on any situation.

6. Choose friends that share the same interests. Friends with similar interests simply make life more fun. You can enjoy outings and activities together. Whether it’s sports, music, performing arts or food, when you share interests, you can get out and do things together. You have someone to visit new places and enjoy new experiences with.

7. Choose friends that have a thirst for knowledge. Life is about learning, growing and advancing. With friends like this, you can learn from each other. It’s always great to have a friend who can recommend a good book or share information with you to help you on your path. Friends who are avid readers are usually great conversationalists and fun to talk to as well.

8. Choose friends who you can be purpose partners with. By now, you have noticed that this term keeps coming up. To further expand on it, a purpose partner is someone who you can share your goals and dreams with, and they will encourage you toward achieving them. When you tell your purpose partners what you intend to do, they can help you stay accountable to following through. Allow them to check in on you and ask you about your progress — and do the same for them.

9. Choose friends who will celebrate your success. You want friends that celebrate you, not just tolerate you. A true friend will celebrate every milestone, accomplishment and success story on your journey. They will be genuinely happy to see you succeed and be the first to say “congratulations!” Friends like this can be rare so when you find them, keep them close!

Read Also: 10 Simple Tips To Maintaining A Healthy Lifestyle

10. Choose friends who are “get-it” people. Get-it people are serious about their goals and serious about success. They don’t treat life casually or waste time on frivolous pursuits. They take fast action and get things done. If you consider yourself a get-it person, it’s important that you have friends who operate the same way.

11. Give what you expect to get. Every friendship is a give-and-take. If you expect great friends, you first have to be one yourself. If you live by the Golden Rule of treating others as you would want to be treated, then you won’t be disappointed — you will find your friendships fulfilling and rewarding.

Choosing the right friends is very important for your mental and emotional wellbeing. Take some time to evaluate your relationships. Do your friends meet the criteria above? Can you call any of them your purpose partners? If so, then great! If not, then it’s probably time to branch out and start establishing some new relationships. With the secrets above, you can boost the quality of your relationships and your long-term success.

Let us know how you will be choosing the right friends in the comment.

credits: Huffington Post

Stacia Pierce :www.twitter.com/StaciaPierce

In Career Gems October 28, 2022 By Esther Ijewere

Nigerian-Born Khadijah Haliru Emerges City Councillor In Canada

Nigerian-born Khadijah Haliru has emerged as a Councilor in Ingersoll Town in southwestern Ontario, Canada in the just conducted elections. She garnered 1708 votes to win the election.

In her campaign, Haliru had promised that she would like to shine a light on downtown businesses, engage youth and address homelessness if she becomes an Ingersoll Town Councillor.

It could be recalled that Khadijah Haliru moved to Ingersoll six years ago. She is the CEO of K Business Group Inc and she’s also the owner of Hanak Foods, K Body Blends, and K Coaching Academy.

Having fallen in love with the community over the years, she is determined to make a difference at Town Hall.

“I feel like we just really have to open our hearts and minds to a different way of thinking so we can bring some change. I’m not saying anything about whether the current council is right or wrong, but having an additional perspective is fair.”

The mother of three had also noted that she has some big plans if she’s elected. “Being really strategically located we have the opportunity to be a centre of attraction for tourists. Our downtown is suffering, so we need to bring more attention to our businesses and I have a few ideas on how we can engage youth more.”

She also said, “I see a lot of opportunities to improve the climate for newcomers and small businesses”.

“There are a lot of newcomers to Ingersoll and they deserve a voice.”

We celebrate Khadijah Haliru for her resilience and tenacity, and above all making the country proud.

Follow Khadijah Haliru on her social media platforms to know more about her work.

Source: Nigerian Canadian Newspaper

In Inspiration October 27, 2022 By Esther Ijewere

Human Value Foundation Was Born Out Of My Passion For Humanity-Fatima Mohammed Habib

Fatima Mohammed Habib is a young empath with a heart of gold, and passion for community service. She is the youngest humanitarian in Nigeria. At 14, she founded the Advocacy for Human Value Foundation (AFHVF); a Not-for-profit organization that aims at improving the lives of the most vulnerable by providing them with basic needs such as Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), health care services, protection and education across Nigeria.

Fatima is a graduate of Political science from University of Maiduguri, and a YALI Regional Leadership Course (RLC) alumna. The organization is powered by over 1,300 volunteers around Nigeria and 30 staffs. With operations in Abuja, Borno, yobe, kaduna, Kano, Taraba, jigawa, and katsina states.

Fatima Habib is well known for creating awareness on child sexual exploitation, gender based violence, and promoting girl-child education in vulnerable communities. Her organization has impacted over 6000 lives in 73 marginalized communities in Northern Nigeria over the years it has been in existence.

In October, 2020, Huawei Technology Company Nigeria Limited partnered with the AFHVF and The Federal Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy in donating standard equipment and renovating the school building of Al-Walidyn Charitable School in Pantami Community, Gombe State, Nigerian.

Fatima’s motivation comes from support she gets from her family and the values upon which she was raised amongst which is kindness to people of all backgrounds. She shares her inspiring story with Esther Ijewere in this exclusive interview.

Childhood Influence

I was born on September 23rd, 1999. I am Kanuri by tribe and hail from Maiduguri, Borno State. I had my Primary and Secondary Schools at Adeola International School Abuja and later moved to Maitama Model Secondary School Abuja to complete my SSCE in 2015. I’d say that I have always wanted to help the less privileged. My parents were my first teachers and therefore had the biggest influence on my life. Things they say and do, their way of being and relating to me and others, laid the foundation for many of my beliefs, values, attitudes, and respect for people around me.

Inspiration behind Human Value Foundation (AFHVF)

My zeal and passion to help the less privileged most definitely pushed me into this path. Let me start with the man whose character, intellectual milieu, and philanthropic gesture to whosoever approaches him in the day, at night, or any other time is indescribable. He is Dr. Mohammed Kyari Dikwa mni. He has greatly inspired me beyond measure.

Additionally, Dr. Zainab Bagudu (the First Lady of Kebbi) whose Medicaid Cancer Foundation is similar to my Foundation’s objectives remains dear to my heart as a woman. I also had the opportunity of meeting Hajia Laraba Shuaibu (a barrister who works with my dad in the Corporate Affairs Commission) in 2014 with my siblings. She had cupboard-of awards displayed in her sitting room which I believe was a result of her versatility, network, and consistency towards her work and profession.

My Passion For Issues Centered Around Child Sexual Exploitation, And Gender-Based Violence

We realized that one of the most prevalent issues that almost all women face is the issue of Gender-Based Violence. We have studied and come to the conclusion that why most women face this problem because of their dependence on others for their sustenance. The solution to most of the causes of Gender-based violence is the economic empowerment of women.

To this end, I recently started the advocacy on Sexual exploitation. We advocate making these victims become stronger, and more well-informed so that despite the daunting challenge they could be able to speak up and change the face of the world.

Challenges

Sometimes the security challenges in the Northeast make it difficult to reach some communities. Even when one is determined to go, loved ones will caution against that. Other times, there is the issue of funding.

When we have a project to execute, we usually find it quite challenging to raise funds to meet our budget. We navigate the security challenges by trying to do as much as possible what we can in areas that are safe. For the funding, we try as much as possible to cut down our budget or improve efforts on fundraising

My Thoughts On The Development And Advocacy Sector And What Stakeholders Should Do Better

Stakeholders can do more with the regulations in the sector. Founders should be vetted before giving the necessary license or registration documents to start. This is to protect against people who set up non-profits to enrich themselves. Stakeholders should set more regulations to protect the humanitarian development space from being flooded by people who don’t have the appropriate aim.

Thematic Areas My Organization Cover

Currently, we work in the areas of health, education, and the environment. In the aspect of education, we’ve assisted many people. We have given scholarships and we recently built a school with the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy and Huawei Technologies Nigeria. We just completed the building of a charity school – primary to secondary levels.

How I Am Using My Organization To Create Room For Women In The Community

About thousand of people’s lives have been impacted and shaped by my foundation as we have been able to give children their right education by enrolling them in schools and funding their education. We have done a lot of fundraising on social media platforms and also a television in providing hospital expenses to people with special disabilities ( Vulnerable members of society).

Periodically, I visit the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in Maiduguri and hold discussion sessions with some of our targets where we talk out the problems faced by them. This leads to the curing of trauma and depression amongst the vulnerable members in the various camps we visited. I recently started the advocacy on Sexual exploitation. We advocate making these victims become stronger, and more well-informed so that despite the daunting challenge they could be able to speak up and change the face of the world.

Women Who Inspire Me

1. Dr. Zainab Shinkafi Bagudu
2. Hajiya Laraba Shuaibu

Other Projects And Activities

For health, we are assisting people who can’t pay their hospital bills. So, we post it online mostly. In 2018, the then-minister of health saw some of our posts and made sure that one of the boys we were assisting was given the care he needed. As for the environment, you know the northeastern part of the country has been prone to conflicts, especially Maiduguri. We have been providing aid in IDP camps and communities affected by criminalities.

In the area of sanitation, we provide boreholes. For the females, we sensitize them to child sexual exploitation and provide them with sanitary pads to enhance their menstrual hygiene among others. That is water sanitation and hygiene.

My Work-Life Balance Routine

I understand that to whom much is given, a lot is expected. I have never taken the privilege I have for granted. I try to be as very organized as possible. Whatever I do, I plan adequately for it. Anything that comes up later that is not in my plan, initially, I try to see if some plans can make way for it. If they are all priorities, I postpone or discard them as appropriate.

Being a Woman Of Rubies

I am very ambitious. Supporting and encouraging people to pursue their own goals and dreams, I make my own as well. I have a vision for my future and chase after it with voracity.

Follow Fatima Mohammed Habib on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram to see more of her work.