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Waje Iruobe and Omawumi Megbele are two vocal powerhouses in the music industry. These media personalities have combined their talent, industry know-how and business sense to establish a new media company called Hermanes Media.

The bosom friends-turned-business partners shared that Hermanes Media was founded in order to create solutions and provide innovative and creative ideas for the industry.

According to Waje,

”We both have a considerable amount of experience working in and navigating the media industry. We believe we can put this knowledge to good use”.

Both Waje and Omawumi expressed their recognition of a gap in the industry that needs to be filled.

According to Waje,

” We need to start telling our own stories, and we need to be more expressive and innovative about it. Hermes Media is our way of taking a step towards making this a reality”.

The media company will reportedly provide services such as film/tv production, TV adverts, content curation, brand event activation, and creative digital marketing.

 

Credit: fabwoman.ng

“Eze Ada, you are meant to be a boy”- this Is a phrase that has been said way too many times to me by mother and I have always wondered why; was it because of the way I walked- as a fast walker, did that mean I didn’t possess the grace that a woman was meant to have or was it because I have always rebelled for independence regardless of the consequences- was being bold a trait exclusive for men?

 

Lolo Cynthia Is a public health specialist, sexuality educator and founder of the social enterprise LoloTalks, that employs all forms of media (online and offline) to create awareness and sustainable solutions to our contemporary social and health issues in Africa.  She also doubles as a documentary and talk show producer and lends her voice on issues regarding interpersonal relationships, sexuality, gender, and social issues through her YouTube channel LoloTalks and her blog.

Yesterday, LIB shared the story of a woman and her two children who have been missing since last week Friday January 27th. A  twitter user Lawrence Olanrewaju who shared the story online, said Shalom Sam-Ogbaji, went missing last week.

Well, some people online are saying that the lady might have absconded from her matrimonial home with her two kids because of her husband who is alleged to have been subjecting her to domestic violence. Read some comments posted on LIB and twitter below…

 

Update: Woman declared missing with her two kids allegedly fled home to escape from her abusive husband

Update: Woman declared missing with her two kids allegedly fled home to escape from her abusive husband

 

Update: Woman declared missing with her two kids allegedly fled home to escape from her abusive husband

Update: Woman declared missing with her two kids allegedly fled home to escape from her abusive husband

Credit: LIB

No man is an island of his own, there will be times you will need people’s contributions, opinions and help. Working together with people has been useful in different circumstances and has contributed to productivity and time management. Team work is essential in the organization and management of tasks. Team work isn’t confined to the corporate world, you could have teams in schools, religious gatherings and some couples even consider their relationship or family a team. When managed properly, there will be a positive impact on the team goals and its members. Have you ever been friends with someone and one day you get to know people are being selected for different teams and you wish to be in the same team as your friend. After a while you hear you names announced under the same team, if this were you, how would you feel? Teamwork can contribute to having a higher sense of purpose with its members. This article will concentrate on how a relationship/marriage can be seen as a team. Some factors that shouldn’t be ignored when building a team includes;

A common goal-

Without a common goal and interest, it is considered a group. A team is usually formed with the desire to achieve a particular goal and all members of the team will be interested in accomplishing this goal. For instance if you consider your relationship a team and decide to achieve a common goal which is ultimately to build a future together, you both should make it your priority, talk about it and plan to make it achievable.

Compatibility –

Two or more people can’t work together if there is no compatibility. I don’t just mean in personalities, you might not have compatible interest or future plans. Although some won’t mind as long as they ‘love’ each other but how sustainable can love be when faced with issues that could have been avoided? Being realistic about your compatibility is huge step in becoming a team.

Team size

A team consists of people with a shared goal, since this article addresses relationships becoming a team, it should consist of TWO individuals who love each other, have the desire to build a future together not Two individuals and some people by the side. If you wish to include your children, that is totally fine as long as the size is restricted to your family. Being in a relationship and having others by the side destroys trust, respect and the overall purpose of the team. Being committed to your partner is of essence in becoming a team.

Shared task

Like any other team, a relationship team should have shared task. This can be developed or identified by recognizing each other’s strengths. What are you good at? How will the bills be shared? Who will take the children to school in the morning? Who will pick them up? And so on. It is important to discuss tasks that should be performed, failure to do so might lead to expectations and disappointments.

Conflict management

As long as two people are involved, there will be disagreements. How do you plan to manage conflict? What’s you apology strategy? What can you do to make things better. Don’t assume that there won’t be conflict as this is considered failing to prepare or assume that there should always be conflict as this is considered preparing to fail. Sometimes conflict can be avoided when there’s understanding in the relationship and when it occurs, the ability to resolve quickly depends on how you are willing to make it work.

A leader

First of all, I believe everyone should do what they are comfortable with. Some believe men are the leaders or head of a relationship/ home while others believe both people in the relationship are leaders. In my opinion, my husband being the leader doesn’t make me a weaker member of the team. It has been that way right from our dating phase. Let’s face it, What are the qualities of a leader? They should be willing to communicate, guide, direct, listen, give constructive feedback and so on. A leader sometimes may need assistance in taking a decision and he will consult his team member. That goes to show how much he’s interested in your opinion.

In summary, making your relationship/ marriage a team requires commitment, understanding and a common goal.

 

About Grace

Grace Asemota is a Business Psychologist (M.Sc) and a Certified Life Coach. She has partnered with Organizations and solopreneurs to grow their personal and professional brands and has coached students and staff in different institutions and organisations.

She continuously coaches and trains on the importance of goal setting, happiness,personal development and self- confidence in a wide range of organisations and institutions by motivating staff to develop a collaborative culture and identify key factors that can enhance personal growth.

You can follow her on

LinkedIn @Grace Asemota-Orisakiya

Branding. The first thing that comes to mind when you hear of branding is the typical assigning of something a name or label. Branding can be negative or positive depending on the term used to identify the brand. In our case today, we are going delve into negative branding that most women trying to rise to the top in their careers or whichever profession often fall prey of.

Most women in corporates, military and even politics are often afraid of being who they really want to be in terms of how they do their work or in other words leadership skills and often coil back to being reserved in the fear of what people will think of them, in the fear of being negatively branded. You want to be softer to your seniors, juniors and even equals for you not be perceived as a hard one. You want to strive to get along with everyone at the same time exercise authority for things to be done correctly. In such confusing situations, what do most
women do?

In this case, I will use an example of one woman who has by all means broken the corporate glass ceiling and is still excelling at her profession, Ginni Rometty. To me the first thing I think of when I mention the name Ginni Rometty is the company that is in the top 15 at number 12 to be specific in 2018 worlds’ most valuable brands. This company is none other than IBM which is being led by the very capable Ginni Rometty.

When you look at the rise and rise of Ginni Rometty ever since she joined the company in theyear 1981, it is clearly open to everybody that she has had to work hard to get to where she is right now. She once stated in an interview that growth and comfort don’t usually coexist. To succeed one must be willing to push through barriers. This is the barriers that most women in their careers and even those in entrepreneurial stage are afraid of breaking. As a woman, you have to work twice as hard to level up.

Negative branding might come along the way and you might receive all sort of it but most at times they are only meant to slow you down.If you are a single woman, you have to prove that the results of your work define you and not your looks or marital status and if you are a married woman, apart from your looks, you have to
prove that you can multi task and do it good.

You have to be a mom at home and a boss at work and you don’t have any room for letting your personal life get into your work lest people see you weak. This is the daily fight that women trying to rise up to the corporate ladder are dealing with. You always want to prove yourself that you are capable. Quoting Meryl Streep, an American actress often referred to as the best of her generation, she says, ‘People will say to me, you’ve played so many strong women’ and I’ll say, ‘have you ever said to a man, ‘you’ve played so many strong men?’ No! Because the expectation is (men) are  varied. Why can’t we have that expectation about women?’ Why do women have to work extra hard in order to be recognized in their fields?

We want our women to excel but the moment they start doing things out of the normal, the moment they start being brave enough, we start branding them to make them cower and make them feel like they are not ready. It is time women come to the realization that no great woman reached those coveted tittles without obstacles. Negative branding happens to be one of them. We cannot stop negative branding of women at work places or in any growth sector but we can empower our women to rise above it. There is nothing more fierce and determined
than an empowered woman. Through this empowerment, instead of the negative branding acting as a motivation killer, it will in turn act as a motivator itself.

 

About Dorothy

She is currently a front desk agent/cashier at Acacia Premier Hotel Kisumu .Passionate about writing articles that has direct impact on women. She is 24 years old,determined to empower fellow women and just shed light on different relevant issues.You can contact her via her  email address ; odhiamboodorothy1@gmail.com.

Children are a gift from God, from the moment they are born, to their first significant life moments like their first baby step or their first word, those are all delightful times for their parents. The parents take it upon themselves to guide and steer their kids towards the right paths as they grow and usually the first educational step they take  is enrolling the kids into schools as soon as they’re old enough. Henceforth that first milestone, it is always a parent’s pride and joy to see their ward grow and advance up the educational ladder. A parent would gladly sacrifice a lot just so their kids lack nothing and would do so with joy knowing in the years to come, their reward would come when the children are out of school and  could fend for themselves and their parents as well.

And for us the children, from the moment we graduate from High school or secondary school as the case maybe, we look forward to being admitted into college, graduating from the university with a degree and basically starting our lives independently. Once, admitted into the university there is sort of a countdown on both sides : the parents and the child. They all both envision the world becoming better after graduation. The parents dream of finally relaxing and reaping the fruits of all that sacrifice and the child dreams of rewarding everyone who’s been there through the journey.

And alas! , it’s graduation day, the daughter/ son is a graduate and ready to go into the world. She/he is ready to take the reins from the parent’s and whilst, this is basically how it should be it sadly isn’t in most average cases!

For the child, the string of finances stops coming in from the family or the former sponsors. In return, they start expecting help from you instead. In some lucky cases, the child gets a well paying job and lives up to expectations but in other cases, it’s hard cause then you realize eventually what no one told you that would have better prepared you. Here they are:

  • Be prepared to go broke:

The transition from full on dependency to independency is not an easy one. In most cases, it will be tough cause you’ll be going from the care and reliable finances you had coming in, to fending for yourself. Just before, it becomes stable and better through hardwork, just be prepared to go low  on finances.

  • Get a skill

Not everyone is lucky enough to actually make a living from their college degrees. A skill in  programming, management, business or whatever sector you find interesting would go a long way in the transition.

  • Be prepared to be your own cheerleader

This is really important, the world is a tough place and only the best and tough people can survive in it. In as much as your family loves you, there will still be expectations from them and no one will really understand what you are going through. So, on the bad days, the times when it seems you can’t handle it anymore, you have to be able to brace up and cheer yourself on.

  • Be ready to take risks and try new ventures

There is really no script to life, so be ready to try new ventures not even related to your course of study. It always helps to look within you and figure  out what other skills you have, embark on them and you might just have that smooth transition you desire

All  in all, it’s never easy transitioning but just like every other change, it’s a constant and one we must learn to adopt, no just in going from dependency to independency but also in other spheres of life. Goodluck!

 

About Jane

21 year old Udoka Jane O is a trained  Engineer, She is  a professional freelance writer on Relationship and healthy lifestyles. Jane has written a number of mind engaging articles….

Jyoti Kumari, 18, and her 16-year-old sister, Neha, from Banwari Tola, in India’s Uttar Pradesh state, took over their father’s barbershop in 2014 after he suffered a severe paralytic attack that left him bedridden. The girls were only 13 and 11-years-old at the time, but the barbershop was the family’s only source of income, so they had to do something to put food on the table. At first, the barbershop was closed, but as the family savings evaporated, Jyoti and Neha reopened it and started running it themselves. But things didn’t go well at first, as some men were skeptical about having girls shave their beards and trim their mustaches, while others treated them badly. So they started disguising themselves as men.

Photo source: Gulfnews

“This was indeed a tough job but we had no option as well. So we transformed ourselves [to look] like boys. We changed our names like males, dressed ourselves like boys, sported boys’ hairstyle[s] and also behaved like boys,” Jyoti recalled. “But for our efforts, my family would have died of starvation and our study would have been affected.”

The teenage girls cut their hair short, started wearing stainless steel bracelets normally worn by men, and changed their names to Deepak and Raju. Most of the people in their village knew their real identities, but men from surrounding communities had no idea they were really girls. The disguises allowed the girls to keep the barbershop running and earn about 400 rupees per day, enough to provide for their family, pay for their father’s treatment and continue their studies.

Some of the people in the village kept mocking them for posing as men, but the two sisters ignored them and focused on their work, as they had no other choice. They managed to conceal their gender and real identities for four years, but as time went by, they became more confident and recently started revealing their secret to more people.

“Now we have gained enough confidence and don’t fear anyone,” Jyoti Kumari said. “The majority of people have come to know that we are girls.”

Photo source: alArabiya

After a journalist from the nearby city of Gorakhpur published their incredible story in a Hindi newspaper last week, Jyoti and Neha earned the praise of an entire nation and were even honored by local authorities for their grit and determination in the face of adversity.

“Unfazed by taunts coming from society, they carried the family’s responsibility on their shoulders and arranged livelihood for their parents, braving all odds. This is a wonderful story which the society must be told [about] and they indeed deserve honors,” local official Abhishek Pandey told reporters. “They are [a] brilliant example of women empowerment and we have recommended to the state government [that they get] suitable rewards.”

The girls’ father, who only recently started walking again, also declared himself incredibly proud of them: “They have run the family showing highest level of grit and I am proud of them.”

 

Source: www.odditycentral.com

Dr Olowojebutu, also the Founder, Benjamin Olowojebutu Foundation (BOF), an NGO, has revealed that no drug can shrink or pass out fibroid in a woman,  at a news conference on Saturday in Lagos.

Fibroids are non-cancerous abnormal growths that develop in or around the womb (uterus). The growths are made up of muscle and fibrous tissue, and vary in size.

The surgeon advised women that instead, they should visit a doctor and get examined when they suspected to have fibroid.

The foundation helps indigent women suffering from various conditions such as Fibroids, Breast lumps, and Hernias.

There are lots of fallacies and superstitious beliefs around fibroid that you can take medicines to shrink or pass it out from the anus; that is what is killing many women today.

Some women have been taken herbal drugs for years and instead of shrinking the fibroid, it is getting bigger.

We want to create awareness to let people know that there is help for them, Olowojebutu said.

The surgeon said that this had contributed a major challenge to the reason many people sought other alternatives rather than visiting the hospital.

He said that his foundation was willing to meet the needs of women who could not afford to pay for surgeries.

According to him, we are targeting 1,000 women for free surgeries in 2019.

Olowojebutu said that the average cost of surgery was N500,000 in the Mainland and about N1million in the Island, both areas in Lagos State.

So, imagine somebody earning N4,000 a month. How long will such person save to be able to pay for surgery.

The goal of BOF is to, in the long run, change the healthcare space with love and compassion.

Our project for 2019 is called Journey To 1,000 Free Surgeries; our aim is to be able to help 1,000 indigent patients suffering from Fibriods, Lipoma Breast Lumps and Hernia.

We have started already and we just concluded the Ikorodu outreach where eight fibroid surgeries took place.

We are off to Cross River, Imo, Abia, Edo, Rivers and Ondo States from the Feb.1, he said.

Olowojebutu said that fibroid was very common in African women and also in Nigeria.

He said, however, that the risk of developing fibroid could be reduced if a woman married early and there was a break in their menstrual flow.

Women who menstruate early, let us say at 10 years old and you are now 35 years old, that is 25 years of bleeding without a break.

When there is no break in your menstrual flow, that is, the longer you are menstruating for, you stimulate the oestrogen hormone to produce fibroid.

Women who have many babies may not have fibroid, because there is usually a break; one year of pregnancy and another for breastfeeding, which is two years of break.

So, the oestrogen hormone cannot stimulate their wombs to grow the fibroid, he said.

 

Credit: pulse.ng

32-year old Nigerian journalist, Tope Delano has just shared a very touching story of how she’s been raped twice, survived post partum depression and how she’s lost almost everyone she loves.

According to her, ‘I was molested between ages of 7 and 11, raped twice, battled depression almost half her life, dealt with post-partum depression, lost 4 persons in a space of 1yr 5 month’.

 

Follow her story below…

 

First of all, how do you like the name, Domestic Queen? I love it. I think it is an absolute upgrade from stay-at-home mom, which was a very welcome upgrade from housewife. Thank goodness.

Whatever name you prefer though, running the home is a full-time job and I personally believe that it is ideal to have a domestic help, whether ‘live-in’ or ‘come and go’.

Today, I am writing for moms who for one reason or the other don’t have either of these two kinds of help.

How are you coping?

Well, I am currently in the throes of running my home without a help, while simultaneously running my home-based business and other streams that flow out of me. This gig is hard, I won’t even try to sugarcoat it. It was a lot easier when I had a help; but for valid reasons, I decided against getting another after she left.

It was clear I needed help, so I refined the kind of help I needed. Some of it unconventional, but because we know it takes a village to raise a child, (and maybe a clan to run a home), I still found ‘help’ that worked for me and my family. All unconventional, but they work.

School
First, with both my kids at school between 7am and 3pm, I consider school the first help that I have. Yes, they are helping me educate my kids, but they are also by extension, freeing up time for me to get my acts together and make those eight hours count.

What this means is that for any mom in these shoes, you must become a better time manager – any personal or official work not completed in those hours would have to be rolled over to the next day. Children demand and spell love as A-T-T-E-N-T-I-O-N.

Cleaner
The next help I got was a cleaning lady to come in once or twice a week to do laundry and general spring cleaning. With that amount of cleaning done, all I need do is maintain it upward from there, so that the house remains in a fairly clean state before she comes again.

Home Appliances
The third kind of help you can get would be home appliances that would make life easy for you. Personally, I needed just two things: a washing machine and a deep freezer. The washing machine would take laundry out of my to-do list, and a freezer meant I could cook and store in bulk, so there would be no need to cook daily. I don’t know what kind of appliance would help you, but it may be worth saving and making adjustments to your budget to get it.

Siesta
Absurd as this one may sound, I consider siesta (even if for forty-five minutes to an hour) a kind of help. Once the after-school activities of bathing, dressing, eating, doing homework/house chores and playing are over, the home most likely would be in a messy state. Insisting on siesta would allow you some time to clean up before dinner time and your husband gets home. Granted, you would not be able to guarantee a clean home every single time he gets home, but don’t let your home look like it just escaped a hurricane. A clean home is great for sanity and productivity, so ‘get help’ and let your kids observe siesta – even if all they do is sit and stare in their rooms.

Friends and family
Since we cannot exhaust all the possibilities of unconventional domestic help, I would like to end with this one which I consider very important and that is friends and family. Oh, please enlist their help. You have not because you have not been an ‘asker’. Sadly, most of us are too shy or make very wrong assumptions and so miss out on amazing help. Ask that single friend to help you run errands; or better still, if she can come over to mind your kids while you go run errands, enjoy some me-time or date night with your husband. Take the kids to their grandparents or family members some weekends if they live close and it is an option. Ask someone from your local church to come babysit while you catch a few hours of sleep.

Don’t assume everyone is busy and no one would have time to help. It would surprise you to know that some people are waiting for you to ask as they don’t want to be too forward. So, go ahead and ask, and don’t give up because the first two people declined. Try other people. You can even take your kids to a friend who has Domestic help and have them mind your kid while you get some much-needed R&R (Rest and relaxation).

Whatever you decide, make sure that you are being responsible as you delegate responsibilities for the care of your child(ren) in those hours.

So, dear Domestic Queen without Domestic Help, find your unconventional help and rock out your life and season.

About Eziaha Bolaji-Olojo

Eziaha Bolaji-Olojo (CoachE’) is a Food and Fitness Coach and CEO at CoachE’Squad Ltd, a thriving home-based business where she serves Jesus and Fitness to the world. Asides helping women live optimized lives through a healthy food and fitness routine, she runs a personal Faith-based blog www.eziaha.com where she chronicles her Christian walk, and holds regular meetings called POWWOW with E’ for Stay at home moms.

She is a First-Class Graduate of Sociology, holds a UK degree in Personal Nutrition and a Pre-natal and Postnatal Fitness Specialist Certification endorsed by the American Fitness Professionals Association (AFPA). She is also an Alumnus of Daystar Leadership Academy (DLA). Above all these, she is a proud wife and mom to two boys and takes that assignment very seriously. She is a product of many teachers and mentors, constantly going for knowledge, regularly pours into mentoring younger folks, loves stir-fry eggs and home-made zobo, and is a proud member of Daystar Christian Centre.

Eziaha can be found on Instagram @stayhomemoms.ng and on Twitter as @eziahaa, and you can email her on eziaha@eziaha.com

 

Source: Bella Naija