In 2022, I made a pivotal decision to give my life a complete rebrand, and I am thrilled to say I succeeded, or rather, I am succeeding at it. Today, I'm pursuing a Master's degree in Psychology, working as a full-time Product Manager, and building a tech PR agency.
How did I achieve all of this? There was a turning point.
Towards the end of the year 2021, I realized I was feeling unfulfilled with my work and was yearning for a change; I spoke to my friend, Peace Itimi about this and we decided to work out a plan to fix this.
Two months later, during a trip to Kenya to document stories of Founders and business leaders in Africa for Founders Connect, I had an epiphany when we experienced challenges finding enough personal stories of some of the Founders we interviewed. I decided then, to start helping African tech founders document their stories and journeys in numerous ways, in order to inspire others. This idea marked the beginning of a storytelling-focused PR agency, Reneé PR Agency.
On that same trip, I was opportune to meet the Founders of Stax by Hover, a super-app that automates USSD transactions without internet connectivity. During one of our conversations, I mentioned to the Head of Product and co-founder, Jess Shorland, that I had just completed a Product Management course and would like to gain some experience. She welcomed the idea and after a few interviews, I was given an opportunity to intern with the team, and that was the beginning of my journey into Product Management.
Call me crazy, but in addition to that, I felt it was time to pursue my passion for Psychology. So I did some research and found a School to study at. I sent in an application, got accepted, packed my life into two suitcases and moved to the UK for my studies. That was a challenging move because it meant I had to start juggling schoolwork, my job and building Reneé on the side, but I trusted myself to handle them.
Was it challenging? Yes, very, but I persevered and continued getting better at all that I was learning and making sure that I achieved every goal that I set. I received a lot of support from my manager, Jess and learned to stand on my own early enough and was given the opportunity to own products. It was scary, but eventually, I see how that made me more confident in my abilities. I am currently an Associate Product Manager at Stax, just about to launch Reneé to the public, and rounding up my Master's degree in Psychology.
It has been a wild but fulfilling ride. I get to incorporate a lot of Psychology skills I have learned, into my work as a Product Manager, making me more efficient at my job. Also, my curiosity about the intersection of psychology and user experience is helping me gain a deeper understanding of product management and storytelling, surprisingly.
Through this journey, I have learned that changing and transforming your life in one year is not impossible, it just requires a lot of hard work and determination to do it. If you are curious or want to challenge yourself to change your life, here are some things that helped me.
Planning: I have learnt to allocate different times to different activities as this helps prevent me from multitasking, which can be unproductive in the long run.
Setting boundaries: As someone with multiple passions, one way I prevent burnout is by disconnecting from work at a certain time of the day. I ensure that I prioritize rest and quality sleep, and also indulge in non-work activities. I have learned to pace myself and remain focused on doing the best that I can, and when I feel overwhelmed, I take a break.
Building resilience: All my experiences across different industries in the last 10 years have helped me build resilience which is instrumental in navigating everything I do.
Asking for help: This saves me time trying to figure everything out on my own and I get to learn from the expertise of others. It has also given me access to people and resources that I needed to move from point A to B.
Accountability and commitment: The support and encouragement I have gotten from family, friends, my assistant, my personal coach and my colleagues make a world of difference for me. This keeps me committed to reaching goals, so I can make them proud.
Curiosity: Once you stop being curious about life, you stop learning new ways of doing things and this can create stagnancy. Seeking out opportunities and being open to learning new things have also been essential to my growth.
And I couldn't have done it without the support of everyone who has been a part of my life and my journey so far. I am most thankful to Peace Itimi, Mofi Badmos, the Founders of Hover/Stax Jess Shorland, Ben Lyon & David Kutalek and my assistant, Susan Nwaobiala for consistently supporting me through this journey.
Perhaps this is your sign that you should totally give changing your life a try. I mean, what's the worst that could happen? Thank you for reading this.
This article was repurposed from my story on ‘How I Changed My Life’ with Peace Itimi. Please watch it via: https://youtu.be/AdXbZRRxm7U
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