Exclusive Trusted Magazine Q&A with Seyi Bolaji, Communications Strategist & Writer
How could you describe your career path in a few words?
When I talk about my career path, I like to start with a story about my childhood. At age 7, I wanted to be a pilot, at age 12, I was considering being a lawyer, and at age 16, I decided to study English at the University. It has been a journey with so many uncertainties, fears, failures, and successes. I studied English and proceeded with a Masters in Strategic Communications.
My career path is a journey that is unending because new opportunities come my way daily and I have been able to make the most use of these opportunities despite various challenges.
The most important thing is knowing what I want and going for it. This has helped me handle being a Communications Strategist, a Broadcaster, a Writer, a Compere, a Founder / Team Lead and an Advocate.
I have also been blessed with family and the right people who have guided me over the years and most importantly, I have allowed God to order my steps.
My career path has been that of resilience, determination, dedication, commitment, hard work and God's favor.
What was your most challenging experience and how did it change your mindset?
My most challenging experience in life is watching a lot of people tell my parent (while I was much younger) that they have no reason to invest in their girls because to them, my six sisters and I were just “mere girls”. At that stage of my life, honestly, I believed the society and I felt that nothing good could come from a girl child. It was heart-breaking but it pushed me to do more.
What I felt while I was younger was terrible and I decided not to allow this happen to any other girl and this is why I founded a number of Initiatives like Creative Teens’ Corner to encourage every child to believe in themselves and pursue their dreams, ProjectEAC (Educate a Child Campaign) to ensure every child has access to quality and safe education and working tirelessly as a Communications Strategist championing the education, health and rights of marginalized women and girls in Nigeria.
It was a challenge that would have made me lose focus in life but I'm grateful to God, I saw the need to pursue my dreams. Today, I am glad that no one can call me a mere girl. We must never let the society define who we are.
When you get surprised by unusual or uncertain situations, what do you think?
When I get surprised by an unusual context, what I think about is how far I have come. I think about the past; the failures, the challenges, the fears and how I overcame them. These gives me the courage that no matter how tough the going gets, I will survive it. Do I get scared? Yes, but I am confident that the help I have received to journey over the past years, is very much available to guide me through.
Sometime ago, I was faced with an unusual situation, it was a big shock, but I thought of two things. I knew worrying will never change the situation so I chose to see how good I could make use of that situation to better my life.
If we don't face difficult situations, we may never know how strong we can be. Attitude is the key to surviving the harsh climate of life. Your attitude is what keeps you going in the face of fierce challenges.
Based on your experience, what are the key success factor for a female leader / manager?
There are number of key success factors for female leaders, but I will mention a few. Resilience, Value Creation, Hard work and High Self-esteem
1. Resilience: Dear female leaders, renew your commitment to pursue your goals with vigor and be resilient in the face of adversity. Resolve to be tough, strong, and courageous. If you've set your sight on the top, then you've got be prepared to deal with the inevitable bumps on the road to success.
2. Create Value: Our worth to the society is commensurate to the amount of value we are creating. Seek the formula for value creation and you will recreate success over and over.
3. Hard work: Never ignore the process if you want to get the right product. If you want to see an effect, you must trigger the cause tied to it. You see, even with the right ingredients you won't get the right product if you don't follow the right process, HARD WORK. That means even if you have the right combination of skills talent and know-how you still won't make the most of it if you don't put in the work.
4. High Self-Esteem: Nobody is ever going to believe in you if you don't believe in yourself. If you want to be successful, believe in yourself that will be able to record huge successes.
