Early Childwood
Black, Bold and Beautiful
Born on the 12th of December 1981, I am the fifth child of Williams and Christie Okoye. My earliest memory as a child was about the age of six, my mother was a disciplinarian and a health freak. She would insist on an organic balanced diet filled with lots of vegetables. This was one of my earliest memories of her setting her boundaries around our home. I was a sweet tooth and eating my greens was not my favourite thing to do, mum was not having that. This set the tone between us moving forward.
During my early childhood, I had both of my parents and grew up with five other siblings. Both of my parents were born in Nigeria and were parents of deep Christian faith. They instilled many thoughts, ideas, Christian values and traditions of the Nigerian culture. My mother had an authoritarian style of parenting while my Father had an authoritative style of parenting. Looking back at it, it made sense because I was closer to my Father than my Mother.
My father was a dual mastered engineer from the university of Pittsburg while my mother was a nurse. My father was an educator with deep passion for STEM and female empowerment that was palpable. He challenged me to think with our deep conversations about life and his expectations he had for me. I loved the time we spent together. I had my early education back home in Nigeria.
Adulthood
Adulthood My Journey to Adulthood came really quickly. Growing up in a family with four older siblings certainly gave me an insight into adulthood way ahead of my peers. My Christian faith played a major role and helped shape a lot of my decisions as my transition into adulthood; I knew God was in control of everything and has a plan for everyone. With the consistent pressure from my parents to keep up with my good grades and be amongst the top students in the class, I felt a sense of responsibility to make them proud. Fortunately for me, I was smart and studied hard with the help of my father, I left high school as one of the best graduating students. My years in college was not any different as I graduated as an engineer following in the footsteps of my father.
Getting my first real job with no help from anyone really help me put my best foot forward into the working world of being an adult. Carefree, careless and fearless, I learned a lot of new things, especially the darker and brighter parts of life. I had in my hands my entire future and I was determined to work hard and soar through life like an eagle. I took it upon myself with great support from my parents to lay down the foundation for my professional life. I have always had an invincible type of strength that constantly encourages me to accomplish my life time goals. My strong educational background led me to forge ahead and bag a master’s degree in engineering and also an executive master’s in business administration.
With valuable corporate experience, I wanted more and was not ready to be confined to a Job anymore. My MBA program introduced me into the world of entrepreneurship which gave me a new horizon that I had been searching for. Leadership and mentorship had always been a passion for me especially women empowerment, I knew I had finally found my zone. On the flip side, motherhood came very natural and I was certainly comfortable in my own skin. Having taken care of my little cousins and my nieces, I scaled through early parenting and being a hands on mother of 3 kids I was equal to the task. Building my home and my businesses have been my best experiences so far. After over 15 years of valuable experience in the UK, I have moved back home to Africa to bring great ideas that can cause an upheaval to bring positive change to the continent and I am happy to ride in this space for a very long time.
Baby
Age 10
Age 20
Age 30
Age 40