Life

2022 Speech Day at Cheltenham Ladies College

Lessons in Social Change: Mandela and the Elm

How do you weaken a powerful force? It’s simple – you deny it access to its source of energy. It matters whom you have in your corner. It matters who influences you. It matters where you draw your inspiration. A spark will never truly ignite without the influence of oxygen. Even the most talented genius needs validation sometimes.

Faith Abiodun at the United Nations Headquarters

Russia Changed My Life: Five Lessons from Life in a Faraway Land

I have come to realize that our lives become the totality of the individual actions that we take — that we are better off previewing our futures through the actions of today. If our works are not credit-worthy today, they will not be tomorrow; but if we commit to creating value, even if we do not see the results immediately, everything will make sense down the line.

I Took a Menial Job: Five Lessons from My Unintended Gap Year

  • Life

I am convinced that there are no disadvantaged people in life. There are only people who refuse to make the most of the resources available to them. I know that there are people who have had it far worse than I have in life, but I have also seen people from much poorer backgrounds who have achieved far more than I have. We need to stop complaining about what we do not have and start maximizing what we do have.

Connecting the Dots: Five Lessons from Steve Jobs and My Younger Self

As I have found myself in positions to mentor others, I have devised a theory of my own – that everyone is qualified to be a mentor. I believe that even if you are only one step ahead of another person on the ladder of life, you have a responsibility – an obligation – to reach behind you and help them up with a combination of your experiences and your wisdom.

The New Normal is Here. Embrace it.

  • Life

Our world has changed forever, and we may not even realize the full extent of that transformation for a while. When news broke about a new virus from China early in 2020, it felt so far away from the rest of the world. Three short months after, the entire world had ground to a complete halt. Never in recent history,… Read More »The New Normal is Here. Embrace it.

A Man Named Khesa

When I saw the neighbourhood in Leribe where Khesa grew up, saw his father, met students at his former school, interviewed his former school principal and spoke with other community members who had witnessed his evolution, I couldn’t have been prouder of the young man who symbolizes the strength and grit that I desire to see in every young man across the world.

Quit Bashing The Youth: It’s Not Sexy

  • Life

Those who have made a career out of bashing the youth fail to realize that every generation engages with the world the way they find it. We are pursuing different ways of engaging with our world, constantly learning from the disappointments of generations past and quietly evaluating new avenues for involvement.

Memories

I think back very often to the time when I was 13 years old. Being an adult seemed so far away and I was not sure I could wait long enough to do all the things for which I needed to be grown-up: have a job, run my own company, get married, be my own person and every imaginable set… Read More »Memories