A week ago I was privileged to attend this summit of fast rising, game changing, women in Calgary put together by Ejibola Adetokunbo-Taiwo.
To put a bit more context to this – Let me rewind! (Story teller mode activated! It just had to become a story. lol. Lord deliver me from the love for writing!)
Enhen! (by the way, “enhen” is a Nigerian expression for “as I was saying”, it could also mean various things depending on how and where the user uses it in speech, but this is what it means here. hahahha)
So “Enhen”! I had learnt about this event from one of the whataspp groups I am on, I intended to attend and be there on time but as usual – anything that doesn’t make it to my diary has a very slim chance of happening! People! Start to write things down biko! (biko means please).
So, this event was on the table and so was Shola’s birthday party! Shola is my go to girl in Calgary! I tell you, I have met some amazing ladies in this town, I honestly still doubt they are fully mortal! From Dami, to Shade, to Shola! I need a full page to talk about these peopel! I digresssss oooo!
Okay! So angel Shola was going to have a party on the Friday before the event! I decided I was going to attend even if it was for an hour! I couldn’t but turn up for my girl. So I did “some” make up, jumped into a nice black zara jumpsuit, grabbed a black fedorra hat, a pair of red comfortable heels to nicely contrast the all black e’rything look and boom! I was ready. #notime. It was a beautiful one hour not worrying about a thing in this world! A mental escape of some sort! I loved it!
Fast forward to Saturday morning. Shade sends me a reminder about the event and I’m like my goodness! How did I forget?! (Well Tola, you didn’t write it down in your planner, that’s how you forgot!) But that wasn’t going to deter me. We both got to it! dressed up (with my kajal that would’nt totally wipe out from the previous night) and headed out to the Nicholls library about 10 minutes away where the event was happening.
One speaker after the other, you could see these beautiful women, some of them thousands of miles away from the land they call home, yet determined to make an impact in the world around them regardless spreading the “yes you can” message! Exactly my kinda energy! I loved it! I got to learn about the movement – “we hustle in heels“. Ejibola and her wonderful team to which I am glad to now be called a part of – dishing out sound advise and doing nothing but uplifting one another. I left feeling very positively impacted. People! Surround yourself with the right team! It’s the best sorry, ONLY way to go!
Did I mention my friend Dami set me up for some surprise public speaking at this event too? and Shade gracefully took photos? See what a winning squad feels like? ahan! We all need one. I mean we have our odd moments when we can’t all agree on one thing and that’s fine too! But when love is winning – that’s pretty much what counts!
It was a great time! Cant wait for the next edition in June! By the way did I mention I have become the official photographer for the movement? #justlike that! #embracethedreamguys! If you can think it… you can do it says Mo Abudu! And I have held on to this!
Your dreams are valid!
