Focusing on Your Inner Strength - Ayoola Efunkoya (Founder, Accessibility 360)

"When you meet someone with disability on the road, it's not time to give them money. It's more appropriate to find ways that they could be their best in their situation."

This is one of the most striking statement Ayoola Efunkoya made in this episode of Lead Your Life Series.

We live in a  society where there is no proper system for inclusion of people with disabilities and therefore they are being marginalized.  We often times subconsciously see them as helpless people who need pity.

Today's episode of Lead Your Life Series features the story of how Ayoola Efunkoya who might have been seen as just a blind man, took charge of his life and became independent. Today, he is helping individuals with disabilities access technology that help them improve their productivity.

Lead Your Life Series, is a special edition of Lead Your Life Podcast. We share real life experiences of how personal struggles and seeming setbacks were turned into phenomenal stories of hope and grace.

About Ayoola Efunkoya 

Ayoola Stephen Efunkoya is a journalist with more than five years experience in reporting, writing, interviewing, editing and producing for radio as well as sound recording and editing.

His interest in journalism dates to his days in elementary and high schools and has since grown because he believes the profession provides a rare opportunity to draw the attention of both government and the society to communities and issues which would otherwise have gained little or no attention because they are often under-reported.

As a visually impaired person himself, he considers blind persons as members of his immediate community. In service to this community, he started Accessibility 360 with the aim of researching, informing, educating and training other blind persons to use assistive and mainstream technology. 

He is motivated to do this because, according to him, his own achievements are largely the result of technology’s impact in equipping the blind to fit and compete in school, at work, at play and in other spheres of life. 

So far, at least 100 blind persons in Lagos and its surrounding towns come together through Accessibility 360 to learn, share ideas and resolve each other's challenges with technology via a WhatsApp group and on Facebook.

Efunkoya is also interested in marketing communication, social media, public speaking, small businesses, media research, leadership and management.

The communication professional and accessible technology enthusiast/trainer is an alumni of the President Barack Obama-initiated Young African Leaders Initiative and LEAP Africa’s Young Leadership Programme.

Efunkoya was the best graduating student in the 2009 class at the University of Lagos’ Mass Communication Department with a cumulative grade point of 4.36 of a possible 5.00 and where he also received numerous awards.

He has a Masters degree in Communication and Language Arts from the University of Ibadan and also attended Loyola Jesuit College.

When he is not working, you are likely to find him reading, listening to music or in conversation with someone. He loves traveling and meeting people.

Efunkoya would be telling us about his struggles, What were his redefining moments, the two most important steps he took differently, what were the aftermath, and what lessons he would like you to take away from his story.

Enjoy!

 

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:07 — 18.6MB)

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Repositioning Yourself for Success - Pelumi Obisesan (Founder, Teens Going for Gold Network))

How would you feel when your mother say to you, "I never prayed for a child like you." This was the reality of our guest today at some point in her life.

Today's episode of Lead Your Life Series features the brief story of how Pelumi Obisesan went from being an all-round failure as a teenager to the point where she discovers the way to succeed. Today, she is helping teenagers move from mediocrity to excellence.

Lead Your Life Series, is a special edition of Lead Your Life Podcast. We share real life experiences of how personal struggles and seeming setbacks were turned into phenomenal stories of hope and grace.

About Pelumi Obisesan

Pelumi Obisesan is a civic leader that inspires, educates and empowers teenagers on their path to self-discovery, encouraging them to live more purposeful lives.

She is the Founder of Teens Going for Gold Network and convener of Project Inspire and Editor-in-Chief of the TeenAchiever bulletin. In her own words, "my passion is to see young persons especially teenagers excel in their chosen fields."

A graduate of International Studies and Diplomacy from the University of Benin, Nigeria, Pelumi is also passionate about the peace and development of the African Continent.

She is currently a recipient of ECOWAS Nnamdi Azikiwe Mobility Scholarship at Cheik Anta Diop University where she is studying for her Masters degree.

Pelumi would be telling us about her struggles, What were her redefining moments, the two most important steps she took differently, what were the aftermath, and what lessons she would like you to take away from her story.

Enjoy!

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 9:20 — 8.83MB)

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Dealing with Depression - Toluse Francis (Founder, The Mind and Health Center)

The World Health Organisation (WHO) in its 2017 World Health Day message says over 7 million Nigerians suffer from one of the most ignored and misunderstood form of mental disorder in the country – depression. 

Today's episode of Lead Your Life Series features the brief story of how Toluse Francis fell into depression and how he eventually got out.Today, he is helping people with similar experience find true happiness.

Lead Your Life Series, is a special edition of Lead Your Life Podcast. We share real life experiences of how personal struggles and seeming setbacks were turned into phenomenal stories of hope and grace.

About Toluse Francis

Toluse Francis

Toluse Francis was born in Nigeria. He is passionate about seeing people live healthy and productive.

He obtained his Bachelors degree from Bowen University, Osun State Nigeria.

He obtained diplomas in Mental Health Studies and Human Nutrition respectively from Alison Educational Institute in the Republic of Ireland. Toluse also obtained his psychology certification from same institute.

He is a Certified Life Coach and Master Practitioner, Neuro-linguistic programming by the American Union of Neuro-Linguistic Programming.

He helps people live through the past or present that may want to threaten their future. This is seen in his mental health help to people ranging from eating disorders to depression, low self-esteem to mention just a few.

He is deeply moved towards the total wellness of the human race.

His core message is to make sure that everyone possess a renewed mind, illuminated spirit and a healthy body.

He is the author is Eat Fit: a Nutritional Blueprint for Healthy Living as well as on Amazon stores worldwide.
A Blogger, writer and speaker. He blogs and has his podcasts called the Eat Fit Podcast at tolufrancis.com as well as iTunes.

He is the founder of The Mind and Health Center. A group dedicated to helping people take control of their minds and live healthy lives.

Volunteering for Solid Foundation Teens and Youth Ministry since 2008 as a teen educator and counselor.

Interested in Mind health, therapy and recovery, he has featured on various media discussion the issue of mental health especially depression.

He was a nominee in the Nigerian Writers Award of 2016 in the Health Writer of the Year Category and a recipient of the Nigeria Blogs Awards 2015 as Health Blogger of the Year.

He is a recipient of the Nigerian Writers Award in the Health Writer Category for 2017.

He loves to travel, design websites, take up challenges and help people. You can reach him through the various social media platforms. Toluse resides in Lagos, South West Nigeria.

Toluse would be telling us about his struggles, What were his redefining moments, the two most important steps he took differently, what were the aftermath, and what lessons he would like you to take away from his story.

Enjoy!

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:19 — 7.89MB)

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[LYLS02] - The Search for Personal Identity - Feyisayo Adanlawo (Founder, Treasure House Foundation)

Lead Your Life Series, is a special edition of Lead Your Life Podcast. We would be  sharing real life experiences of how personal struggles and seeming setbacks were turned into phenomenal stories of hope and grace.

Joseph Campbell said, "Our true reality is in our identity and unity with all life." There are many people out there who are living like strangers to themselves. Today's episode features the story of how Feyisayo Adanlawo struggled with finding her Personal Identity due to her childhood experiences.

About Feyisayo Adanlawo

Feyisayo is a serial entrepreneur and a personal development expert. The founder/lead volunteer of Treasure House Foundation where She focuses on teenagers and young adults, working particularly in sexual assault, sexual related addictions and emotional trouble cases. 

She links them up with experts that would help them (psychologists, therapists, and even medical services) she also make free skill training available to them as a tool for rehabilitation and reintegration into the society.

She is also the business head of Accentuate Cleaning Services Ltd. She also owns her personal shopping brand.



Feyisayo would be telling us about her struggles, What were her redefining moments, the two most important steps she took differently, what were the aftermath, and what lessons she would like you to take away from her story.

Enjoy!
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 22:41 — 21MB)

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[LYLS01] - The Pursuit for Personal Freedom - Chineze Oluwasina (Founder, GIRL Afrique)

Winston Churchill said, "Mountaintops inspire leaders, but valleys mature them."

Men and women discover themselves during their days in the valley. Those Valley experiences prepare them for the mountaintop.  

However, the key to successfully move through the valley is personal leadership. 

Sadly, when some people hear about personal leadership, they think about perfection.

Personal leadership is never on the premise that you are a perfect being. The basic ideology is that your are to take  responsibility for your life outcomes.

It has never been an issue of acting perfect. It's recognizing that you are on a journey. And the end of the journey is greatly dependent on the decisions you take per time.

It's on this note that I bring to you Lead Your Life Series.

If you follow me on any of my social media channels, you would have seen me share about "Lead Your Life Series."

It's a special edition of Lead Your Life Podcast. We would be  sharing real life experiences of how personal struggles and seeming setbacks were turned into phenomenal stories of hope and grace.

You won't be hearing my voice. I would feature different people from different works of life. 

Basically, I hope to inspire and empower you to begin or continue taking responsibility for your own life outcomes as you aspire to live a life of impact and fulfillment.

Today, we launch Lead Your Life Series with the first episode. 

I have a phenomenal lady this week.

About Chineze Oluwasina

Chineze Oluwasina (fondly called Chichi) is a young and passionate strategist with core competence in team building and organizational structure. Chichi was born in Ibadan, Nigeria on the 24th of October.

She graduated from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife with a Bachelor of Science (Agriculture) and currently rounding off her Masters Degree in Agronomy from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.

Chichi believes in given herself over to continuous learning, thus she has a diploma in Social Work and strategic management from the Open Training Institute.

Chichi is currently involved in community development and agricultural research. She is a sought after facilitator for several profit and non- profit organizations with focus on team building, project management, leadership and communication skills.

Her agricultural research aims at helping community farmers have access to improved cassava varieties. She is a Research Fellow at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture.

She was nominated to attend the Global Leadership Submit 2016 in Indonesia and the One Young World Submit 2016 in Ottawa. She obtained a MasterCard scholarship to learn Foundations for Entrepreneurial Leadership at the African Leadership Academy, Johannesburg.

She is currently a cohort-2 participant of the Young African Leaders Initiative, Regional Leadership Centre, Accra, Lagos Campus. She has just been nominated as the International Coordinator for Consortium of Young African Civil Society Organizations.

Her passion to see inner city girls rise above every prejudice associated with her background and gender, Chichi founded GIRL Afrique, a budding organization aimed at helping inner city girls harness their potentials by equipping them with relevant skills to make informed decisions.

She enjoys facilitating, playing lawn tennis and swimming. She is happily married to her campus sweetheart who is also in the development sector.

Chichi would be telling us about her struggles, What were her redefining moments, the two most important steps she took differently, what were the aftermath, and what lessons she would like you to take away from her story.

Enjoy!
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 12:50 — 18.8MB)

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My Top 5 Leadership Lessons from YALI RLC West Africa Onsite Training

In my last post. I interviewed 22 of my colleagues from the Young African Leaders Initiative, Regional Leadership Center (YALI RLC). They shared their before and after YALI experience.

A number of people asked me to share my experience. Therefore, I am resuming Lead Your Life Podcast by sharing some leadership lessons I learnt during the onsite training at Administrative Staff college of Nigeria (ASCON), Lagos.

I have been inspired to scale up on my ideas after spending 5 weeks together with Young African Leaders from 9 countries across West Africa. 

There were three tracks - Entrepreneurship, Public Management, and Civic Leadership. I applied to take part in the entrepreneurship track, to learn more about building sustainable business institutions.
  
Of all the experiences I gained, there were some that stood out for me.  

Five Leadership lessons that stood out from YALI RLC, West Africa

1. Be Confident about your unique style as a leader.
2. Discover your unique space as a leader as own it.
3. Strategic collaboration is key to success.
4. The key to building a strong network is to genuinely  serve others.
5. Mentoring makes success more easy.

 In today’s episode of the Lead Your Life Podcast, I discussed with specific illustration, my leadership lessons from YALI.

Enjoy!

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:57 — 30MB)
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How to Apply the Law of Familiarity to Attract your Goals [Podcast]

It is a new year, and the race has begun. I am assuming you have set goals and you are really looking forward to to attract the goals into your life. Once again, you have hope that you can really make things happen in you life. Nothing can stand in your way because you are now invisible.

This is what it feel like in the heads of many at this time of the year. We all want to smash our goals and upgrade our lives. We want more money, better relationships, more accolades, more clients, and the list goes on.

This is really a good thing. But what if I tell  you there is a way to hack your brain, so that your goal execution process becomes easier? Oh yes, there is a way.

The law of of familiarity, which is one of the six laws in Gestalt Psychology can help you create the right perception you need to succeed. Understanding this law can help you create the right experiences that will help you attract your goals.

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In this episode, you will learn about the law of familiarity, and two direct applications that will simplify the theory into practicable tips.



I love to have a feedback from you.

• What is your key take away from this episode?

• Why do a large number of people find it difficult to follow through on their goals?

Please share with me using the comment form below. I use your comments to improve on my content. Let me have your response. I am waiting.


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Overcoming Your Greatness Inertia - with The Oracle [Podcast]

Do you know that 99 percent of the time you are the one sabotaging your dreams? 

More often than not, you permit inertia to take its full course in your life.

The life you live is designed to operate from inside-out. You need to discover those fundamental things that stop you from maximizing your potential. One of them is called "Greatness Inertia".

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If you don't change the things you did in 2016, your 2017 will remain the same. Absolutely nothing will change, if you do not change.

I have a guest today, who is a Spoken Word Poet. Heritage Osofowora, is a 17 year old Poet, whose stage name is "The Oracle." This Interview was inspired by his presentation at Leverage conference 2016 (Snippet at the end).  Heritage shares his insights on how you can overcome self inflicted inertia.

Details Mentioned in this Episode

Facebook - Osofowora Heritage

Instagram - The Oracle

WhatsApp - +234 810 325 0090

Over To You 
I love to have a feedback from you.  

• What is your key take away from this episode? 

• What is that one thing that seems like an obstacle when you want to get started on your ideas?

• What do you like about our young guest for this Episode?

Let me have your response. I am waiting.

Please share with me using the comment form below. I use your comments to improve on my content.
 
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Overcoming your Fear of Rejection [Podcast]

We are a social being by our natural design. Therefore, to some degree we can make sense of people reactions to rejection. No one likes to be turned down or turned away. We all want to belong and feel accepted in one way or the other.

However, all that can go wrong. As much as we have the idea that we want to feel loved and accepted, in the real world, things do not go that way.

It is a known fact that not everyone will buy into your idea, like you, appreciate you, compliment you, or even discern your value immediately. It is quite unfortunate that many individuals allow the mere opinion of others get in the way of their dreams, goals, and vision.

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You can also listen on: iTunes | Android | Email | RSS

I grew up with complex issues. I lived my life majorly on validations from others. Whenever I didn't get the expected response, I looked down on my self.

If at this point, I decided to record a podcast episode on this subject, you should know fully well that I know what it feels like to be scared of rejection.

You are a leader. You do not have to live at the mercy of people's opinions. You can develop your personal leadership by learning how to deal with the roots of the problem.

 There are three major things you would learn in this episode:

1. What are the causes of the fear of rejection?
2. What are the consequences of the fear of rejection?
3. How to handle the fear of rejection like a Ninja.

Links Mentioned in this Episode

• No Excuse Challenge: A definitive guide to break mental limitation in less than 30 days

Over To You  

I love to have a feedback from you. 

• What is your key take away from this episode? 
• What do you think is the major cause of the fear of rejection?     

Let me know what you think. I am waiting.

Please share with me using the comment form below. I use your comments to improve on my content.
 
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