Weaving a Legacy of Empowerment with Dr. Chichi Menakaya - E104 - Lead To Excel Podcast

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello and welcome to Lead to Excel podcast, where
every story sparks inspirationand every conversation brings
you closer to your best self.
I'm Maureen Chiana and I'm hereto explore the extraordinary
fusion of leadership, emotionalintelligence and the
groundbreaking insights ofneuroscience.

(00:23):
Together, we'll uncover secretsto unlocking your potential,
enhancing your decision-makingand elevating your performance
to new heights.
Whether you're leading a team,building a dream or simply on a
quest for personal growth,you're in the right place, so
let's dive in and transform theway we think, lead and live.

(00:47):
Welcome aboard.
Hello again and welcome back toanother episode of Lead to
Excel podcast.
And today I've got a lady who Imet her once and I said I've
got to get you onto this podcastand we've been trying to do
this.
I'm so pleased and honored tohave you, dr Chichi Menakaia, on

(01:13):
our podcast today.
Thank you so much for makingout the time to come and, guys,
you wouldn't believe it, this isGood Friday holiday and she
woke up to do this podcast withme.
I really appreciate you.

Speaker 2 (01:25):
Thank you so much, maureen.
Honestly, I think it's longoverdue.
We should have done this agesago, but I'm really grateful.
And yes, I know it's GoodFriday, but I think it's good.
We're actually doing somethinggood on Good Friday, so I think
the work you do is fantastic.
I've been following the stuffthat you send to me and I'm
really grateful to be here.
Thank you so much, thank you,thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:44):
I love that.
Doing something good on GoodFriday, that's so cool, right?
So Dr Chichi Menakaia is anaward-winning trauma and
orthopedic surgeon.
She commands the globalhealthcare stage with
unparalleled expertise andinfluence.
I hope you heard that, becausewe are going to dig deep into

(02:06):
this guys.
She was nominated Best of theBest in 2022 by the British
Orthopedic Association andbestowed with esteemed
international awards, includingprestigious WJ Little Medal for
Orthopedics.
She epitomizes excellence inher field as the CEO of Anormal

(02:30):
Health, a trailblazer in premiummedical concierge services, she
orchestrates bespoke pathwaysconnecting elite clientele with
top-tier global healthcare andwellness.
She founded Anomal Foundation,a charity dedicated to
supporting individuals indeveloping countries through

(02:51):
healthcare access, education andfinancial empowerment.
Driven by an unwaveringcommitment to global wellbeing,
she shapes a legacy ofexceptional leadership, leaving
an indelible mark on healthcareand humanity.
Wow, wow, wow, dr Chichi, thankyou.

(03:13):
Thank you so much.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
Thank you, thank you, maureen, honestly thank you.
Like when you read that thing,I'm like, wow, this is just
little me or nobody else, right?
But God has been merciful, sothank you so much.
Thank you, I think I give godall the glory for everything.
He's the one that made the pathto make it possible.
Thank you so much and thanksfor having me.

Speaker 1 (03:31):
So what, let's let me start by asking a question and
she doesn't know.
I'm gonna ask her this questionwhat does chichi start?
What does chichi?
What's the full?

Speaker 2 (03:41):
name, okay, so my full name is actually chinyelo,
which means God has given me achild, right?
And basically my mom has alwayscalled me Titi, so everyone
calls me Titi, and obviously.
So if people call me Tinyelo,when they call me Tinyelo, it
means I'm in trouble, right?
So my full name is actuallyTinyelo, because it means God
has given me a child and it'sgot a story, because my mom says

(04:01):
that I'm a gift from God to herand that's just what it was
right.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
Now I know why we are connected so much.
My name is Chinye Lu.
Oh, my God, exactly, wow, yeah.
So my name is actually ChinyeLu and I'll tell you a story.
So my name is Chinye Lu, butwhen I was young, they called me
Chinye Re.
Okay, so I remember Chinye Lu,but when I was young, they
called me Chinye Re.

(04:27):
Okay, so you see, becauseChinye Re is Imo state, isn't it
exactly?
Chinye Lu is Anambra and I'mfrom Anambra, so, but they
called me Chinye Re, not surewhy, and at a point I saw my
birth certificate with Chinye Luand I was so confused.
So my birth certificate isChinye Lu, but why do people
call me Chinye?

(04:47):
I was so confused.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
I've had the same thing like you've had.
Like literally some people callme Chinye Lu and I'm always
like my name is not Chinye Lu,my name is Chinye Lu, and for a
long time it was like a big deal.
So I just said, listen, I'mgoing to stick with Chi Chi,
because that is the name mostpeople that are close to me call
me and I think everyone says,like this week actually, someone
at work said to me what doesChi Chi mean?
I said it means God, god ChiChi.
And she said why is that yourname?
And I said, listen, that's notreally my name, it's obviously

(05:13):
my pet name, but I think, like Ifeel like I resonate, like what
it is very meaningful to me.
But for me, when I call myselfchichi, I know that everything I
do is standing on the grace ofgod and actually, and that's
what really gets me going andthat's why I use that as my name
everywhere, even at work, I'mcalled chichi, because it's just

(05:34):
what I use as my name I lovethat.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
I love that.
Oh so now, now I know why thewhy we're so strongly connected.
My god, it it's so weird, isn'tit?
I know, and I really didn'tknow that.
So, chichi, tell us a bit aboutyou in terms of background,
where you grew up, and just kindof bring us up to pre-uni and

(06:02):
let's get a feel for who you areOkay.

Speaker 2 (06:05):
So I always say to everyone, everyone, I'm just a
little girl, right, that lovesplaying with lego a game, and I
grew up like.
I was born in enugu, nigeria,right, and then I grew up in
onitsha for a big part of mylife.
And if people that don't know,onitsha is in eastern nigeria
and it's a lot of people knowonitsha because of business and
also because it's um and I Ithink for me, anicha is really

(06:25):
close to my heart because a lotof things I do today is because
I have the Anicha spirit in meand if you know Anicha, which is
in um in southeastern Nigeria,it's they're known to like to be
hustlers.
That's where business happens.
So I did my primary school andmy nursery school in Anicha.
I went to.
Initially I went to All Saints,um, so's called.
It was called Cathedral NurserySchool and eventually got

(06:46):
changed to All Saints.
Then I went to All SaintsPrimary School.
Now All Saints Primary Schoolhas got like a bit of a fix
because initially it used to beowned by the government and it
was called Premier and then thechurch took it over and it was
called All Saints.
Then I went ahead to go toBaptist High School, joss, and
it's really funny because I wentall the way from anita to just
to do high school, but I onlyspent three days in that high

(07:08):
school and I came back.
And this is really important totell the story, because prior
to going to baptist I wanted tobe.
First of all, I wanted to be apilot.
Then my mom showed me like allthose picked planes falling off
the sky and I got too scaredbecause I'm like, literally but
when it comes to planes.
And then I wanted to be amusician and I didn't actually
want to be a musician.
I wanted to be Michael Jackson,if that makes sense in any way,

(07:28):
because that was like my thing.
It says what do you want to bewhen you grow up?
I said I wanted to be MichaelJackson and then I went from
there wanting to be an actress.
Then I went from there actuallywanted to be an automobile
engineer because, as I said toyou, I love Lego, because I love
building things, and for me,doing automobile engineering was
supposed to be like to buildnew things and build cars,
because I have a lot of interestwith cars.
And then I went to Baptist HighSchool, joss, and I only stayed

(07:49):
three days because I becamereally unwell and at that time I
was diagnosed with typhoidfever.
So my mom took me back toschool and brought me back on
her way back Right, and I gothome to back to Onitsha.
And I think this point is reallyinteresting story because I
could remember being at home andsomeone connecting an IV line
to me, and this person wore awhite dress and had a beautiful

(08:11):
heart, and imagine when you'rein pain, you're drenched with
fever and all of a sudden youlook at this fluid coming to
your hands and a few minuteslater you actually feel better,
right, and this person comesinto a white coat with a
stethoscope and actually looksafter you.
And even though I was born in amedical family, medicine wasn't
what I wanted to do.
I just saw it as this thingwhere my father is always at

(08:32):
work, my uncle's always at work,and I think that really changed
my life.
So from the time I thenrecovered, all I wanted to do
was actually to be able to helppeople, and that's why I did
like almost like a 360 degreestern and decided I wanted to
study medicine.
I then went on to go to afederal government girls college
in Onitsha and that was whereit stopped before you said

(08:55):
pre-high school, isn't it?
and that's where the story thenchanges for my life, to be
honest.
So I think like that's whatI've done and as a child.
I just loved climbing trees,playing with lego, and I used to
be very, very borstress.
I really really like, almostlike a little girl that had like
a spirit of a boy inside of her, something like that yeah,
that's how you describe me as achild.

(09:17):
Has it changed?
I think a lot of things havechanged.
I think for me, even though Ihad all these different things I
wanted to do, I think I'm ableto achieve them now in what I do
because I'm able to likeliterally bring them all in one,
and that's what medicinesignifies to me.
I think I'm still like that, ina bit of like.
I still have that spirit of oneach, I mean, that wants me to
do more and make a difference,and I still have the spirit of

(09:38):
actually constantly exploring.
And I think one thing that thatbeats pre-university has done
for me is that I have thisspirit of wanting to always
change people and like literallymake an impact in everything I
do, because that singular actchanged the trajectory of my
life Right, and I think that'sreally important.
I think I'm still the sameperson Everyone says I've never,

(10:00):
I haven't changed since I was achild.

Speaker 1 (10:03):
Yeah, that's interesting how one incident, or
one singular incident canactually impact you.
It shows how deep that wasembedded in your brain.
That's interesting, reallyinteresting.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
So you then decide to go to uni and study medicine
because this has inspired youand, you know, take us through
there so, um, I went intomedicine, obviously, but for my
father it was like a welcomingthing because he was like, oh,
he's a doctor, I come from afamily of, like, medical people.
My mom was a lawyer also, so Ithink for them it was different,

(10:37):
because this is a girl thatwanted to be a pilot, that
wanted to be like a singer, whathave you.
And then I went on toUniversity of Ibadan and I think
University of Ibadan was reallyunique for me to go to for
different reasons.
Again, as I said to you, I lovemaking impact.
So I had left like the place Ihad never left home before I
went to university.
So it was like a really bigstep, like I never went to

(10:59):
boarding school, like mostpeople did, and so, going home,
my mom drove me to uni and itwas really a difficult time for
me because I was leaving homefor the first time, right, and
even though I had other optionswhich I didn't mention.
So I went to Ivato Ibado onlybecause I was a bit of a
stubborn child, also because Idid get admission to go to the
States to go to pre-med and alsoI got admission to go to the UK

(11:23):
to actually study medicine,right, but then what happened
was to do, sorry, to do like myA-levels before medicine.
But what happened was I wantedto go to the States and my
father says no, no, I'm notgoing to let you go to the
States.
I wanted to go to the UK and Isaid no, I don't want to go to
the UK.
So when I've ended up in the UKand therefore we had a
compromise, which was I went toIbadan and I chose Ibadan
because it was supposed to bethe first university in nigeria
and it was really well respectedand, as I said to you, that was

(11:46):
the first time I was leavinghome, so I got driven to school.
My mom was there with me, withmy siblings, for a few days and
then I started university and itwas initially it was quite.
I think I had two differentissues.
One was separating from thefamily system that I was used to
, even though I had like afoster mother in Ibarra who was
also looking after me.

(12:06):
I was in her house for sometime and then I went into like
boarding.
I went into like an Anglicanboarding place to live in right,
like a hostel, right.
But then one thing that reallyhelped me when I was in first
year was I met amazing peoplewho were able to give me that
support.
I had a like my godparent's sonwas also in Nigeria, I'm sorry

(12:26):
in Ibada at that time, so thatalso gave me a cushion.
I had a cousin in theuniversity.
My mom made like connections tomake sure I got protection and
then obviously I could still gohome to the east every time
because someone came to get me,to take me home.
So I think that's how I went toIbada.
Then I did preschool,pre-medical school, for the
first three years, like you dothen went on to university of

(12:47):
ibada and I and so university,college, hospital in ibada,
right, which is the medicalschool you go to, which is
somewhere else, and inside ibada, and I think that was really
good because I got to meet othercultures, I got to like
literally interact with a lot ofpeople, right, and it changed
me, changed me and I think atthat place, as a first year
student in the university, I allof a sudden built a community

(13:09):
of women who continue to supportme to date.
My best friend I met her inIbadan in my first year.
My second best friend I met herin Ibadan in my first year and
I'll say to you today they'restill my best friends.
We talk every single day, westill do the same thing.
So we then built a small groupof women who have been able to
support each other and I think,like I would never exchange

(13:30):
anything to have gone touniversity of ibadan because it
shaped my life, really shaped mylife.
It taught me how to like,appreciate other cultures.
It taught me how to deal withother people's differences.
I think that's really importantfor most people growing up in a
place like Nigeria.

Speaker 1 (13:45):
Actually, you answered the question I was
going to ask you in terms of howit changed your life, and I
think that's so powerful interms of being able to live
diversely, understand otherpeople, understand what makes
people different and embrace thebeauty in that.
That's really good.
Beauty in that, that's that'sreally good.

(14:08):
So, um chichi, how did you findstudying medicine?
Were there challenges the waythat?
Was there time when you youkind of asked, you know,
questioned what you were doing,but also when it came to
specializing, why orthopedics?

Speaker 2 (14:21):
okay, so I'm going to start with one.
How did I find medicine medicalschool school?
In medical school it waschallenging.
That was really true because Iwas this like high-flying
student and I come to this placewhere I knew nobody, like sort
of I was starting again andinitially the long like the long
lectures, the having to readtill really late you had to
really really be like principledto be able to do those things

(14:43):
Right.
But then I'll say somethingthat really helped me was I had
a good support system and Ithink without a support system,
a lot of things that we achievewe'll never be able to do it
Right.
So I had a team of people thatwere constantly like we're
either studying together, we'rediscussing, we're going out to
study.

(15:05):
But I think for me also, I hadthis noise in my ear or a voice
that followed me through ourmedical school.
My mother would say to me doyou know whose child?
You are, right?
So I knew I had to succeed.
I don't know it wasn't anoption for me that I couldn't
come home and say, oh, I decidedto go patting.
Therefore, I forgot to do anassignment because it was
impossible and because my momespecially, and also my father
had provided things to make mecomfortable, right.
I was naturally expected to dowell, like in my family.

(15:26):
You don't come back and say, oh, I didn't do well because this
happened.
We weren't really brought up tobring excuses.
We were brought up to realizethat to give me a lot is given,
a lot is expected, right.
So I think for me that kept metuned in.
The other thing that also keptme tuned in is that by the end,
by the end of first year I had Iwas born in the church of
england, for example by the endof first year I had discovered

(15:48):
something called opus day and Ihad started going to the center
and I had a bit of reformationand therefore it kept me focused
also about the fact that I wasalso working the path of faith
right.
And that meant that as a childof god I always like, quote the
um, the parable of the um, ofthe, the parable of the talent,
where God says I give you fordifferent things and therefore
what you make of that time wasimportant.

(16:10):
So for me I was like okay,they've given me like two
shillings.
What do I do with two shillings?
Right?
And again I always say thespirit of Onitsha lives in me.
A lot of people know about evilpeople, that they give us
nothing and you make somethingout of it.
So I think for me, medicalschool was all about I had to
study, I had to pass, I had tonot let my parents down, more
especially, and I just had tosucceed.

(16:31):
And my mom had, like, given somuch for me to get to where I
was and I had to make sure Icame home making her proud, and
I'm going to share a moment withyou.
I remember leaving medicalschool my youngest sister sister
I'm three years older than herand she said to me you're going
to medical school now, please donot change.
And I can never forget this,right, because the first time I
was a young girl, I went toschool like really young, and

(16:52):
she said don't change, I wantyou to come back as the same
sister that left this house, thesame person.
You are thinking about us,right, and I get emotional when
I talk about it.
Actually, I feel emotional.
And then what then happened wasI remember um, um coming back
the first time and then happenedwas I remember coming back the
first time and this is veryfunny I remember coming back the
first time and they'll send thedriver to get me from then and

(17:12):
I had stopped on my way to fromIbano to back to Onitsha and I
had bought my mom my mom likeslike a lot of stuff that used to
decorate the house I bought hersome vases that were made with
clay right, but handmade vasesthat were made with clay right,
but handmade in embado, and Ibought a couple of them and, as
I was walking in and the carstopped to open the gates.
I came out of the car andcarried the vase so I could
greet her with that massive vaseright and like a massive, like

(17:34):
flower vase right.
And then what?
I then did, as my sister ran tome to see me and I startled and
dropped it and he fell right andI didn't feel bad.
He had fallen even though I hadtraveled like more than six
hours with this because I hadanother option for them.
And she said to me you haven'tchanged because I didn't shout
about it.
We just laughed and we acceptedit had happened right, and I

(17:55):
think that's really important.
That really was important to me.
So those were things thathelped me get to where I was.
And then you asked me aquestion about orthopedics.
To be honest with you, I wentinto medicine to do
cardiothoracic surgery.
That's what I went in to dobecause I decided, if I was
going to do medicine, I neededto do something that was
supposed to be wow and impactful.
I don't know how to explainlike.

Speaker 1 (18:16):
I wanted that wow factor right, and then I had
just read about healing hands.

Speaker 2 (18:20):
That's um Ben Carson, and he was a cardiothoracic
surgeon and I was reallyintrigued about him and that's
what I really wanted to do, andI felt like the heart controls
the body and therefore I wantedto be able to do that.
You know, like if you're goingto do medicine, you have to do
the one that he said controlseverything you know something
like that.

Speaker 1 (18:42):
So I said I'm going to do that haven't heard about
me.

Speaker 2 (18:44):
You're going to see me.
And then I remember 40 inmedical school, right, we had
just had a clinical practice andI had gone to see this
consultant and I was walkingaway they had like a thing.
He called me back and saidlisten, there's been a mass
casualty in accident andemergency.
There's two buses collided, 40something victims.
You're gonna come?
I had never done clinicalmedicine, so he dragged me to a

(19:05):
and we're jumping over bodies,right, and we're doing different
things, setting a line.
And let's have set a line inthat circumstance.
They just teach you one, see,you do one, and they let you do,
which is what medicine is allabout, right.
And then I said, and the thrillof it was amazing, I'm not
joking, it was like traumaeverywhere.
Right, we're saving people.
Obviously we lost some people.
And then I I walked, and thenafter that I walked into the
next day to go see some of themhad broken bones.

(19:27):
We had to put like x fixes onthem, like things to like split
their, their wound, and it wasfascinating.
So I went and saying, okay,this is actually another option
I hadn't thought about, right,and I think what really also was
important for me for it wasthat there weren't a lot of
girls doing this right.
And I keep saying why shouldn'tgirls be able to do it right?
Because I was brought up andtold everyone is created equal

(19:49):
in the eyes of god, so there'snothing about difference.
But then what I saw that day ofthat accident was the fact that
things were changing rapidlyright.
It was like I was fixing thehand the next minute, I'm fixing
the leg, the next minute I'mfixing the um.
The next minute I'm fixing theum, the, the pelvis yeah, the
next minute I'm fixing thepelvis, the next minute I'm
doing something else.
And then I thought this is aspecialty that is very dynamic,

(20:10):
right, and at that time it gaveme some curiosity, but I hadn't
decided I was going to do it.
Then, by the time I moved to theUK because from medical school
I came straight to the UK mystory is also different from
every other person's story.
I went straight from medicalschool to my first job being in
the UK.
I then decided, yes, I'm goingto do surgery, but what would I
do?
So I said, okay, I'm going totest that.
I had never worked inorthopedics.
I'm going to test outorthopedics.

(20:31):
I'm going to test outcardiothoracic surgery and I'm
going to decide what I want todo, but what I know I wanted to
do was to rebuild things becauseI love to play with lego, so I
just wanted to play and that andthat was it and that was my
story.
And then, obviously, I didcardiothoracics for six months.
I loved thoracic surgerybecause it was very big, you
open it up.
But cardiac surgery is long,you have to put the hat

(20:53):
somewhere and I was like man,this is not for me, right.
So that's why I ended up withorthopedics.
So orthopedics is very dynamic.
It changes, changes.
You're either fixing something,so you're either there's a
broken bone, they're in pain,you fix it.
Or somebody's spine is turnedfunny because they've lost
confidence you straighten them.
Or they're in pain, so theirlegs are hurting and give them a
knee replacement surgery andthey have a new lease of life.

(21:15):
They're back the next day,standing, going to their parties
, doing things that they want todo, and that's what I wanted to
do have toys, and then when Idon't know, when you walk into
an or with orthopedics, there'sso many toys to play with.
I'm a toy person.
If I sit here at this age Istill own like dolls.
You're gonna laugh.
It's not because I just loveplaying with things, because
that's what creates me.

(21:35):
I like to tell stories becausethat's life.
Life is so exciting about.
You know, you want to play, youwant to be happy, and I think
that's what orthopedicsrepresents to me.
It represents a specialty thatmakes global impact, that
changes someone's life in somany different ways, and I think
every part of medicine isinteresting.
But for me, orthopedics is likeI'm playing every day.

(21:56):
I'm playing with toys, I'mdoing something different right,
and I'm recreating things orrebuilding, and I think that's
really important.
Honestly, I can talk about thisall day.

Speaker 1 (22:04):
I'm worrying, so I'm going to stop now I can see that
, I can see, I love it.

Speaker 2 (22:07):
You can see the passion coming through which is
so good and I think it's amazingbecause it's it's helped shape
every part of my life.
Everything I've done relates tothe same thing I'm doing to
rebuild, to make a difference.
They're all the same.
Chichi, do you have a daughter?
I, I don't know.
It's amazing.
No kids, no husband.
I've got this amazing like I'vegot, um, I've got three nieces

(22:31):
and two nephews and I'm reallyclose to them and I also have
more nephews and nieces.
I'm very close.
Do you know what I?

Speaker 1 (22:37):
asked is when you said that you were playing with
dolls, that you still loveplaying with dolls, and I was
thinking cause usually sometimesan adult that still plays with
dolls.

Speaker 2 (22:44):
and I was thinking because usually sometimes an
adult that still plays withdolls maybe has daughters no,
but that's with my niece, butwith my nieces and I play with
them a lot with dolls, okay doyou know why?

Speaker 1 (22:54):
because I love playing with dolls and I have,
in fact, my friend's daughterand daughters bought me a doll
for my birthday.
Oh my god.
So it's so funny.
I have it here and I keeplooking at it.

Speaker 2 (23:06):
I said, okay, I need to go and buy a stroller for it,
I need to buy this for it, so Ican so I like, so for me it's
so weird, like so, um, duringthe pandemic, my sister and her
kids were with me, so I had thisreally nice dolls.
My sister's kids like literallychanged the shape, ripped off
the hair, you know, like theyliterally played this and my
poor dog got destroyed.
These are babies I've had forlike I don't know for like 20

(23:29):
years or something right.
But listen, like, for me it'slike is that love in sharing, is
that love in the laughter andthe play and the things?
And I'm like, and they're likeauntie, why do you still have
this?

Speaker 1 (23:39):
I'm like, yeah, because I like them, you know,
and it's like I still keep thembecause they just are things
that I love toys, which makessense and it's interesting
because, looking through yourjourney, you know, when you
mentioned what you actuallywanted to do be a pilot pilot,
be a musician, be an actress,automobile engineer In a way,

(23:59):
all that has come into whatyou're doing.
Now you kind of get a piece ofeach of those in medicine
generally, yeah, absolutely.
And there's something that I'venoticed that's come through
from what you you know when youwere talking, and it's belief.
It's almost like believing inwhat you can do, believing in

(24:22):
yourself, believing in God,believing, you know, belief
seems to come through.
You did mention your mom at apoint in terms of what she
reminded you when you were atuni.
Can you just touch briefly onhow you know your upbringing?
That upbringing actually shapes, or shapes what you do and the

(24:43):
belief you have, because one ofthe things that comes across a
lot life there's alwayschallenges, but there's
something you talk about in howyou navigate through challenges
and it's you mentioned supportsystem.
You've mentioned belief seemsto come through, your belief in
god as well, and I also want tosee how that thread comes

(25:05):
through from mom to you know,and you mentioned opus when you
discovered that.
You know what does that mean aswell?

Speaker 2 (25:12):
okay, good to just okay, yeah so I'm going to start
with my mom, right?
So I say to everyone my momlike.
So when people say to me who isa woman, I say my, the woman,
for me, a woman, is my mother.
That's what she represents forme and she represents a mother,
a father, a friend, like asister for me, because she's
actually the reason why I alwayssay to people I am because of

(25:33):
her, if that makes sense, notjust genetically, because
obviously she, she, um, she, um.
She bettered me and she had mein her tummy for nine months and
then gave birth to me.
She's built everything I'vebecome today, right, and my mom
wasn't when I, when I say thisabout her, people think, oh my
god, she was, like she must havelike pampered you.
My mother was tough on me as achild, right, because this was a

(25:55):
child she had waited for forsome time and the child came and
she didn't like hug me everyday and pat me and say, oh my
god, you're the best thing thathappened to me.
Never, I'm telling you, never,none of that ever happened.
Like, literally, what she didwas actually teach me that you
have to have a solid foundationto be able to actually get to
anywhere you can, and my momwill say to you anywhere I leave
you, you should be, survivethere.

(26:17):
So she was, and I'll describeher as she was a disciplinarian,
but she was also my friend.
So the same way she willdiscipline me, she will hug me
when I did well, she will turnme off when I didn't do well.
And unfortunately, my mompassed away seven years ago,
this year, and it was and I, andfor me, her voice follows me
everywhere and I'll give you anexample.
And for me, her voice followsme everywhere and I'll give you

(26:39):
an example.
She'll say to me, I'll give anexample.
One time, when I was a juniordoctor, I went to work this day
and I was really stressedbecause I had to take the bus.
I wanted to be on.
It was really chilling, cold,and I called on the phone.
I was going.
I said, mommy, I'm so stressed.
You know I feel a bit depressedand I used that word.
She literally didn't say to meoh, my God, spoil you.
She said to me my friend,people survive.
Biafra.
That's like everything that'shappening.

(27:00):
Pull up your trousers and getgoing.
You can't even have those wordsand I think that's really
important and I think for meevery single day.
She told me whose daughter areyou?
And I think that's reallyimportant, because when I step
out of my house, that leads meto everywhere I go.
I always say I want to show wholike, I want to show the best

(27:21):
version of myself.
And I still want to beauthentic, but still show the
best version of myself.
And I think, also, when youtalked about it, I'm a dreamer.
Right, and luckily for me, Igrew up in a home where dreams
were allowed.
Right, because you have a rightto dream.
It's free of charge.
Right, but my will say to you,you can dream as much as you
want because it's free, but foryour dream to become reality,

(27:42):
you need to put in the work init.
Right, and you need to put inthe work in terms of the
physical work that you do and,obviously, the prayers that
comes with that work.
Right, because, as you said,like we're faith-based people.
Therefore, we know that thepower of God is great.
But the power of God is great.
But the power of God doesn'thappen because you sit down and
pray.
The power of God happensbecause it gives you a talent to
go out there and you find aright foundation and you

(28:03):
cultivate it and then you makeit happen, right, and I think
that's really important.
Thank you, and I think again,when you talk about faith for me
, right, faith for me is alsolike I talked about Opus Dei and
Opus De within the Catholicchurch, where most of the
attendance is about being thebest version of yourself and
actually giving the best of you,because God has actually
blessed you with the talent andthe skills to do more than

(28:24):
you're doing at the moment.
We don't actually understand thepower that lies within us, and
I discovered Opus Dei and ithelped my formation right In
terms of it taught me that,listen, I'm in school to study.
I'm in school to make friendsthat will make a difference in
life, but I have to surroundmyself also with only people who
will want lift me up, who wantto be lifted as I grow, but,

(28:44):
more important, who wants tomake a positive change.
Because the truth is thatyou're going to meet people that
just don't want to do anythingpositive with their lives.
You're going to meet peoplethat will pull you down and say,
oh my god, they've never doneit.
So I.
So I always say to people me,my speech is very simple.
If you're someone that likes tosay I can't, I can't, I can't,
I just say kick off the tea andjust so I can do everything I

(29:05):
can because you've got the power, even if you're saying, oh, let
me be biblical about it.
God has said it's made you inhis image, right?
So why can be able to achieveso much?
And also, if you ain't beenbiblical about it, why is it
impossible for you to do whensomebody else has done it?
I make jokes like this.
And I say I make jokes likethis and I say, listen.
Some people say to me why areyou awake, why are you not

(29:26):
sleeping?

Speaker 1 (29:26):
I say well, wow if they don't go to sleep.

Speaker 2 (29:31):
I'll go to sleep Because he has hands, same nose,
everything.
So if they can achieve andobviously he's about
representing financialachievement, right, but there's
also people that represent power, like example.
I look at a lot of people'slives.
One of my biggest mentors isRichard Branson and everybody
laughs when I say RichardBranson, because I said Richard
Branson was told when he wasyoung that he was dyslexic.

(29:53):
He will end up either in jailwhen he left high school or
he'll end up being a millionaire.
He didn't end up in jail.
He's taking the second option,right, and if you read about him
, he'll tell you I've done 800companies.
Majority of them haven't workedbut have kept dreaming.
And I think that's the problempeople don't understand is that
we're too scared about takingrisks, right?
Oh, I don't want to do this incase it doesn't work.

(30:13):
I don't want to go to thisinterview because they might say
no to me.
I don't want to do this um,apply for this job, because
they'll say no.
And I always say to people,right, maureen, is that before I
decide to apply for a job, Ihave no job.
For example, right when I applyand they say no, I still don't
have the job.
So nothing has changed exactly.
If I get that job, then that'ssomething great.

(30:33):
But what I haven't?
But if I decide, oh my god, Idon't have a job, let me not
even try to do for the job.
The job is not going to come toyou, right?
Therefore, I also said, like Ithink when I was in primary
school, year two or year threein primary school, I read this
book in comprehensive.
No, not secondary school, sorry.
Second or third year insecondary school, I read this
book called comprehensive in.
We used to read this book innigeria called comprehensive
english right, and there's apoem in that book that really

(30:56):
really also has helped me andit's one of my guiding lights.
Apart from obvious, my mom hasbeen phenomenal, to be honest
that's how I describe her is.
The man was writing a poem tohis son and he said to his son
if you treat success and failureas two imposters, right, the
world and everything else thatis in it will be beneath your
feet and you will succeed.
And that's really true.
Can you repeat that again?

(31:17):
So if you treat failure andsuccess as the same imposters,
right, the world and everythingelse in it will be beneath your
feet.
And I'm going to explain thisbetter by saying if you fail and
you're running a race andyou've come last.
If you stand on that spotcrying because you failed, the
people that are starting thenext race will come and get past

(31:38):
you and therefore you'd havefailed two races.
True, if you win the race andyou're celebrating and you're
celebrating so much that youstand on the finish line
celebrating the people- thatcame last will come and run past
you and they will still bethere, and I think that's really
guided me.
I have failed so many times,right, and I always hear my
mother voice saying you've gotto pick up your trousers and

(31:58):
keep going.
She always says that Pull upyour trousers, girl, and keep
going, and I think that's reallyimportant and for me, these
things are the things I stand on.
I think I wrote somethingrecently about the eight pillars
right of my life, and it'sreally funny we're having this
conversation and I sat down andI thought about and I said life

(32:19):
is difficult, but I have thiseight pillars that really guides
me.
One of them is that my love forJesus means that I know that my
situation will get better,right, because I have faith.
And I also have faith knowingthat he knew me by name before I
was born and I know that hesaid onto my head that I will be
, I'll be successful.
Success doesn't really meanfinancial, successful in terms
of impact, because Cause I thinkin life, if you're not
impacting people, then you'rewasting your time, if that makes

(32:42):
sense, right.
Cause everything in life isabout service to people and that
is global impact, right, and Ialso know that God will make it
possible for me and that's one.
Then the next thing I reallystand on is compassion, because
kindness is important and Ithink for me it's really
important because I had peoplethat were compassionate to me
and therefore I'm able to givecompassion and that's why my
career comes, because medicineis a compassionate career, right

(33:04):
.
And then the other things Ithink about is determination,
empowerment and actually beingable to like okay, it's not
working, let's keep going.
Let's keep going, let's try,rather than saying I'm not going
to try, right.
And an empowerment is in termsof I have to make impact on
other people, either through mywork or through my life, or
through what I say to people.
And, to be honest with you,anyone that sees me knows I'm

(33:25):
extremely confident, yeah, and Ithink that people, when I tell
people that I never used to beconfident when I was 12 years
old, they don't believe me,right, but I used to be scared
of speaking.
People still say it's not true,it's not possible.
You always know that's not true, because there are times and
when I even say to people nowthat before I even have like an
if.
I said to you mind that, twominutes, if I had this in there,
I'm like I need to make sure itgoes well.

(33:46):
I don't really want it not togo well.
What if I don't say the rightthing?
What if I say the right thing,which means I've built that,
even though I still haveself-doubts, I still will take
that step in confidence, becausewhat's?
the worst that can happen right,I do it wrong, exactly.

Speaker 1 (34:01):
I go back and I will do it properly.

Speaker 2 (34:03):
And I think the other thing that really helps me is
leadership, about being able tolead people or even lead just
myself.
To the next point, and again Ithink I stand on like excellence
.
I want everything I do to bevery perfect and I think the
best word that I have for mypillars is resilience.
Right, because it's okay tofail, it's okay not to get it
right, it's okay for me to messit up and introduce myself like

(34:24):
like satisfy and say, oh, my god, I'm not really sure what
maureen is asking me.
Why don't you rephrase this?
But the resilience to keep goingis so important and I think
that's what I want people totake out and say it sounds as if
when you read about me, itsounds like, oh, she's done so
many great things.
But there's also times when ithasn't worked right.
But I think what's helped me isknowing that the next time I
can try again.
The next time it's going towork.

(34:45):
And even if it doesn't work thenext time, then there must be
another trajectory, because Istand on a faith that it's going
to be okay, right.

Speaker 1 (34:58):
And it's okay to retry again, but it's not okay
not to take that risk.
I think that's what I'm tryingto get across.
That's fantastic, and I'm sopleased you shared these, your
eight pillars, because I saw it,I saw your post, actually, and
I think it's on that post I saidChichi, we've got to do this
podcast.

Speaker 2 (35:09):
Thank you so much.
It was that post, yeah.

Speaker 1 (35:12):
I'm going to put a link to your Facebook as well in
the description so that peoplecan read that post.
It was amazing because you wentinto a bit more detail about
the eight pillars.
Just makes sense.
And that last one of resilience, or even the confidence one
that you mentioned, we still getnerves, you'll still be fearful

(35:33):
, but it's doing it with fear,it's still doing it, it's still
moving ahead.
And that question of what haveI got to lose?
You know, and even if it fails,you pick yourself.
I love what your mom says Justpull up your trousers and keep
moving.

Speaker 2 (35:47):
Oh, my God, she says that like a million times.
She says that like a milliontimes.
And she says something that isso funny.
She always says to me you haveto be cool, calm and collected
right, wow.
Cool, calm and collected right,and it's like, like I remember
the words, like I'm saying toyou, like I say to you my mom's
like my guiding angel, so likefunny, like it's seven years,
it's been a hard time, thisseven years, single day.

(36:13):
Sometimes I hear the voice thatsays to me what will your
mother do, right?
What will she say to you?
And a lot of people think, oh,did she like?
And it wasn't a pampering thing, it was the fact that she was
strict so that I could be abetter person right and she did
those things for a reason for meyeah, chi Chi, uh, you know,
the more I speak to you, themore you know.

Speaker 1 (36:33):
I just feel God is just so amazing because you're
talking about your mom and it'slistening to you.
It's like you're talking aboutmy mom and it just shows the
power of of women, of mothers,and your mom passed away seven
years ago.
My mom passed away 17 years agothis year, oh, wow.

Speaker 2 (36:54):
God, I'm having goosebumps now.
I'm so sorry, like, but they'realways looking after us.
You know that, do you know?

Speaker 1 (37:00):
that.
Yeah, there's a post I'm goingto put out on 1st of April,
because that's when she died andin it I was talking.
You know, I'm talking about how, even though it's 17 years ago,
I still hear her voice, I stillhear her guiding me, even when
I'm feeling low.
I still hear her say get up,you can do this.
It's amazing, even thoughthey've gone for so long, that

(37:27):
impact is still there and that'swhy it's so powerful in terms
of whatever we do, to keepserving, keep doing, because
that's the legacy you leave thathelps people after, or even
helps people that hear whatyou're, you know what you're
saying.
It's so, so, so, so impactful,chichi.
I'm going to just jump a bitinto the charity or the.

(37:50):
I know is it is it pronounced anormal, a normal health a
normal foundation, a normalfoundation.

Speaker 2 (37:56):
So basically, and I'm going to say something to you
Anomo Foundation is actually mymother's name is Anomo, so her
name is Anne OkuchukumenakayaOrakwe.
That's her name and it's mixedup because Anne is my mother's
first name.
Her second name isOkuchukumenakaya, which is the
voice of God and her maiden nameis Orakwe, but obviously her
married name is Menakaya, whichis my name and we've just put it

(38:19):
together.
I didn't find that name.
My brother actually coined thatname when we were kids right.

Speaker 1 (38:24):
And he always said oh , he's going to wake up.

Speaker 2 (38:26):
Like my brother actually coined that name, I
said I'm going to get a companyand I'm going to call it that.
So the foundation wasn'tstarted as a normal foundation.
As you know, we started thisfoundation as Okwui Maskim and
Okwui Maskim is also my mother'sname, because Okwui Chukwu is
my mother's name and that wasthe voice of God.
And the reason why we startedOkwui Maskim in 2016,.
We started was because wewanted to.

(38:48):
A lot of people go aroundwearing masks and they don't
tell people what's really goingon.
And I'm going to take you backto Ibadan because I said to you,
I built a team of women when Iwas in the University of Ibada.
So when we were in Ibada in ourfirst year, we realized that a
lot of girls were in badrelationships, and I'm going to
do that and I'm going to circleback to the originality of the
whole thing, why we startedtalking about so we noticed that

(39:12):
a lot of girls were in badrelationships with boys.
I was in a relationship fromwhen I was 15 years old and my
relationship wasn't the besteither, but I'm still gonna say
like I had a bit of autonomy, Ihad a bit of authority in that
relationship, right.
But then a lot of girls willcome to my room and be like cry
about, so my boyfriend's done.
So we time we just startedtrying to support people.
It wasn't formal, we just willsupport people because they're

(39:34):
having one problem or the other.
My friends used to laugh andcall me mommy I and I your means
joy, right.
And my best friend Carol.
My best friend Carol, will sayto me oh, mommy, you started
again, right, trying to helpeverybody.
And so it was an informal thingthat we did as girls, like
we'll support each other, ourrelationships forth.
And then when I moved to the UKafter medical school, I again

(39:58):
would come to work and I wouldlike to know the name of the
cleaner, I like to know the nameof the nurse, because I think
everybody's relevant for me andthat's who I am.
I'm like I love people, right.
And then one day, while I was, Ihad started my surgical
training and and higherspecialist training and we were
in a hospital.
In one particular hospitalthere was this girl that worked
with me that every time she cameinto my room she was the health

(40:19):
care assistant.
She'll panic, right, and she'llbe fidgety.
And one of the nurses said shetalked to him because for some
reason, I didn't see this inmyself.
Even though people tease me,mommy, I have people who
gravitate to calling me fortheir problems.
I've never been married, butpeople call me for their
marriage problems.
Right, and I'll say to my, tomy mother.
My mother is always like whatare these people listening to
you that you're always talkingabout?
Right, like you're constantlyon the phone talking to one

(40:41):
person or the other.
And when I spoke to her, shesaid to me listen, chichi, after
you spoke to me, we startednoticing changes and she said
why haven't you actually donethis in terms of from the proper
group where you're actuallysupporting people?
So I went back to my mom andsaid listen, I really want to do
this.
But my passion is domesticviolence and I'll say the first

(41:01):
time I ever heard about anythingdomestic violence was when I
was about 10 years old, when um,a friend of ours, um lost, lost
um, their mother, becauseapparently it then came to light
that their father had beenbeating their mom and on this
particular day he pushed her andhit her head and died.
And that changed everything,because the man himself
committed suicide a few monthslater because they were going to

(41:22):
arrest him for killing thisperson, and then, years later,
our friend died also all relatedto that problem of that
foundation and, as I said, toyou, my mom was a lawyer and a
magistrate and she used tosupport a lot of women that had
gone through this.
And I must tell you this myparents got separated when I was
12 years old, right, and for me, when I started understanding

(41:43):
domestic violence, I could notunderstand how my parents could
have separated and me keep like,literally split up, and there
was no domestic violence, therewas no physical abuse, and they
were still able to co-parent,right, yeah, to an extent, right
, and therefore I've got bothparents.
I'm close to both parents, eventhough I live with my mom,
right, and I couldn't understandwhy, if we could be able to do
this, obviously, I'm sure theremust have been other type of

(42:04):
things that were maybe emotionalor whatever, right, but what I?
And at that point, I only sawdomestic violence as just a
physical problem, right?
So when we started thisassociation in 2016, started
this association in 2016, westarted it then, right, and I'm
going to say something that'svery funny we then decided we're
going to launch the charity.
So our first event was aboutfebruary 2016, where we had

(42:26):
something called our mom, mary t, and we got people that were
survivors of domestic violenceand normal people to come in and
listen to speeches, and we hadnlp trainers, motivational
speakers, and we talked aboutthe work we wanted to, because
what we wanted to do was notsupport you.
What we wanted to do was helpyou rebuild to get better.
Because I told you, my thingabout my life is about
rebuilding right, and what Iwanted to say was that oh wow,

(42:48):
you're not a victim, you're asurvivor.
Therefore, how do we rebuild insuch a way that that person
that abused you will see him twoyears and say, oh my God, this
person's become phenomenal.

Speaker 1 (42:58):
Does that make sense?
And that is what I wanted to do.

Speaker 2 (43:01):
So we had our first event in February and then
subsequently, we had a launchevent, which was supposed to be
the 10th of September 2016.
And I'm going to tell yousomething that is really
shocking the 10th of September2016, my mom was obviously a
charity with my mom.
Like cause, my mother's name isOpie and the charity is my
mother's name, right?
So we had this launch event inMayfair on the 10th of September

(43:23):
2016.
And Maureen would not believeme.
My mom would ask me every daywhen are we even launching this
charity again?
I said, mommy, saturday, thanks, okay.
Exactly six days before thelaunch and this is very critical
, right.
Exactly six days before thelunch, at 12 30 in the afternoon
, I had come back from church, Iwent to my mother's room and I
said, mommy, I'm gonna go buythe champagne for the lunch,

(43:44):
right, because they said wecould bring our own champagne,
because obviously we had littlefunds on the day.
We were lunching and I went outat one o'clock.
I had a conversation with mymom.
At 3 30, I came home, my momwasn't at home and I called her
phone.
She didn't pick, which wasnormal, right?
And then she calls me back andshe wasn't the one on the phone.
It was somebody else on thephone and my mother had

(44:05):
collapsed.
Wow, I got to the place wheremy mother had collapsed before
she got, before the ambulancegot there in london, I held my
mother when I was unconsciousright six days to the launch of
the charity, and we ended up inhospital and my mother died on
the day the charity was launched.
What, I'm not joking wow so andI will tell you.

(44:34):
The moment my mother died I wastalking about us and a few
minutes before then I had to.
Obviously we had the event allplanned.
I had to leave my mother'sbedside and go to give a speech
and I said to her mommy, please,I need you to hold on for me.
By the time I was finishing thespeech and I dropped the speech
, there was a car there to takeme because my mother had passed
away, right and it was, and Icould remember like it's so

(44:57):
weird about you know, when Italk about faith being the thing
you stand on and for a longtime I was like I didn't want to
go to this speech.
But she asked me so many timesin that week.
She was hell and hearty.
There was nothing wrong withher.
She had exercised that morning.
There was nothing wrong withher on the day, exactly six days
, right, and exactly at nineo'clockclock.

(45:17):
My speech finished at 9 0, 5 orwhatever.
My mother died around 9 00 amthat night, right, and I think
it's really phenomenal, becausethis was some legacy she had
given me about protecting women.
That's what she's done all herlife helping to support women
that had been through violencewith her law, helping.
She adopted so many childrenfor so many people, and it was

(45:38):
difficult for me because I was Iwas like conflicted on whether
should I go, should I not go,and she was, okay, this is what
I mean.
Like, what do I do?
Right, yeah, should I go tothis event?
And everyone, and I knew in myheart like, obviously that time
I didn't know, I was feeling soangry with myself for actually
leaving that bedside and goingthere.
But my brother was there andthen obviously, I ran back to
the hospital.
She was still there and thatwas that was her lifeless body,

(46:00):
right, and we then went on to dothe job just for domestic
violence.
So we're supporting women inrefugees across the uk.
Then we started supporting menover the years also, and what we
did was, as I said to you, ourmain ethos is to help you
rebuild.
So when people came into arefuge, we'll give them this
really nice pack that has a lovesign on top of it.
They're called Kickstarts byOkwui.
They've got all the toiletriesthey need, but they have a card

(46:21):
from us, right, they have apostcard that says a lovely
message to that person.
You stick it on the wall and ithas all the guides that helps
you to rebuild.
And then we went on.
In Nigeria we started somethingcalled First Day Woman, because
my mom was all about fosteringsomebody for somebody else.
And then what we will do isstart businesses for women.
We started a poetry, we've donea lot of fashion houses, we've

(46:42):
done a lot of things, and thenwe started saying, listen, my
mom is grounded on designs and Ihave designed clothes since I
was 12.
So we said we'll do designs nowso we can raise money to help
people.
So we started drawing designsto do fashionable things and
therefore we're able to supportmore fashion houses, for most
people have gone from staying ina kiosk to starting a shop.

(47:02):
We've got women that had nohouses and stood in their house
and now they own flats, you know.
And we've had people that havejust had to do that.
And we've also supported men.
Also, we've had a guy thatstarted out with like literally
a small kiosk somewhere in Lekki.
Now he has a chemist and he hasa proper shop.
We saw the better of his twingirls.
We supported them as a family,right.
And then obviously, the pandemic.
Things changed.

(47:22):
We couldn't really do the workthat we did in the pandemic.
So we did a lot of like umhealth retreats in the pandemic,
where we're sending like n95masks to hospitals to market
women, to women in churches, sothey could keep on in their
business.
Right and after the pandemic Ithink we sat down and we said
listen, we can do more than justdomestic violence.
We've done things on healthcare.

(47:43):
How do we do things?
So we then integrated all ourwork together and said listen,
animal health is the businessthat does support people in
communities in nigeria, but it'sa business business.
So we brought it together andwe said we'll start the
foundation called animalfoundation, which is added last
year, we'll put okima schemewithin it.
And and we said we'll start thefoundation called Animal
Foundation, which started lastyear.
We'll put OKIMA scheme withinit and do empowerment schemes,
but we'll do healthcare schemes.
So part of our thing that wewant to do with healthcare is

(48:05):
actually health education morethan anything else.
Right, because people lackeducation, as you know, that
right, and we want to give out alot of free health education.
So that's what we're trying todo with health.
We also want to do affordablehealth care.
We've got something on the onthe map and that we're planning
on for this year, which is tolaunch a big affordable health
care for people that cannotafford health care, in nigeria

(48:27):
especially, and then go out tothe rest of the africa, and the
whole idea is to give peoplehealth care for a nominal fee or
even for free, if it's possible.
Right, and then, and then wewere also this year for our
empowerment project.
We started something calledVantage Point, which is
basically about goal setting,supporting women again to
rebuild and be the best versionsof themselves.
We had our first retreat inJanuary.

(48:49):
It was amazing, like within twoweeks we planned this retreat
and I said to you, everything wedo is because of service.
Somebody we knew was struggling.
We wanted her to come to thisretreat, but we couldn't get her
in because she would feel likeshe was singled out, so we
opened it up to other women.
Yeah you guys come in so we cansupport one woman right and
that's what it's all about andI'm really grateful like I don't
do this on my own.
I have a massive team of people.

(49:09):
I have friends and the samefriends I've had from ibadu and
the same friends that we tookthe foundation together.

Speaker 1 (49:15):
I don't have to explain it right, because what
they.

Speaker 2 (49:18):
They're passionate about women.
They're passionate about giving, and we're not only doing stuff
for women, we're also doing formen, because we have men
domestic violence survivors thatwe're supporting.
So we're doing a movement formen and we're also trying to,
like, make sure we get peopleinvolved and actually try and
get people young and train themup to become the best versions
of themselves.
That's the whole idea and Ithink that's why we have the
foundation and that's what we'redoing to get it to where we

(49:41):
want it to be chichi, well doneit's.

Speaker 1 (49:44):
It's what you do is so incredible.
And so I'm listening to you andI'm just saying god is just.
You know, the way god connectspeople and the way he leads us
in part is incredible.
And I must say that how you setup the charity, how, how your
mom passed, that is somethingFor you to even go and do.
That speech just shows that itwasn't you, it was just God

(50:08):
walking through you, giving youthe strength.
And you know what I foundreally interesting my mom, the
day she passed, the day before Ispoke to her.
In fact, when my mom goes tobed early and I normally, you
know, at about nine o'clock thenight, the day before I felt go
and call your mom and I said tomyself but you know she would

(50:31):
have slept and I just had callyour mom.
So I went, called her.
She was in Lagos, I was in theUK, spoke to her, great
conversation, she was fine and Isaid to her okay, I'll speak to
you later, I'll call youtomorrow soon.
3am that night my mom passedaway.

Speaker 2 (50:52):
She wasn't ill.

Speaker 1 (50:53):
I know she wasn't ill .
It's interesting the way Godworks and you know the way
people go so suddenly, but youstill have the strength to keep
carrying on.

Speaker 2 (51:04):
Honestly, I like what you said to me is like so sad,
but what I can hear when yousaid it to me is that the fact
that God gave you an opportunityto actually say goodbye, right,
and I think that's so importantBecause I keep saying to myself
if I didn't have those six daysin hospital, I'd probably not
be here.
My mom was my killer, right.
I wasn't prepared like this waslike my worst nightmare.
I woke up one day and I was achild, and then the next I was

(51:27):
an adult, right, and then I wasan adult without a guide almost
right, I was an adult withoutsomeone to guide me, and that
was very difficult for me and Iknow how you feel and I and like
I thank god that you have theopportunity to speak to her.
Does that make sense?
Like for me, those six days inhospital.
I needed it to be able to getyou like, and I think we should
be grateful that we've beenblessed by mothers that are now

(51:48):
angels.
I know it's 17 years, it'sseven years, but let's really,
we were blessed to have thesepeople with us.
You know absolutely and honestlyI'm so grateful you had that
opportunity to speak to herhonestly, because I don't know
what you would have done,because it's almost impossible.
It's like you wake up on theentire she's gone.
You're like, how did thishappen?

Speaker 1 (52:07):
exactly, exactly.
But that's just the mercy ofgod, isn't it that you know?
Even listening to you, the, the, in fact the god, you, I just
see that God had a purpose, hehad something he wanted to do
through the charity.
And if she hadn't gone, youprobably wouldn't even have put
in the amount of, um, energy oremotion or passion, or you just

(52:33):
don't know how things would havepanned out.
But the fact that she keptasking Maureen, you're so right.

Speaker 2 (52:39):
Let me be honest, be honest with you, right, if I
think God gave me the foundationand the things I do as a gift,
because there is no way, if Ididn't have them, I would have
survived.
I'm being honest with youbecause what I then did was I
was in so much pain.
I was in unimaginable pain,right, and because I had
unimaginable pain, I wanted,wanted to do more, not just to
make her legacy real, but alsoso that I'm able to impact on

(53:01):
other people's lives, and Ithink that it's so important.
So that's the foundation, thebusiness, my career as a whole
helped me get to the moment.
And I still say to people Istill feel the same way I feel
the day my mom died.
But what I feel now is, eventhough I'm sad, my sadness is
not that sadness that drowns.

(53:22):
The sadness I have now is thesadness that tells me okay, yes,
girl, you're sad, right, buthow do you make sure the next
person isn't sad, right?
And I think that's veryimportant for me.
I don't know whether you feelthat way, but that's what's
really important for me and Iwas really important for me and,
I think, for everything that wedo.
It's helped me, like, kind ofcope right.

(53:42):
It's also helped me know that Ihave so much love to give.
I have so much message to give.
I learned so much from thiswoman who I describe as my woman
of sense.
I call my mom my like.
I call her my mom, my angel, mywomb baby, because I laugh,
because she's always fashionableand so beautiful.
And she tells me, because Inever wear makeup and I and I'm
like, listen, I have so much toteach.
I have so much to share withthe world.

(54:03):
I have so much love in me togive because I received so much
love, if that makes sense, and Ithink that's so important and I
get emotional about it.

Speaker 1 (54:12):
We're so blessed.
We're blessed by great women,absolutely, and it just shows
how great women raise greatwomen, doesn't it?
Yeah, no, it's so cool, chicha.
I could go on talking to you,but I think what I'm going to do
I know we've come up to the endof this podcast, but we're
going to have to continue ourconversation because there's so

(54:32):
much to still unpack in terms ofyou know where you are, what
you do, and I just no, we can dothat.

Speaker 2 (54:39):
That's okay If you want us to no problem.

Speaker 1 (54:41):
I think we should Thank you so much so I'm going
to put all Chichi's details inthe description below.
So please look at, look her up,look at the foundation, and if
there's anything that you can doto support the foundation,
please do.
I'll put all the details below.
Chi Chi, honestly, I am just soinspired by what you're doing.

(55:04):
Thank you so much.
Your faith, your belief, yourconfidence, the work you do is
just incredible, incredible.
So keep going, keep soaring.
And then one final word fromyou to our listeners anything
you want to just give them as aword of wisdom, um, anything

(55:24):
that comes to your mind, pleasedo so, then we'll round it up,
okay.

Speaker 2 (55:29):
Thank you so much, maureen.
Honestly, I cannot express mygratitude.
I'm so happy we had thisconversation and I'm really
happy, like I just got to speakmy heart Right.
But I think, for everyonelistening, what I'm going to say
is that dreams are free.
You have to dream right, youhave to work on your dream and I
think what you should alsoremember is that when this game
is over, you want to be able to,like, look from your spirit

(55:51):
world and look at your headstoneand say to yourself, even
though you're not physicallythere, I came here, I dreamt, I
played my dream and I did itright.
I think what you should never dois live in regrets.
Things will go wrong, thingsmight be difficult sometimes,
but you need to pull up yourselfand pull those trousers if
you're a trouser wearer, like Iam and just keep going.

(56:12):
You know, and I really wisheveryone the best, and the truth
is that life is not always rosy, but it's not how many times
you fall, but how quickly youcan get up and keep rising.
And I think that's what I needto say to people, and as one of
my mentors is Michelle Obama,she'll say when they go low, we
go higher.
So just remember that right,when people try to pull you down
, you're like not today, satan,I'm going to get it done, you

(56:35):
know, I think that's reallyimportant.
And so, whatever you are, evenif you're not Christian, if
you're not a believer, justremember that you have the power
within you because you'veyou've been created to actually
excel in whatever you do.
So best of luck everyone.
And obviously it's Good Friday,so it's a significant day.
Let's do some good for everyonetoday.
Oh wow, thank you so much Wow.

Speaker 1 (56:56):
Yeah, what a way to end.
Dreams are free, you know, andit's.
It's how quickly you get up,not how how many times you fall.
I love that.
I love that, chichi, thank youso very much.
Good friday we'll keep doinggood and please listen to that

(57:16):
advice.
Just do good.
Do good and, as you know, as awoman, raise other women, do
good for other people, raisepeople.
There are people that reallyneed our help.
Just go out there and be ablessing.
Chichi, thank you so very much.

Speaker 2 (57:34):
Thanks, so much, maureen.
Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (57:36):
Look forward to part two.
Have a fantastic weekend andwe'll catch up soon.

Speaker 2 (57:42):
Okay, my darling, have a good Friday.
Okay, god bless you.
Thank you, bless you, thanks.

Speaker 1 (57:48):
Thank you for joining us on today's episode of Lead
to Excel podcast.
I hope our discussion hasinspired you.
Remember, achieving excellenceis a marathon and every step
counts towards your goals.
If today's conversation sparkedany thoughts or questions, feel

(58:08):
free to share them with me onLinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter,
and consider leaving a review onyour favorite podcast platform.
You can also find this podcaston YouTube.
Your feedback helps us grow andreach more listeners.
Don't forget to subscribe tonever miss an episode filled

(58:29):
with expert insights andinspiration.
Until next time, this isMaureen Chiana, reminding you to
stay curious, stay driven andtogether let's remain limitless
and change the world.
Bye for now.

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Weaving a Legacy of Empowerment with Dr. Chichi Menakaya - E104

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Weaving a Legacy of Empowerment with Dr. Chichi Menakaya - E104