Latest / Chatting with The Experts with Paula Okonneh / Aligning Career with Identity

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Aligning Career with Identity · Chatting with The Experts with Paula Okonneh

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Hello, and welcome to another episode, another exciting episode of Chatting With
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The Experts, where I speak with phenomenal women from Africa, from the Caribbean, and
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in the diaspora, and today's no exception.
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Today's title is The Talent of Identity Mismatch, and my guest, who
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will join me in a few minutes, says this is her medicine to HR story.
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She says, "What happens when who you are doesn't align with what you
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do?" And she says she knows what it feels like to be on a path that
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looks impressive on the outside but feels misaligned on the inside.
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After starting out as a medical student and later finding her true fit in HR,
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she turned that personal experience into a mission to help young professionals
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discover their talents, build practical employability skills, and choose
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careers that truly fit who they are.
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As an HR professional and career fitness coach with 20 years' multi-sectorial
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work experience spanning aviation, business services, consulting, insurance,
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broadcast media, and microfinance banking, she has acquired skills
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and competencies in client services, relationship management, and human capital
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management, with a strong bias for talent development and employability skills.
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Please welcome Oluwatoyin Puddicombe to Chatting With The Experts.
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What an impressive bio you have, my dear.
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Thank you.
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That's you to say.
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Thank you for saying yes to being a guest on Chatting With The Experts.
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And you said-
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… what happens when who you are doesn't align with what you do?
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That's a story on its own.
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So let's talk about that.
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What you do, I know, is help individuals pursue paths that
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shape with the expectations rather than, their self-awareness.
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Let's talk about that.
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Okay.
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Thanks once again for having me on the show.
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My day job is HR, so I go to the office and I do my thing there.
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But what really drives me, what really moves me is helping people
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find what I call their career fit, one that aligns with their natural
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abilities or their natural talents.
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And that, of course, came as a result of my story, which quite, sometimes you look
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at it and you think it's like a movie.
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You're watching somebody else take part in it, but then you just, once in a while
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it dawns that's actually your reality.
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I'm Nigerian and, you know very well what premium people place on some certain
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courses or professional directions, medicine, law, engineering to be specific.
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They give accounting maybe, if you try all else and all else fails,
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maybe accounting we can accept accounting, that sort of thing.
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So from a young age, that societal perception shaped
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the direction I was gonna go.
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I was what we call an all-rounder, which means there weren't too many standout
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subjects that looks specifically, oh, she does so well in this, right?
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But I was a science student.
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Very good.
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I was a science student and so I did the physics, the chemistry, the biology, maths
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and all that, and I was pretty good at it.
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Member of the Jets Club, represented the school here and there.
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Had good marks in my class.
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One of the top students in my class anyway.
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So when it came to what to study in the university, my destiny seemed
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like it was carved out for me.
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To be fair to my parents, I'm not going to knock them too much 'cause they
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were in the same society that I was in, so sometimes things like this are
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just the way things are, as opposed to someone being intentional about
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forcing you down a particular path.
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So they didn't force me down a particular path.
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I even remember my father said he didn't know if he wanted medicine for me because,
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six-year course and, I'm a lady, was thinking about marriage and all that.
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And, it just made me more determined.
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What do you mean?
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I mean, it's what I really want my life and all that kind of stuff.
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Anyway, I gained admission for medicine into school and, from the very first
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year I knew that this was a mistake.
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' Cause the way it runs in my university, you have all the science students taking
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the same course in 100 level, right?
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So in my class, you'd have the medical students, dentistry, physiotherapy
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microbiology, engineering, all of us were in the same 100 level.
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And it became very, very clear that the chemistry that I barely
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survived in school, I did well, I didn't like it, but I did well in it.
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It's a different language in the university.
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None of it made sense to me.
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And I kid you not, it sounded like a different language- It didn't
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sound like English, and they'd say all these things and somehow
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my brain couldn't comprehend it.
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And, but I was stuck 'cause not only was I blazing the trail for my family in a
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way, I also had a scholarship, right?
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And so you can imagine the pressure I was under.
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I could not tell my parents, or at least I believed that I could not tell my parents
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that I was having a tough time of it.
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So I asked around, looked for counsel, guidance who could help me make this
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decision, know what to do and all that.
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I remember someone, and it's so funny that I never really thought about
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it until, you asked the question.
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There was a particular person that asked me what did I want to do with my life?
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And I said, "Oh, I wanna be a doctor, help people and all that." And he told me,
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"No, that's not true." And I was resentful 'cause I was like, what do you know?"
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felt like he had exposed me because I'd started already struggling at that point.
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So I ignored that, but I did ask people around me, what do I do?
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I asked someone who I respected and he said, "You know what?
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100 level isn't medicine.
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100 level is just science.
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Until you get to med school, you can't really tell." And it made a
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lot of sense to me. I still think it was a wise thing to do 'cause it's
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different. So I said, "You know what?
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Let me stick it out and let's see how it'll go." Well, I saw how it
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went, and it went from bad to worse.
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And each day was a struggle.
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Tests came back low, really low scores.
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And for someone who had been a high flyer all her life, it
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was very debilitating for me.
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I think, because I'm this sort of person, I was an introvert-
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I don't know whether I am.
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I'm more outspoken now, but I was an introvert and took a lot of
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identity from my intelligence.
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So when I got into a spot where it felt like my intelligence that
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I depended on wasn't serving me anymore, it broke me a little bit,
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and it made me fold back into myself.
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And so it was like if I'm not smart, then who am I?
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You know?
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Yeah.
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And I was the kind of smartest in my family, person that came first in class,
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one that got all the prizes and mom and dad bought and all that kind of stuff.
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So it was really an identity shift for me, and I didn't quite know what to do.
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So I pushed harder, drove myself further, but it felt like the harder I pushed,
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the worse it became, and it seemed like there was no salvation for me.
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It was not a pretty place to be in.
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So I recall I saw my nurse.
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There's this exam we take called MBBS Part 1.
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It's the sort of exam, the first major medical exam you take that sort of
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moves you from the pre-clinicals to the
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clinicals.
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And I saw that as my salvation.
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Let me just get into clinicals.
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Let me just pass this exam.
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Let me just move over to the other side and I'll be at least, I'll be
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able to think about what next to do.
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And so I did the exam.
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Wasn't great.
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But by the time the results came out, it told me what I needed to know.
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I had three papers.
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I failed two out of three.
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What that meant was that I have to repeat the whole thing again.
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And I cannot tell you how everything within me recoiled
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at the thought of having to go through all that again, and I told my parents,
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"I can't do this anymore. I just can't do it anymore. I can't go through all this."
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Oh, of course, there was the distress.
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Oh, something going on.
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Someone pray a bad prayer for me.
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They got people.
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Talk to this person, talk to that person.
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Got many people to talk to me, but I, I was adamant.
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I said, "You know what?
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I can't do this anymore." So they said, "Okay, so what do you want to do?"
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That was the question I couldn't answer.
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And so it made sense that if I didn't have an alternative, to
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stay the course until I did.
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And so with great reluctance and a weightiness of soul, I brought
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out my medical books to start, the reading process all over again.
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It felt like even my eyes were running away from the pages, I couldn't think.
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I didn't think I could do that anymore.
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But so I'm a Christian, so it was a prayer thing for me, and it was, "God, what do I
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do? What's the next step? How do I solve this?" I don't believe it's a coincidence
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now, but I did have a classmate who-- I said a classmate, roommate, who was
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studying a course in the faculty of arts called communication and language arts.
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And I thought, "You know what? Why not just go through her notes, see what she's,
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what it's about." I don't know what made me think of going through her notes,
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but I was just in such a confused state.
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And so I was going through her notes and for the first time in
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about three and a half years, I feel like I was reading English again.
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Things started making sense to me.
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It was literally like, it was like a Damascus experience of Paul- Okay
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… where the scales fell from my eyes, and I felt like, oh my goodness, things
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are beginning to make sense again.
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It felt so I don't know whether the word is cathartic, oh my gosh, it's
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like there's no- there's nothing wrong with me, And I had to inquire
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more about what's going on here.
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So she tells me a bit about her course, and I wonder h-
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how do I make more inquiries.
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Didn't know what to do but I learnt that I had a senior in medical school whose
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husband was a lecturer in that department.
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On the strength of that and that alone, I went there, I found him and
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that's where I credit the hand of the divine in all that this man that knew
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me from nowhere decided to help me.
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And not just help me, put his reputation on the line for me, because getting into
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the department wasn't a smooth process.
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But eventually I did cross over, and it was because of this man's
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sterling reputation, so to speak, within the department wa- that people
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were willing to give me a chance.
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Because they kept on saying, what's a medical student, what's
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a science student going to do?
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How is she gonna cope with arts?
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It's a whole different ballgame." And I was looking at them like,
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"You don't realize-" They didn't know … "that in this makes sense to me.
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Where I'm coming from doesn't." Yeah.
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But I did have to prove myself, and thankfully my results showed
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I did so well, in all my courses.
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Eventually graduated second best in my class, won an award, yada, yada, yada.
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And, the rest is history.
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more, more to come.
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I don't know whether I- I'm not talking about the HR side of things now.
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But, I graduated quite well.
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My former classmates in med school 'cause it was a six-year
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course, we graduated together.
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very supportive.
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They were there cheering me in the hall, and it was- Aw … so surreal.
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But it was, it turned out quite well for me.
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I didn't know that was just the first step in a interesting story, but at
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least that's how, I moved from medicine to CLA, and then a few more steps
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along the way and they've got me to HR.
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But I don't know if that's a story for now, but let me, I think
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I've answered the first question.
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I think it's so good, 'cause I'm listening to you, I hearing you, because
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of course I have Nigerian connection.
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I know how difficult it is to go from medicine, as you said.
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Medicine is oh my gosh the pinnacle of everything, and you're going to
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communication and l- a- and language, which is great, but in those days- Yeah
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it wasn't looked at as great.
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Oh, you're frozen
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Oh, okay.
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y- you're actually frozen from my end as well, so I think-
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Okay … it must be, some bandwidth or something Am I unfrozen now?
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Oh, you're back.
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Okay.
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Yeah, you're beginning to move a little bit.
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I don't know if it's better from your perspective.
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Am I better?
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Am I moving now as well?
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Yes, you're moving too, so we're both unfrozen now.
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Okay.
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That's great.
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Yeah.
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But- So that's how this all started
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the greatest thing is I'm thinking that no, as I'm a Christian too,
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as but no journey's ever wasted.
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Because I'm thinking of all the lives you're touching now, all the students who
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are feeling similar things to you, feeling misaligned, and you're coming along.
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You're not just talking from an angle of, "Oh, if you are feeling
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this way, just do it." You're talking from a place of passion.
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"I've been there.
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I feel it.
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I know, but look at me today, and that could be you.
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So yes, let me hold your hand.
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I can pray with you, but I can also walk with you."
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Yeah,
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exactly.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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That is so helpful for a young person, because young people can be despondent.
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They can feel scared, and especially, I know in our society where parents
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are, respected and their guidance, we reverence our parents, we respect our
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parents-… and we are afraid of them too.
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So what are you gonna tell Mom and Dad who has spent all these years saying,
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"Ah, my child, this is what you're going to do," and now you're saying,
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"I'm going to do something else"?
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Honestly, it wa- it wasn't the easiest and I played down the home front, but it was
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quite a, it was quite a, an experience.
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It was I don't blame my parents.
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I didn't carry them along.
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I didn't tell them what was going on 'cause I feel like
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you said, I was scared to.
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I was scared, about their reaction.
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And I think in a way there was some shame, yeah.
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This is your golden child, so to speak, that's now coming back to tell you
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I'm a failure," or, "I'm failing at something," and that wasn't something
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they were used to hearing from me.
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So there was a bit of, maybe a little bit of pride as well.
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I don't know whether that makes sense, but, yeah, there was some shame in it.
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And so they … it was tough for them to come round to understanding the decision
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that I made, but eventually they did.
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In fact, it's what's the word I'm looking for now?
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Providential that the same dad that gave me the tougher time was the only person
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who could make it to my graduation.
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So he was actually the only person there to see me walk up to, to win my
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award and to get my prize and all that.
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And and the words he said, I've not, I've never heard it from my father before,
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and I guess the circle situation was quite unusual in my house 'cause my
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dad is a very straightforward person.
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Yo- you can set the clock by my dad.
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He's a very routine-oriented person.
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Goes to work at 7:00 AM in the morning, comes back by 4:00
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PM has dinner at this time.
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So he's not the kind of person that knows how to cope, knew how to cope with this
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sort of disruptive element in his life.
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So it was tough for him to c- come round to having to deal with,
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especially because none of my other siblings had a similar experience.
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But when he saw me go up, and he went home and I heard he
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told them, "She did us proud."
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And I think that kind of healed many years of pain, of shame,
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of hurt, of low self-esteem.
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It did a lot.
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But, one critical thing that I didn't mention was that I didn't
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really have anyone- To counsel me.
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I didn't have anyone to hold my hand and tell me it's going to be okay.
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I didn't have anyone to ask me, "What do you like to do?" "What comes easily
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to you?" "What do you think you have a natural flair for?" And if I had someone
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like that, I would have… remember that when I was younger, I don't know how
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much of a difference it would have made, because of how we grew up, but when I
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was younger, I used to be the coordinator of all our entertainment, presentations.
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I was usually the MC that was telling what was next on the
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program, when we had birthdays or family events, I'd be the one.
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Funny enough, I have a daughter that does exactly that now,
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and it's so interesting, right?
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And I was the one that, I could sing, I could act, and I could do all that stuff,
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And never knew that communication was the link that tied all those things together.
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And if someone had been there to guide me, at least I'd have
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thought about it a little bit more.
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So what I'm doing now with the Toyin Talks Talent or the T3 Torchbearers
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Academy is to serve as that guide.
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That's why my newsletter is called The Talent Guide, to help you recognize
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some of these things that are, in your life, to help you shape your career.
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There's nothing we can do about your course of study
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because, you've studied it.
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But now that I'm in HR, I can tell you what options you have even
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if you studied this and what your career interest is something else.
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These are how we marry those two things together.
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These are the tools you can use.
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These are the courses you can take.
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These are the certifications, professional qualifications you can
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gain, and that is how we help guide these young people into fulfilling
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careers one young person at a time.
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Love that.
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And that's essentially what we're doing with the T3 Torchbearers Academy.
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I love that.
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So can you tell us some of the practical guidance some of the tools that you use?
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Can you share, one or two?
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Because I know people are gonna be listening to this and, are there
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any- specific ones that you can name?
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Oh, okay.
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Okay, so my training gives me access to a specific personality test that
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people can take that helps them.
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It not only tells them what their personality type and career interest
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is, it actually recommends the sort of course you could study,
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and maps out your progress.
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So it tells you about what kind of what you can need a master's degree for the
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job, if you don't need it and tells you, you look for this, any sort of training
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that gives you the ability to do ABC.
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So it goes that in-depth, and that's why we call it career counseling.
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But right now we actually have these tools at our fingertips.
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Your regular run-of-the-mill Myers-Briggs personality tests, for
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instance, tells you what… And I have to say, that test is controversial.
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some people prefer what we call the Big Five personality test, that's a
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more accurate and scientific test.
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So I just want to make that disclaimer here.
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But that Myers-Briggs is the one that tells you, I don't know if
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you've come across these terms.
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You're like, a ENFJ, a ISTJ.
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Yeah.
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yeah.
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So that's your Myers-Briggs, and it tells you four major things
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about yourself, whether you are an introvert or an extrovert.
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It talks about whether you are intuitive, more feelings-directed,
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or you are thinking, which is more, intellectually or brain-directed- I
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think it's intellectually directed.
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It talks about whether you're someone who relies more on your logic.
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Or someone who is more holistic in your approach.
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You don't consider just the logical side of things, you
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consider the other side of things.
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And then are you somebody who is a spontaneous person or somebody
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who is a systematic person?
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So that's what the Myers-Briggs tells you.
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So by the time you see your results and it shares it with you, if you have
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a larger percentage of it, accurate, because it also depends on how you
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answer the questions, to be honest.
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That's true.
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I was about to say
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What I recommend to people, yeah, is that, yeah, you may take one test today,
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it may be maybe, what, 70% accurate, but then take it maybe another three years
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down the line and see what it says.
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When I started the test, I was an I, that's an introvert.
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I do the test now, it tells me I'm an extrovert.
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I don't think I am, but I guess because of the way I answered the question
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one, and that's based on the fact that my job conditions me to be outspoken.
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I'm an HR person, and I work with people on a daily basis.
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I have to be able to learn how to explain difficult things to them.
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I have to organize HR programs.
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They call us even event planners now, because if you're doing anything like a,
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staff awards or things like that, you're part of putting all those things together.
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So by conditioning, I've had to become more outgoing, as an individual,
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even though I'm a natural introvert.
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I'm the one of those people that loves my own company, can
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entertain myself hours on end.
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I don't need people to make me feel like I am as- I've associated
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or had connections with people.
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But because my job has conditioned me, the test is telling me something
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different from what it told me.
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But that's the only thing about the test that has changed.
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Everything else has remained the same.
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Okay.
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So it's a good idea to do those tests, over periods.
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That's the first one.
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Another tool is called what we call the RIASEC model.
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That's the one that tells your career interest.
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Now, RIASEC-
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What's it called?
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Sorry
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… R-I-A-S-E-C stands for different things, and I'm gonna try and
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quickly summarize them and not give away too many tools of the trade.
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But R stands for realistic, and what that means is that you're
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someone who's good with your hands.
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So people who have the realistic things go into careers that are hands involved.
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So you find they're the ones that are the engineers, they're the ones
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that are the software designers.
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like most other things, there's a blend of everything.
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So it's not strictly that, but-
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Understood.
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You are people that do things with your hands mostly.
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Then the athletes fall into that category as well.
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Then the I stands for the, Intellectual.
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So you'll find those are the ones that go into mostly careers
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that involve a lot of brain work.
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So you're talking about doctors, you're talking about scientists, right?
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Those are the people that are the I. Then the A stands for, artistic,
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which I think it explains itself.
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The artsy types.
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You draw, you sculpt, you have all those creative abilities.
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Then there's the S that has to do with social.
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So those are the people that go into careers that have to do with,
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one-on-one intimate interactions and having to resolve social ills.
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So you have your teachers, you have your social workers-
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Okay…
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Those are the people in the S. Then you have the E, which is the enterprisers.
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Those are the people in the business sector.
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So you're looking at your people in the corporate space.
22:07
You're looking at your entrepreneurs.
22:10
Yeah, you have those sort of people in that.
22:11
And then the last is the C, which is the conventional people, they are
22:16
the ones that are very by the book.
22:18
They're the one who are very, they're very step-by-step process driven.
22:23
That's where you find your judges, your auditors, your
22:26
accountants, et cetera, et cetera.
22:28
So you can have a blend of any of these sub-source.
22:32
You can have people who are realistic, intellectual and creative, so your RIC.
22:36
So you meet that your lady, your friend that you spoke to who has
22:39
a double doctorate and is also artistic, and she may be an RIC.
22:43
So she's intellectual, she's realistic, she's creative, all blended together,
22:47
which is why she's able to move and shift in between these different
22:50
abilities- to have this, very rich scope of, the things she can do.
22:55
And so helping people understand those things helps them to know, okay, the,
22:59
it unlocks their capabilities and they find that they're able to do more, or
23:04
they find that the things that they enjoy are not like, I won't say bad or
23:08
evil, things to be discarded because they have no place in a society that
23:12
values, a steady regular job that earns you a salary every month, that you sit
23:19
down and you're able to make a living for yourself, et cetera, et cetera.
23:22
So those are some of the things that we take them through in the academy.
23:26
Then of course, we interweave those with, employability skills.
23:29
So your CV writing, interview skills, networking, LinkedIn profile
23:35
optimization and all that kind of stuff.
23:37
So all that together we do in 12 weeks of the academy.
23:41
We've added one or two things over the years too, and it's been very rewarding.
23:45
It's 100% scholarship.
23:47
We have industry experts that volunteer their time to teach people this stuff.
23:53
I don't have overheads per se.
23:55
The thing, the only thing I would say we pay for is we do a graduation ceremony.
24:00
Once in a while we make it physical so people can just, have fun together and
24:03
get to see each other and all that.
24:05
So that's where really, but mostly it's 100% online, so people from
24:09
all over, Nigeria, all over, we have a couple of people from outside
24:12
of Nigeria, in Africa as a whole.
24:14
We even have someone from, I think Canada too, that's joined the class.
24:18
Oh, great.
24:18
So it's been really exciting and this is our third cohort we're
24:22
currently running as I speak to you.
24:24
So that has been my own little way of helping people not have to go through
24:29
what I went through, and it's been extremely rewarding, I have to say.
24:33
All right.
24:34
And that's the T3 Torchbearers Academy, right?
24:35
The T3?
24:35
Yeah, T3 Torchbearers Academy.
24:36
T3 Torch, oh, T3
24:45
Torchbearers Academy.
24:46
So it's almost like you have two very busy careers that you do.
24:52
You do the HR and you do the academy.
24:55
Yes.
24:56
But I noticed something that made you come alive.
24:58
It's when you were talking about the academy, you came alive with that one.
25:03
Yeah.
25:04
And I guess it has to do because it's kinda related, really
25:07
related to your personal story.
25:10
Yeah, it does.
25:10
And, I think the other reason why the academy makes so much impact but I'm
25:14
one of those people, if I say my RIASEC profile, I'm actually an S an SEC.
25:20
SEC. Okay.
25:20
So I'm socially inclined enterpre- enterprise or entrepreneurially
25:25
disposed as well, and then there's the `creative side of
25:27
things that, put things together.
25:29
It touches every aspect of me.
25:31
So that's why it makes me come alive.
25:33
And the thing is that when I got into HR, what drew me to it was recruitment
25:41
was my first entry point into HR. And when you're recruiting, you're finding
25:46
someone who is a fit for a role.
25:48
So all of these elements that I've discussed come into play.
25:51
When I started out, they hadn't, you didn't have personality
25:55
tests as mainstream tools that you used to use back then.
25:57
It was mostly based off of experience, and really how confidently you can
26:01
answer the question, and really how much research about the company you could do.
26:05
Right
26:05
But now as I evolved in the HR role evolved, you could see those elements
26:11
begin to come into, especially when it gets to the more senior roles because then
26:15
you see that, you just can't bring someone who says, "I have 20 years experience
26:19
in HR," and just plonk them in your organization because your organization,
26:24
that's why it's called an organization.
26:26
It has a culture, what we call culture, and there's some personalities that
26:31
may not thrive in your culture.
26:34
And if that's going to be a leader, you need to know whether or not this
26:37
person can thrive in your culture and get your organization from where
26:41
it is to where you want it to be.
26:42
So those things begin to feed into your decision-making, and it now brings all
26:48
those things we were talking about back then, it makes it more relevant now.
26:51
I'm very certain that it's been used, for years and what, but when I got into HR
26:54
here in Nigeria, it wasn't so mainstream, like I said, especially for younger roles.
27:00
But now we're doing all that now because, we know that our young
27:03
people of today, they're keeping us on our toes, aren't they?
27:06
They're- Absolutely … they're not, Absolutely.
27:09
If you're lucky, you get two years out of them.
27:12
Yeah.
27:12
So you're being all the more careful now to understand what-
27:16
Who they are … motivates them-
27:18
Yeah
27:18
… what would make them feel that they're having a great
27:21
employee experience with you.
27:23
And, it is like a good meeting point between my two interests.
27:26
Yeah.
27:26
So that's why I think the HR thing looked like a good- fit for me, when it started.
27:32
I stumbled into that as well.
27:34
You let me know if you want to know the story of that one.
27:37
But eventually- … it made sense, everything together.
27:41
But the HR came before the academy started, so-
27:43
Oh
27:44
I'd been doing HR for a bit before I started the academy.
27:46
but I think it lends into what you're doing too, because you did, as you
27:49
said, you started with recruiting, and recruiting was based on different,
27:53
para- or you, you used different skills then that was relevant for then.
27:57
But now, as you said, the younger people, there's a younger generation that is
28:00
coming now they're into the experience
28:05
It's a knowing laugh.
28:06
You're laughing- Yeah … a knowing laugh.
28:11
I said to some of my peers and my contemporaries, "You
28:14
gotta work with what you have.
28:15
You can't be saying, 'But it used to be like that.' Yes, it was like
28:19
that, but this is what we have." "So let's work-… with what we have.
28:21
Let's use the tools that we have available to," because they're using the tools
28:26
that's available too, and you've got to be you gotta meet them where they are.
28:31
I say that all the time.
28:32
You've got to, you've got to.
28:33
You've got to meet people- You've got
28:34
to
28:34
… where they are.
28:35
And I'm learning from them too.
28:36
We learn, there's so much they have to offer us.
28:39
Me, I'm willing,
28:39
Honestly.
28:41
… I'm willing to learn, though.
28:42
I am willing to learn.
28:44
They are delightful.
28:45
I love the young adults, I call them.
28:47
The young adults- Yeah … teach me so much every day, and I teach
28:51
them too, 'cause, it's a back and forth, we're- Yeah, and,
28:54
and I thought… Okay.
28:55
Oh, sorry, go ahead.
28:56
No, I'm looking at the time, and I'm just saying thank… Yeah.
28:59
I think we have to wrap up now, but of course, we have the audience who are going
29:02
to have many more questions for you that you will have the opportunity to answer.
29:07
And of course, you have to come back a second time.
29:09
So if those who are looking at this after, of course, they, those who haven't
29:15
joined us, if they'd like to get in touch with you, how can they do just that?
29:21
Okay.
29:22
Oluwatoyin Puddicombe, just exactly how it's spelled.
29:25
I think it's showing on your screen.
29:26
Yes.
29:27
that's where you'll find me across social media.
29:29
But you'll also find me as @toyintalkstalent.
29:32
That's what T3 stands for.
29:34
Okay.
29:34
So most of my, enterprises that I get into, you'll see T3 in front of them.
29:39
So @toyintalkstalent is on, it's on Instagram, it's on LinkedIn, it's
29:45
on, Twitter, X, as @toyintalkstalent.
29:49
I'm also on Facebook as well.
29:50
So you can connect with me on any of those any of those, platforms.
29:54
But I should add, and I think that it would be a real disservice for me if
29:58
I didn't add that a couple of years ago when T3 started, I have to say
30:03
that a catalyst for it was my husband.
30:05
And he'd hear me moan and groan and talk and, get angry over how, people are
30:11
not doing what they're supposed to do.
30:12
They come to interviews, they ask us things, they ask this, blah, blah, blah.
30:16
And he said, "Look, why don't you just do something about it?" And I would, and I
30:21
have to say that was what galvanized me.
30:23
I call him a co-founder because I don't know how far I would have gone with T3
30:27
if he hadn't been there to edge me on.
30:30
And as God would have it, or as life would have it, however you put it COVID
30:34
came, and we're all under lockdown.
30:36
And that time gave me the opportunity to have enough time to actually think
30:41
of what I wanted to do, and it just started off, and we've not stopped.
30:46
Yeah.
30:46
And God willing, we'll continue for as long as we can.
30:49
Amen.
30:50
amen.
30:50
Yeah.
30:51
See.
30:52
Ooh, what sometimes looks like such a a disadvantage, God can
30:56
turn it around to be a blessing.
30:58
Yeah.
31:01
100%.
31:01
And you're blessing so many.
31:01
And the young people are our future, and if we, what we invest-… in
31:04
them is not just for us, but it's for the generations to come.
31:08
So thank you-… for what you are doing.
31:09
You are making an impact, and it's needed.
31:13
And I love that knowing laugh because, yes, I have conversations
31:16
with the young adults all the time.
31:18
And do you know what?
31:19
They're the same everywhere.
31:20
Yes.
31:21
In Africa, here in Nigeria, in the US, I hear them talk.
31:25
They're the same everywhere.
31:27
Okay.
31:28
but I don't know how much time we have, but I only leave a thought that we
31:32
need to ask ourselves as a generation, what was our, or how complicit were
31:39
we in creating these young people of today that we complain about?
31:45
Thank you.
31:46
What role do we play in making them who they are?
31:51
Is it some things that we didn't do or some things that we did do?
31:56
And I think that because every generation feeds into the other one way or the other,
32:01
we can't make those distinctions between us so stark in that, oh, we're the Gen X
32:08
or we are the Gen Y or this is the Gen Z. We've got to see the things that bring us
32:14
together and the things that we can learn from each other, like you very rightly
32:18
said, and then let that flow continue.
32:22
Because if we don't do that with this generation, and we have such
32:26
issues, you have to ask yourself what's the next one gonna look like?
32:32
And that's a great-
32:32
So it's important that we invest
32:34
in them.
32:35
Yes.
32:36
Now and so that we create the kind of young people that we
32:41
want to see in the future.
32:42
Yes.
32:44
I think that's very- So that they in turn can invest in the next generation.
32:49
Because every generation looks back or, I know what my grandparents said about
32:54
my parents' generation, and my parents' generation said about my generation, and
32:59
we are now saying about the generation.
33:01
And it's just, it doesn't change.
33:04
So we have to look back and say, so there is something that we,"
33:08
as you said, "What did we do so that they are where they are?"
33:12
And they can learn from us, and we in turn have to learn from
33:16
them, 'cause we are not perfect.
33:18
And the- None of us are perfect.
33:19
Yeah.
33:19
We're here for each other.
33:21
Yeah.
33:22
We're here for each other.
33:23
Thank you so much.
33:25
You're so welcome.
33:26
So as you can see, ladies, mainly ladies who joined us, although a
33:29
few gentlemen, this has been a very interesting and informative episode.
33:35
And for those of you who have listened to Oluwatoyin, if you'd like to be
33:40
a guest just as she has been, please reach out to me on my website,
33:44
which is chattingwiththeexperts.com.
33:47
I'm also on LinkedIn.
33:49
My business page there is Chatting With The Experts.
33:52
I'm on, Instagram.
33:54
My handle there is @chat_experts_podcast.
33:58
I have a YouTube channel that I'd love for you to subscribe to.
34:03
You will hear this episode there, or view this episode there, as well as
34:07
all the other phenomenal women who have shared their expertise there.
34:13
And what we're gonna do now is open up the floor to all who
34:15
joined us so we can continue this very interesting conversation.
34:20
Thank you again for being a guest on Chatting With Experts.
34:23
Thank you for having me.
34:25
It's been such an honor.
34:25
Ab-
34:25
absolutely.
34:25
Thank you