Latest / Chatting with The Experts with Paula Okonneh / Empowering Women to Greatness

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Empowering Women to Greatness · Chatting with The Experts with Paula Okonneh

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Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Chatting With The Experts
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TV show hosted by moi Paula Okonneh.
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Every week I bring to you amazing women from Africa and the Caribbean
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and also from the Diaspora.
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And these women share with you such wonderful nuggets so that at the end
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of the show, you would have learned something new, you would be inspired
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by what you heard and be encouraged.
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Today's no exception.
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So today, I'm going to be talking to an amazing woman.
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Her name is Olabisi Oshikanlu and she is a Nigerian-Grenadian physician.
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She's also a John Maxwell leadership coach.
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And she's going to be inspiring women to greatness in every season of life.
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I'll tell you a little bit about her.
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I told you a bit already.
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That she's a Nigerian-Grenadian physician and John Maxwell leadership coach.
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And she's also a dynamic and inspiring leader.
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She's renowned for her multifaceted approach to personal
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and professional development.
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And she's also the founder of Full Hands Venture which leverages her diverse
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roles as a mother, a physician, an entrepreneur, and Maxwell Leadership
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Certified Speaker and Coach.
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There's so much to say about her, so why don't I let her
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tell us more about herself.
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Welcome, Olabisi, to Chatting with the Experts.
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Hello, Paula, and to the listening audience, thank you so
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much for having me here today.
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It is indeed an honor.
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Thank you.
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Looking forward to our discussion.
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So am I, and I know many others who have heard about you because I've
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been advertising this, of course.
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I'm also looking forward to our discussion today.
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So the title of this episode is to inspire women to greatness
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in every aspect of their life.
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Tell us more about that.
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Why that topic?
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Tell us more about you before we delve into that topic.
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Yeah, thank you.
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Thank you.
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I'd love to talk a little bit about myself.
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So as you mentioned, I'm Olabisi Oshikanlu, origin
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from Nigeria in West Africa.
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My father is, or was a Nigerian.
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He's deceased.
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And my mom is from Grenada and I did live in Grenada for a couple of years.
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So yay.
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I'm a woman of faith and I mentioned that and I put that, I lead with that
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every time I open my mouth to speak because it's really important to me.
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My faith in Jesus Christ is important.
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I believe that's why I am where I am today and who I am today.
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And I've leveraged that to excel in all the things that I've done.
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I'm a mom of a married adult son.
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I'm an entrepreneur.
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I was in private practice.
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As a pediatrician, I had my own private practice.
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I own real estate.
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I'm a physician, as I mentioned earlier, and more than
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anything, I'm someone of value.
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I add value to people and I value people.
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So I act as a cheerleader for people.
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I'm a John Maxwell certified coach, trainer and speaker.
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And my passion is to inspire people to unleash their potential and for people
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who feel that they've reached their potential but are struggling in certain
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areas, helping them to understand how it is to thrive wherever they are personally
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and professionally, and helping them to turn their dreams into a reality.
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Wow.
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I love that about turning your dreams into a reality.
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Tell me how you go about that, turning your dreams into a reality, because we're
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all born with dreams and aspirations, but sometimes they're not fulfilled.
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So tell me how you inspire women in particular, because we're
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talking about women, to make their dreams become reality.
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Yes, that is an awesome question.
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Growing up in art class, we would be asked to color like a square or
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circle, and if you strayed outside of the circle or the box, the teacher
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would say no, color within the box.
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And that was good then, but now as I think about it as an adult, I
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realized that that was the beginning of telling people you can't dream.
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Mm-hmm.
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Because we all have dreams, but when people keep telling you, you
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can't do this or don't do that.
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And I'm not talking about the fact that we shouldn't have boundaries
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and we shouldn't have rules.
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But those no's begin to cause people to walk in fear and to squash their dreams.
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What I do, and what I believe is that everyone has a right to be great
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and I have come up with an acronym.
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And I change the acronym all the time.
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I change it all the time.
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And the first word in that acronym for great is grow.
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Hmm
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Helping people who are aspiring leaders or helping people who are
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in leadership positions to fly.
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And when I say fly then first lead yourself.
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So allowing people to understand that the way to be great and the way
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is to first of all deal with you.
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Start with who am I?
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Who am I?
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What is my purpose?
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Because only after you answer that can you move forward as a leader.
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Because if you have not led yourself or you don't even know who you are,
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how can you lead other people and how can you influence other people?
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So true.
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I like that question.
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Who are you?
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Because until you know who you are, you can't lead, as you
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say, you can't lead out anybody.
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Because who are you leading when you can't even lead yourself.
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So I love that.
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Okay.
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So how do you inspire people to, or encourage people to find out who they are?
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Is there a process?
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Is there, I mean, what would you encourage people to do
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to find out who they are?
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I love that too.
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So when you, first of all, come to the awareness that you have to lead yourself
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and you're not blaming everybody else or like, oh, I'm this because this person
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didn't do this or my mother wasn't there.
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And I watched TV occasionally or on social media, people are blaming their parents
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for who they are, who they are not.
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But you have to ask yourself, okay, what is my purpose?
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Yes.
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What is my purpose?
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What is my assignment?
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Why was I put on this earth?
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And you mentioned something when we started the show about
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different seasons in life.
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And that question is a question we have to ask ourselves in every season, because
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with the seasons, just as the seasons change, things are going to change.
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But that fundamental question, what is my purpose?
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is something that doesn't change.
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So what is my purpose?
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Miles Monroe, excuse me, a blessed memory used to always say, if
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you don't know the purpose of a thing, then abuse is inevitable.
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Yes.
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And abuse is an the abnormal use, and it applies to us to,
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it applies to us as individuals.
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It applies to us when we're leading teams.
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So when you say, okay, what is my purpose?
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You begin to think about what are your skills and what are your values?
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And your skills could be, do I have leadership skills?
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Do I have problem solving skills?
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Do I have time management skills?
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Am I an effective communicator?
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I've tapped into that and that's why I'm doing what I do.
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So like I'm here, I'm a physician, I'm an entrepreneur.
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Now I speak, I coach, I train.
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That's because I asked myself those questions.
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People kept telling me you're good at speaking, you're good at inspiring people.
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So I understand that my skill set, one of my skill sets is effective communication
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and inspiring people and organization.
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And then when you talk about your skills, what are your values?
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Because your skills will get you to the top, but they won't keep you at the top.
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So true.
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Values.
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I feel like saying amen, but your values, and your skills would get
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you to the top and keep you there.
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And what are your values?
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Things like courage, being authentic, showing up as the real person, not
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being A today and B tomorrow, self awareness, humility, courage, compassion.
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Compassion is a big part, a big thing, especially as you mentioned
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earlier, you're a woman of faith and as I'm a woman of faith as well.
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And as a woman of faith, you know, where compassion comes in is when we realize
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that we're reflecting who God is, who Christ is, because you can have all
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these other skills and all these values, and I know I'm focusing on compassion,
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but when you don't have compassion, you can't even see beyond the person's
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pain, that there's a person there.
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Exactly.
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John Maxwell, who's my mentor.
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I'm a John Maxwell certified coach, talks about the five levels of leadership.
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Again, leadership is influence.
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And the first level is position.
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And when we look at what we're even talking about today, about being
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great and walking in one's weakness, knowing who you are is the first step.
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And it's just like, okay, so I know my position, right?
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My first level, he doesn't put it in that But I'm framing it
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this way for this conversation.
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And then when you think about compassion, the next level of leadership
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is the relationship, people phase.
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So, compassion, you cannot lead if you're not compassionate.
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If you don't have a relationship with the people around you, if the
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people around you can't relate to you.
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I heard someone on a podcast a couple of days ago, say
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something and really blessed me.
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And this is what he said.
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He said, a lot of times we hire people and we're wanting them to give us their hands.
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But what we have to do is key into their thoughts.
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When you key into their heart, the compassion, the empathy, the empowerment.
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Then you work on their mind because that works on their mind.
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So their mindset shifts and they don't look at what they're
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doing for you as a job anymore.
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They look at it from the heart position.
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This is mine.
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They're stakeholders and they take ownership and then
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they give you their hand.
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And so that's what compassion does.
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And I can see, I can understand why, you know, that when you heard it, it
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meant so much to you because a lot of organizations are realizing that
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their workers, their employees are more than just, as you said, the hands.
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They're not just machines in other words, and I'll come to that later,
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but they're individuals with feelings and you know, if you've got a healthy
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employee, most likely it's going to affect your bottom line because you're
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going to have someone who's not just here to do the work, but they're here to do
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the work because they realize that it's empowering them and empowering others.
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So, yeah.
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Exactly.
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So they come because they have a want to not because they have to.
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Yes.
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And as you mentioned, most organizations prior to this, a couple of years ago,
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organizations felt that the things that we're talking about, the compassion and
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the empathy that they were fufu, there were not things to be reckoned with.
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But as you mentioned, these things affect your bottom line.
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I'll give you an example, a personal example.
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I work for a managed care organization of fortune 700 is
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what they call the organization.
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I can't call their name online because it's not related to work.
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Now, and I have a boss, my senior medical director, who is retired
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now, influenced me tremendously.
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He was kind.
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He was smart.
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He was compassionate.
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And when I first got to the job, I did the job because I was there
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to, you know, wanted my paycheck and I wanted to do the work.
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But later on, I would stay past closing to do the work.
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I would double up on work because I just loved this man, not a male,
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female lover, that type of love, but I love what he represented and
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how he managed us and his teams.
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Our team performed consistently well.
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Our bottom line was good.
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The ROI on our team for our team was great.
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So it affects every aspect of not just our personal life.
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Personally, I was also happy because you spend eight hours of your day
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on a job, so you wanna be happy.
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And so being great encompasses all these things.
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We cannot really compartmentalize our lives.
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I
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love that example.
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And I love the fact that you, you know, you personalized it because
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it shows, I mean, even I met you, I know you, and the BC I saw, there
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was a change, noticeable change.
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Thanks for explaining.
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Part of the reason that I saw that
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right.
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We're talking about G the acronym GREAT, but we were on
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the letter G, which is Grow.
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And you told us so much.
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Is there anything extra, anything more that you could share about the growth?
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Yeah there's more, but let me still talk.
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Let me stay on G before I move to R.
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Okay.
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So with a G because we want also, I'd love for your audience to
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leave here with actionable items.
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Mm-hmm.
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Having the skill set is important.
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Having the values is important.
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You can't do one without the other.
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They're both important as we've determined.
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So your character and your skill sets, that's what people want in life from you.
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That's what your employer wants.
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But also having a plan.
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So how do you do this?
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Coming up with a plan.
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Predetermine the need once you know your purpose.
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Okay, so what's the need?
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What's the need in my personal life?
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What's the need on my job?
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So predetermining the need, laying out your goals.
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I always tell people begin with the end in mind.
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Where am I going?
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What is my wish?
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What is the opportunity that all these things present?
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We're doing what we do because it's the opportunities, whether in life,
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whether with our children, whether whatever it is, what's the opportunity,
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what's the obstacle, what are the obstacles in the way, what's hindering
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me from, and then coming up with a plan.
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Okay.
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So this is what I'm going to do.
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And if you need to make adjustments, you'll make adjustments and it eliminates
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worry about my status or the status of things, or, and it helps me to
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move along that ladder of position to people to results, you know, to getting
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results, because then when you're sure of who you are and you know who you are.
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Then if your boss comes with something or things change in
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life, you have that confidence and that courage to move forward.
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And then I'll go to the R.
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No.
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If there's more, please tell us more.
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I mean, anything else.
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Oh, great.
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We're talking about the acronym, GREAT.
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Like I said, I change it all the time.
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So the R is just restarting and resetting and refocusing and
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you know me personally my life.
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Oh my God, and for immigrants, especially since we're talking to immigrants.
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I grew up in Nigeria.
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I was born somewhere else grew up in Nigeria, moved to Grenada and then
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lived and now I currently live in the U.
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S.
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and I've lived in so many different states.
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And what that has done in the different seasons in my life, I
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have had to hit the reset button.
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Oh my God, have I had to hit the reset button.
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I've had to refocus.
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I've had to start from the beginning.
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When I left Nigeria, I had graduated as a medical doctor.
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When I got to Grenada.
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I was taking this exam so I could be certified in the United States to work
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as a resident, to study as a resident.
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It was a restart and it was humbling.
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I had to move.
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I moved from having my own home to living with my grandmother
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in one room in the house there.
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But I again, begin with the end in mind.
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I knew where I was going.
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I wanted to do residency.
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I wanted to be able to raise my then three year old, now 38 year old son.
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You know him, right?
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I wanted to do all those things.
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So I had to keep hitting refocus, and reset.
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And that for women, that's very important.
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When I have people who are listening today who have gone through a divorce,
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have probably some type of illness, some type of loss that is causing them to
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say, Oh my God, what am I going to do?
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Like they'll say, what am I going to do?
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What am I going to do?
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But I'm here to tell you that, or on a job, you lost your job or you're
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in a job and you're struggling.
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There's always an answer and it's really just about refreshing our
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mindset and regaining focus and being able to embrace new beginnings and
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seeing fresh starts as opportunities.
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I have a coach and he says no is next opportunity.
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No is next opportunity.
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So no, it's not a no.
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No is not a failure.
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No, it's just one next opportunity.
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Next opportunity.
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'Cause I've also...
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someone on my show also talked about FAIL, which is First Attempt In Learning.
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So I've learned something new today from you.
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No is next opportunity.
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Wow.
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Yes, I love it.
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Okay.
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And then the E, we've talked about it already.
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It's to be energized and to empower.
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Again remember, I said that we're people of value.
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I say that to myself all the time.
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I'm a person of value.
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I value people and I add back to people and I want to say something.
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Joyce Meyer always says hurting people hurt people.
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Mm-hmm.
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And a lot of times I've found, even on our jobs, that person who is being
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mean is not trying to devalue you.
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They feel devalued or not valued.
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So that's why you're getting the pushback and might not necessarily always be
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the case, but being able to just step back and say, what's going on here?
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And giving that person grace.
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Nourishing yourself and nourishing that other person, leaning into your
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strengths and looking at areas where the people are weak to say, okay, I'm
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strong at this, I will help them do this.
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Or if you're leading a team, getting people together who have
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different strengths and allowing people to have a voice to feel safe.
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There's a buzzword now, psychological safety, allow people to feel safe
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to, to speak and to give feedback.
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And so that's important.
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And as a physician, I'm going to give this prescription, I like giving
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prescriptions wherever I go now.
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As a physician, I'm going to give a prescription and it's taking care of your
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mental, physical and emotional health.
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Very important, especially for us as women.
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Yes, absolutely.
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I am so happy that we live in an era now, a time now where mental
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health doesn't carry as much stigma as it did some years ago.
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And people are beginning to equate the importance with physical health,
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you know, for a long time, they weren't on par, they were, you know,
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one was elevated above the other.
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So if you had diabetes and you went to the doctor and you were treated for
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that, you're a physician, so you know more about that than I do, you will be
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treated differently than if I was, you know, battling depression or, you know,
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just saying, I'm just not feeling okay.
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And I couldn't pinpoint it.
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They're like, you know, something's wrong with her.
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The person who had the physical ailment was regarded as being, you know not
22:13
more sick, but there was a difference.
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that society gave to the person who was physically ill than to
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the one who was mentally ill.
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And they're both very important.
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They are.
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And that is so true.
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And that's why I think it's important for us to speak up as women leaders or
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people who are on the front lines, who are visible on radio, on TV, on social media.
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To speak about mental health and to be vulnerable and
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open about our own struggles.
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I'm not ashamed to tell people that I have struggled with
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fear, that still do sometimes.
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I have struggled with anxiety.
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I have struggled with imposter syndrome.
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I'm better now, imposter syndrome where I would feel as if, okay, why am I here?
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I can't do this.
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I wouldn't raise my hands for opportunities.
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So if somebody pushed an opportunity, put an opportunity in front of me, I would
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not take the promotion of the opportunity.
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And this was after I'd owned my own private practice and had done
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major things, but because I was in a different same field, but different
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industry, I didn't feel secure.
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So it's important to have mentors.
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First of all discuss this mental health issues.
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Not be ashamed, get help if you need help, therapy, whatever it takes, medication,
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if you need to be on medication, and a lot of employers in the U.
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S.
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have employee assistance program, I think is what it's called, EAP, where if
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you're having challenges, mental health challenges, you can go and you'll get
23:57
some free counseling or therapy sessions.
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So there's a lot of this, there are a lot of resources out there that I can
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share with you later on to right here in the States or even online that we
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can share with your listening audience.
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So yeah, mental, physical and emotional health is really important.
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I'd love for you to...
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sorry, go ahead.
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No, that's good.
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No, I was saying I'd love for you to share some of those resources.
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I mean, this is a good place people are listening in and for those who probably
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listen later on the resources live online for a long time, and some people
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are not as open to being vulnerable.
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So, if it is possible for you to share right now, and
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not be put in the show notes.
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Yeah.
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There's an association called NAMI, if you want to Google it, I can't
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remember the acronym, but National Association for Mental Health, I
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think it's, but it's called NAMI, N A M I, and if you go on that website.
25:02
There's lots of resources for people who are dealing with depression
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resources, not only for the person for the individual, but for caretakers,
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because a lot of times to forget that the caretakers carry a lot of the burden
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and they're under a lot of pressure.
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So that would be a good site to go to.
25:27
Thank you so much for sharing.
25:28
There's something else you touched on before you go on to the next letter that
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you talked about giving grace to people.
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Can you elaborate on that?
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Because that's becoming a word I'm hearing often, but people have
25:43
different ways of looking at it.
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And again, because we are Christians, grace means something else to us.
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So how can we as employers give grace to others or as an employee receive the
25:57
grace because, you know, some people don't even know how to receive grace.
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I think a big thing and this just coming to my mind, is the golden rule.
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Do unto others as you want them to do unto you.
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And I really believe that if you, if we follow that foundational
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rule, and I believe that rule is not just in Christianity, but
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in religions across the board.
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And I don't know much about other religious, but it's just a basic
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human rule do unto others what you want others to do unto you.
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That's what I call grace.
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Even with my employer being able to say, okay, and I do this a lot.
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I'm at the ground level.
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I look at it as ground level, mid level, and then the pinnacle.
26:46
I'm at the ground level.
26:48
So I can't see like an eagle.
26:50
An eagle can see what's going on from above.
26:55
But when you're at the ground level, you can only see what's in front of you.
27:00
Actually, you told somebody this yesterday.
27:02
I'm so pumped that we're talking about this.
27:03
I actually told somebody this yesterday.
27:05
She was complaining about her boss, complaining about the organization,
27:09
complaining about everything.
27:10
And I said to her, well, you don't know what is happening to
27:14
this person behind closed doors.
27:16
She can't defend you because this is coming from above and there's
27:19
a lot of pressure right now, so that's what's filtering down.
27:22
So just giving people grace, putting yourself in other, the
27:25
other person's shoes and vice versa as the leader or who's given
27:31
the feedback and as the receiver.
27:35
I think it's just a two way street.
27:36
I think if we just follow that rule, things will work out better.
27:43
Because then you're saying, okay, like this lady yesterday, we were
27:47
able to say, okay, yes, now that she's become the boss, she's doing this
27:51
and this and such and such and such.
27:52
And when she was with us, she wasn't doing that, but things have changed.
27:58
She has other people she's reporting to.
28:00
There's a lot of pressure because of finances.
28:03
So maybe if I'm nice to her, I'll ask them, how's your day going?
28:07
What's going on?
28:08
What's going on with you?
28:09
We'll see that she's under a lot of pressure as well.
28:11
She's nervous about this new role.
28:13
She's just learning this new role.
28:17
Does that make sense?
28:18
Makes a lot of sense.
28:19
Another thing I've learned along this journey of life is also to
28:27
meet people where they are, you know, yes, do unto others as
28:31
you'd like them to do unto you.
28:33
Yes.
28:34
But also Do unto others as they will like to be done unto.
28:38
What does this person like?
28:39
How can I avoid doing the things that irritate or annoy or, you know,
28:43
in some way doesn't go with their personality and to love them that way,
28:50
you know, that's been helpful to me.
28:52
Yes, it does.
28:54
It does.
28:55
Dale Carnegie in his book says, do not criticize, complain, or condemn.
29:01
And I've been saying that I actually saw somebody post that on
29:04
Facebook the other day too and I was like, yeah, that's my mantra.
29:07
Do not...
29:08
it's hard.
29:09
Oh Paula, it is really hard, but we just have to keep working.
29:14
Yes.
29:15
Okay.
29:16
You got me really pumped up.
29:18
We've done G, we've done R, we've done E.
29:21
What's A about?
29:22
So A is being agile or flexible.
29:26
It means that so when you're agile, it means you're able to change like
29:32
a chameleon, but continually improve staying flexible, adapting to changes.
29:39
If you're on a job, how do you know that things change nowadays that
29:43
so many things are changing the Instagram computer, being able to
29:48
say, Okay, I need this for this job.
29:51
I need this for this assignment.
29:54
Being able to look at data to improve performance, if you're in an industry.
29:59
Receiving and giving feedback like we just talked about.
30:02
Being able to give positive feedback and being able to receive feedback
30:07
that goes back to the psychological safe space that we're talking about.
30:10
Yes.
30:11
If you're not able to receive feedback, then you're not
30:15
going to be able to get better.
30:16
One of the things that I do after I've spoken somewhere or I've
30:21
coached somebody, tell me, people usually want to tell me what worked.
30:24
I say to them, tell me what didn't work.
30:27
Before I couldn't do that.
30:28
This is something new for me.
30:31
Now, I'm able to say that, and sometimes it'll pinch me a little bit, as you
30:35
say, Nigeria, it'll pinch me, you know, but I, which means it hurts me a little
30:40
bit when they tell me the truth about me, but it's helped me to foster and to
30:47
create a culture of continuous learning.
30:50
So I'm growing, and I'm getting greater and greater and greater.
30:58
And then being able to embrace stretch assignments, stretch assignments are those
31:03
assignments where you may be somewhere like when I first started talking on
31:10
shows and on the radio, it was a stretch assignment for me, because I was afraid
31:16
to stand, sit in front of the camera.
31:19
I didn't know what to do.
31:21
Now I find that my heart doesn't beat so fast.
31:23
Yes.
31:24
It still beats, but it doesn't beat so fast.
31:27
So I'm getting better and better.
31:29
So the people that we call superstars at one point in time were people who were
31:37
rookies, but we see them as superstars now because they've practiced and practiced
31:43
and practiced and they've been agile and they've been flexible and like,
31:48
you know, like the, I forgot what they call it in here in America the, we call
31:52
it plasticine when we're growing up.
31:55
That dough.
31:56
Play dough.
31:57
Isn't it?
31:57
Play dough.
31:58
So you can see all the African and West Indian audience.
32:01
My African is coming out.
32:03
Play Dough.
32:05
I know what you mean.
32:06
Being like Play Doh, we still have our core values, right?
32:11
We talked about earlier.
32:12
We still have our core values.
32:13
Our core values don't change.
32:16
That's why it's important to have that core value at the start.
32:18
We still have our core values.
32:22
Sometimes the methods and the things we need to do for change, but our core value.
32:26
So if somebody comes, tell me to lie.
32:28
I'm not going to lie.
32:30
But if there's a way to do a certain project that will make it faster
32:33
and better, and will increase our return on investment then I'll do it.
32:40
But I'm not going to change my core value of integrity.
32:43
So embracing those stretch assignments and creating a culture of continuous learning.
32:48
So being agile is the A.
32:51
And then the T is tenacity.
32:56
Tenacity.
32:59
Tenacity just like a dog with a bone.
33:02
I'm not giving up quitting is not an option.
33:09
Now can put an option when you have that core value and you know who you
33:13
are, you know you're holding on because you believe in yourself you believe in,
33:17
you know, the purpose and you know what your purpose is and so you holding on
33:23
because you plan on accomplishing it.
33:26
Exactly.
33:27
And you believe in the God who put that purpose in you.
33:30
Yes.
33:31
So, for me, I will say, I can do all things through Christ.
33:35
Amen.
33:35
And I'm holding on for dear life, and I'm like, oh, I can
33:40
do all things through Christ.
33:42
Can I share a quick story?
33:44
Yes, we do have time for that.
33:46
So when I...
33:49
talking about being great as you know, I got divorced a couple of...
33:55
years ago, I think probably about 20 years ago now, even 25.
33:59
And at the time, I remember I had moved from Nigeria to Grenada and divorce in
34:06
our culture is not looked on, you know, I had a big F on my head, F for failure.
34:13
I remember, I would say there was a scripture that I would read all
34:17
the time, where it says, I will restore all the years that the
34:21
locusts and the cancer had stolen.
34:23
I remember I would say it over and over again.
34:26
Oh my God, how could I ever do, how could you restore all those lost years and
34:31
all the things that I've left behind my family people, things having to start
34:37
all over again, restarting, refocusing.
34:40
It looked impossible.
34:42
It really looked impossible, but it was that having that grit, having knowing
34:49
purpose, having people around me just embracing failure as an opportunity.
34:56
As a next opportunity.
34:58
Celebrating the little successes that I had and being thankful
35:02
for the things that I had.
35:03
Being thankful for someone like you, who as a friend would come over and drive
35:07
me around the island and encourage me.
35:10
And in every season of my life, that's my divorce that I talked about but.
35:15
In every season of my life, even at the time of success, even when
35:19
I had my private practice and even now, there have been times when I've
35:23
wanted to give up, but going back to that place to say, I'm not giving up.
35:30
I almost want to cry just talking about this.
35:34
But I'm not giving up.
35:35
I'm holding on and for your listening audience, don't give up.
35:39
Don't give up on life.
35:40
Don't give up on your dreams.
35:42
Don't give up on where you're going because there is a plan.
35:46
There is a purpose and you are a person of value and the people around.
35:51
Tenacity also speaks to community because a lot of times you want to do
35:55
life alone, but you can't do life alone.
35:58
We all need that tribe.
36:00
We all need that community.
36:02
And being alone and I'm talking about being alone, not having a man being
36:08
alone where you're not having people share with you or help you carry
36:13
the load is a recipe for disaster.
36:16
Yes.
36:17
The recipe for disaster,
36:20
Olabisi, I want to thank you for sharing that story.
36:22
I've known you.
36:24
But I also want to say that you sharing that story, I think is an example of
36:30
many times when you see people, you don't always know what's happening in their
36:34
lives, because anyone seeing you in those years, always saw a bright smiling face.
36:40
And they didn't know that you were struggling with fear.
36:43
You're struggling with, you know, self doubt.
36:46
You're struggling with feeling that you are a failure.
36:49
They wouldn't know that.
36:51
And that's it.
36:51
And look at you today.
36:53
Another thing I want to say to my listening audience is that as Christians,
36:58
We sometimes go through tough times.
37:01
I believe firmly that God allows these tough times for a purpose so
37:05
that when we do emerge, people can see, Oh, the hand of God was upon
37:11
him or her, and they can learn.
37:13
And sometimes just seeing you emerge and give them hope.
37:17
He allows things for a reason.
37:20
I wouldn't have known you if I hadn't stopped briefly to attend your wedding.
37:25
Or I wouldn't have known you two if I hadn't been in Grenada at that time,
37:30
and our friendship has continued through all these years, through the ups and
37:34
the downs, and I've always admired you.
37:37
And so your life story and your life has been a testimony to me too.
37:44
So thank you for sharing that story.
37:46
Thank you.
37:47
And thank you for being my friend and for being in there for me
37:50
at my most vulnerable moments.
37:52
And I pray that everyone has a friend like you.
37:55
Awww,
37:56
now you want to make me cry.
37:58
Don't cry.
38:03
And so because this is a show in which we encourage women to listen in
38:07
and they learn and get inspired and educated, and you've done all three.
38:13
Let me see, where can people find you online if they just want to
38:16
connect with you or talk with you?
38:20
I can be reached at Full Hands Ventures.
38:26
So the email address is Full hands, F U L L H A N D S V@gmail.com.
38:35
My Instagram handle is Olabisi.
38:37
OLABISI_OSH
38:40
. I'm on Facebook
38:46
and I'm also on LinkedIn, as Olabisi Oshikanlu, MD.
38:52
MBA, CP, has all those long degrees that I have behind my name.
38:56
But if you put in MD, you'll get me because there, there
39:00
is another who's a doctor.
39:03
Ah, okay.
39:06
My sister in law.
39:06
Okay.
39:08
Oh, look at that.
39:10
Look at that.
39:11
All right.
39:12
And for those of you who have listened to this show and been inspired, and if
39:17
you would like to be chatting with the expert, you can reach out to me on my
39:21
website which is chattingwiththeexperts.
39:24
com.
39:25
You can also reach me on LinkedIn.
39:28
I love being on LinkedIn.
39:29
Just look for Paula Okonneh there.
39:32
I'm on Instagram and my handle there is at chat_experts_podcast, and I'm on Facebook.
39:44
Again, look for Paula Okonneh there.
39:47
Olabisi, thank you so much.
39:50
Thank you for having me.
39:53
Thanks to the listening audience as well.
39:55
You've blessed me.
39:56
You've blessed others as well.
39:58
Thank you.