AMAKA's very first virtual summit, Our World Festival ran from May 2nd through May 4th. Top leaders and experts accross industries and fields helped host and explore a variety of sessions for three days of pure magic and motivation. Here's a recap of everything that went down:
Day 1 - Self Care Sunday
What better way to start a slow Sunday morning than with restorative yoga in bed? That’s exactly how we started Our World Festival last week. Led by wellness entrepreneur and yoga instructor, Nzingah Oniwosan, we kicked off by getting our mind, body, and spirit aligned with Self-Care Sunday. After that grounding exercise, chef Heline Tessega of Eat Ethio took us through how to cook Misir Wot and Timatim tomato salad. We closed the day with some of our favourite jetsetters Silvia Njoki, Nneka J, Annette Richmond, Lee Litumbe, and Patricia Kihoro for our Wanderlust Travel Webinar.
Memorable quotes:
"I’m on this constant pursuit of living a purpose-led life. The version of me when I’m travelling is my most honest authentic self. I am the most curious when travelling, I am the most creative when travelling.” - Lee Litumbe
"Think globally, but explore locally. Go uncover the treasures in the places you can go to."- Nneka Julia
“One of the things we are lacking as black women is simply joy, so go somewhere and enjoy yourself. Whether that be with your friends in a park or a pool, just be in that joy… there’s such a lack of Black joy right now.” - Annette Richmond
Day 2 - Motivation Monday
Our busiest day, Monday was buzzing with insight on how to make money, keep money, and spend money. First up, we got a good primer on all things budget with an economic empowerment talk by chartered accountant Oluwatosin Olaseinde, who shared an educational and insightful presentation covering several factors including financial goals, financial independence, managing your income, stocks and shares and savings.
Next up, we concurrently had Tools For Working Women with Afua Osei and The Balancing Act: Entrepreneurship & Parenthood panel with Fioye Laniyan, Yvette Gayle and Ivy Mugo. In an hour Laniyan, Gayle and Mugo gave us the lowdown on balancing home and work while on another channel, Osei broke down how to make your money work for you. Later in the afternoon, AMAKA’s very own CEO and founder Adaora Oramah hosted the Passion x Purpose panel. Joining Oramah was Christina Okorocha, Wilglory Tanjong, Sarah Diouf and Susan Oludele.
We closed with insider insight on the Business of YouTube panel with Dimma Umeh, Dr Amina Yonis, Vanessa Kanbi, Mitchelle and Naledi Monamodi, and hosted by Addy Awofisayo. All members of Youtube Black’s Class of 2020, the panel discussed community building, the power of social media and content creation business models. The speakers discussed their careers via the social media platform, their highs and lows, filming on the continent and being recognized with the YouTube Black Award.
Memorable quotes:
Money Talks:
“Financial independence is actually very slow.” - Oluwatosin Olaseinde
Tools for Working Womxn
“Your job is twofold: Fix a problem others cannot solve themselves or impact their bottom line” - Afua Osei
The Balancing Act: Entrepreneurship & Parenthood
“I have been very hard on myself as a mother for the past four years.” - Ivy Mugo
“I’ve had to do what works for me and what works for my family." - Yvette Gayle
“Sometimes you have to do the things you feel are not in your line of work.” - Fioye Laniyan
Passion x Purpose: Entrepreneurship
“I had to build my business from home, so I used social media for every hairstyle I would create. I didn’t care if it didn’t look good, I would share it every day. 5 likes, 10 likes, I didn’t care...I wanted people to see my work and that’s how I built a client base.” - Susan Oludele
“Your customers become your biggest ambassadors.” - Wilglory Tanjong
“It has to be sustainable… the goal is to build a brand that lasts.” - Sarah Diouf
“Would you rather look back in 10 years, 20 years and think ‘why didn’t I do it then’?” -Christina Okorocha
Business of Youtube
“It takes time because building a community requires trust.” - Mitchelle Adagala
“If you focus on perfection, it not only limits you but it also limits you on the kind of content you put out. You can actually do so much with what you have.” - Dimma Umeh
“Once you build a strong community, it’s not just your channel anymore. These people feel so involved with you and they want to feel like we are making this thing grow. They rally people. Once you have a community, it is not your channel anymore. Accept it. You are doing it for them, so you need to give 50% away. Involve them! It’s not your channel anymore boo” - Naledi Monamodi
“There’s been so many opportunities because of this. Apply to everything! One of my subscribers sent me the link which shows that subscribes also care.” -Vanessa Kanbi
Day 3 - AMAKA Tuesday
All good things come to an end, including this festival but we went out with a bang and a lot more knowledge on ourselves. We started the post-bank holiday week with Safe Space: The Mental Health Conversation hosted by Natelege Whaley featuring mental health advocates Alya Mooro, Hauwa Ojeifo, Ruthie Zerai, Naj Austin and later our Tea and a Talk: Sexual Health panel hosted by Kaz Lucas and joined by OGs in the field, Oloni, Nour Emam, Ev’yan Whitney and Penda Ndiaye.
Memorable quotes:
Safe Space: The Mental Health Conversation
“For me when it comes to work, I’ve dealt with a lot of impostor syndrome. Often being the only person in the room who is black or brown...you have to leave so much of yourself outside sometimes in these spaces, just to fit in and make it work.” - Ruthie Zerai
“When I was running away from white corporate America, I was running towards community and trying to figure out what that meant for me...I want to be in a physical space where I can feel unburdened and connect with people.” - Naj Austin
“Vulnerability is hard, you’re naked. You’re exposing parts of yourself that you haven’t even shown yourself...but vulnerability and trust go hand in hand” - Hauwa Ojeifo
“Feeling both and neither is actually what made me want to write my book, because I felt like I was getting two different messages from the two different societies about what my life should be...I definitely felt torn between the two and I still do” - Alya Mooro
Tea and a Talk: Sexual Health
“Of course, consent is mandatory, but it can also be sexy. Making sure you’re checking in along the way, like ‘do you like this?’, ‘can I continue?’, ‘do you like if I rub you that way?’”- Oloni
“That’s where it's at really, giving yourself grace and compassion because a lot of the time these are not conversations that happen overnight.” - Kaz Lucas
“Consent is not a one-time contract that you sign and then it’s done. It is a constant conversation not just with your partner but also with yourself. What does consent with yourself look like? And for me that looks like not saying yes to sex that I’d rather say no to.” - Ev’yan Whitney
“Pleasure can be a good stretch, and feeling good in the muscles or a really nice meal that you eat really slowly and enjoy. When you stop and you start doing that in your day to day, that will definitely come into your sex life. Pleasure is feeling whatever feels good in your body, whether it's sexual or not, because somehow it's all sexual. Living that pleasure in your day to day is how I’m trying to find pleasure lately” - Nour Emam
“I try to approach it [decolonizing sexuality] by saying we elevate instead of assimilate. Elevating the practices and sexualities of our ancestors.” - Penda Ndiaye
We’re sad that the fun has come to an end, but thankfully the lessons will remain. If you missed the gems, you can watch the full virtual summit on our Youtube here.