Today. I'll be talking to you about um how to embrace motherhood in the c suite. I'm ok. Akinola, I'm based in the UK and it's such a privilege to be here this morning. Um I know it's pretty early for some of you depending on where you are. So.Good morning. Good afternoon and good evening. So I'll tell you a little bit about myself and then I'll get right into what I have to share with you today. So, um a little bit about me, I run a company called Bump and she, um which started off as a passion, um just after I had my first daughter and I'll talk a little bit more um on that as I progress. And I've also created um another platform called the Mother's Hub, which is sort of like at the beginning stages. So it is one to marry into Bump and Chic. Um I'm very passionate about mothers, everything concerning women's health, mother's health and their development is where I find life and purpose. I'm an author. Um I've got a couple of ebooks, uh floating around on health, wellness and family well-being. I'm a speaker as well.

Very passionate about faith and health, um and all things, family health and women's health. I also founded an initiative, I call it my intentional life. And it's obviously just based off of us, you know, as individuals, as women, as mothers, taking um intentional responsibilities towards everything that pertains to our life or family uh development, just making, you know, choices that improve our life and well being. And also I run this, um it's sort of like a live session um on social media. I run it on Instagram and Facebook and it's called Faith, purpose and womanhood. I'm a pre and post natal fitness specialist and a nutritional advisor. I'm a worship leader and there are so many other things you know, that go on. Um But I just thought I'd put that in there just so that, you know, who is speaking to you and who you're interacting with today. So just going right into what I have today. This photo is a picture that was drawn by my five year old. Well, he did this when I think he drew this when he was four. And I thought, you know what, it's just a beautiful picture to kind of talk you through what the agenda for today is.

Um I will share a little bit about my story as a mother and you know, going right into the challenges, the price that we pay, you know, to enjoy both motherhood and also being an executive mom. Whether it be in the C suite or senior management or you're just working your way through that and then coming right down to how we um embrace this demand, the responsibilities that keep pulling us from left, right to center. And then our commitment and the takeaways from this session would be to learn how to embrace and manage the challenges they are there. We've signed up for them. Um and then understand and appreciate the role of health and well being. I don't want to sound like a broken record but everything that I do, um it's all around health and well-being because I believe that it is such a great platform for us to launch out and become who God has created us to be. I talk about the importance of support systems, the importance of asking for help and then reclaiming your power within. So going right in, I wanna be able to have a few minutes at the end so that, you know, give you opportunity to make comments, ask questions or make suggestions. I would like to start with some stats would not necessarily be what I would normally do.

But I, I saw this quite interesting and, you know, I'm just gonna run through it very briefly. Um This is thats based on the US um workforce um in 2020 that's F-35 percent of top management positions were held by women in 2021. Um 8.2 leadership positions at fortune 500 companies. But the biggest challenges that were highlighted, um two main challenges highlighted as to why women don't necessarily progress into executive levels. Or the C Suite is women are held to higher standards. And because of that businesses don't tend to want to hire um women into top positions. And then I think the most um important one or the highest challenge for me is the whole sqs of women being pulled by family responsibilities. So not having enough time to function at the executive level. And you know, I find that quite interesting. Um So that's also one of the reasons why you probably hear women leaving the workforce or you hear um employers not necessarily taking on women into the executive level.

I'm gonna skip this and go right into what I have for us today. And I wanna start with this question. What meaning are you giving to life? Because I believe that this really is the, the um the platform, this is where it starts. Whatever we do in life, depends on what attention, what priority, what meaning we give to it, whatever life you want to enjoy today is based off of what you're willing to put into it and looking at live family work integration. I'm not um a subscriber to the work balance because as a mother myself, I'm a mother of four, I haven't quite found balance, but I find that integration works quite seamlessly for me. And then it, I, I don't feel guilty having to, you know, be able to take a step back from certain aspects of what's going on in my life just to breathe. So integration works. And I, and I, and I strongly believe that today as I share with you that you are able to also pick out, you know, one or two things that you can apply to your own life that can help you in your own journey. So moving right along, um Please bear this question in mind. What meaning are you giving to your life? Now, motherhood, I say motherhood is my superpower and this is my lived reality as uh a company executive.

Um I run my own business and then as a mother of four. And can I just say I'm currently a student, I'm an executive MB, a student at one of London's finest um Emperor College London. So you can already imagine, I'm trying to paint a picture. You can already imagine, you know, the different responsibilities of different aspects of my life that I'm trying to um constantly trying to make work for me. Um I started my journey, obviously, this different journey of motherhood after I got married, I got married and I immediately got pregnant after two weeks of getting married. Um And you know, there are a lot of things that people tell you once you step into this whole, into this new phase of life as a mother but it's always different what you actually experience as you journey along. Um, you know, and I, I used to work in corporate in London. Um, but after I had my first daughter, I obviously couldn't do that. So, yes, you can put me in the category of mothers who had to step away from, you know, the confines of, uh, the four walls of a corporate office. Um, because I couldn't marry the two being a mother and also being, uh, uh, an employee.

And can I also let you know that after I had my first three months after I got pregnant with my second. So I, my life was pretty busy as a mother, there was a miscarriage thrown in there and then I had my two boys afterwards. So at a point in my life, I actually had four Children under five. and life was intense. But in that what I realized at the beginning of my journey, what I found was I lost myself. I completely lost myself. And I, and I'm sure you hear mothers say this. Oh, I was frustrated. I was rotated. I couldn't quite live it. I couldn't do it. All my ambitions went out of the window because I couldn't see a way out of it. But in doing that, I realized that there was just more to life. I think the frustration of not, um, having everything that I wanted drove me into trying to find a means of making it work for me. So, you know what my journey has really taught me um as to where I'm at at this time is not losing myself, you know, um even as I'm working because now I have four Children to look after. But then they are also, you know, II I, my desire was to, to live a life that my Children can look at me and be like, oh, I really want to be like my mom even though yes, they've been created to be who God has called them to be.

But then they're able to pick up a few things off me and not just able to see me frustrated every single day. Um And what I found was as I continued to journey with my young kids, I also started to allow myself space to grow to, to kinda realize who I was becoming. Um And one thing that I think we miss when it comes to being in the executive level is we forget that motherhood actually creates the platform where it shapes our life to be able to function in the executive suite. Now, I don't believe in com com, you know, just putting different aspects of my life in boxes. I strongly believe that whatever we do flows from one end to the other. So even as a mother, you flow into being an executive, um um you know, uh an executive leader only because you have acquired, acquired those skills. So some other things that helped me in, in, in that journey, knowing that, you know, as a mom, we have a lot of things going on with us. Um I'm sure a lot of us have planned house moves.

We make foods with ingredients that we know ingredients that we don't know. And these are skills and abilities that we transfer to being in the executive level. Now, the next thing that I want you to bear in mind is as a mom who has also made the decision to function in the executive level, you must know that there is a price to pay. There are challenges, you know. So the question is, are you living your life? You know, are you leaving uh uh uh uh the life that you really want to live, the life that you appreciate is your life the life if you're currently living, working for you or are you just working to live? That's a question that is so important to bear in mind as you progress in life, there are prices to pay, but you weigh this against the values that you seek to achieve. And that's where marring your responsibilities as a mother and as a, as an executive in the C suite come, you know, that's where you realize that the skills and abilities interlinked. They're, they're all, they're interlinked, there's nothing separate about it. And once we start to see that we find out that we are able to attain and occupy spaces where we have kind of been running away from for a long time. Embrace those demands, they're there. We already signed up for it.

You know, the ba the scale is never gonna be balanced. Now, you start to ask yourself, what are your priorities? What actually means more to you? I mean, what is important to you as a woman as we climb this ladder, this corporate ladder, it is important not to lose what is important. It's important not to lose what matters in life. For me, the priority is always faith, family and career and everything else come into play. So it's important that as you progress, you bear that in mind, whatever values, whatever priorities you have set for yourself is what's gonna help you navigate your journey through motherhood into being an executive and back into motherhood. Just, you know, that flow becomes a lot more similar.

So you're an executive mom. So command your business, stay alert as to what is going on with you. Avoid burnout. It is important to. And the moment you realize that this is working for your good, stay positive about your journey, you've chosen it, you know, whatever is not important, feel free to take it out of the list. You don't owe anybody anything. It is your life, it is your journey and it is your responsibility to find your sweet spot so that you enjoy, you know, your story that you're about to tell the world our commitments, what are your commitments? You decide, you commit, you focus and you succeed. What commitments have you made to yourself, yourself, to your family, to work, stay on those commitments, you know, avoid having, you know, regrets, uh you know, ever so often and for you to be able to do that, you must take pauses in and out what is really important to me. You must be able to identify those important things in your life. Have clear priorities. Once you have that, then it's easier to evaluate them ever so often. Whatever is not working, you can move things around and feel comfortable to change up when you need to. Now, how do we walk this path? I said in the beginning, intentionality is a big thing. Nothing ever happens. Unless you do that is my tagline. Be intentional to become more in order to achieve more.

If you want more out of life, then you're gonna have to put in work to achieve that. Nothing ever happens. Why we seed and I really do believe that women are meant for the C suite. We can't run away from it. But for us to attain those levels, we've got to be intentional in the way that we plan out our work, plan out our time, plan out our lives, you know, plan out everything. You've got to set your priorities and make sure that they are attainable for you. The first thing is embrace and, and manage those challenges. Now I highlight it, there are challenges, there's a price to pay knowing that there are challenges, it is now your responsibility to embrace them, gain clarity as to what these challenges are. The demands at work, the demands at home. The word I can't, doesn't actually do any good for anybody. So the more that we begin to um you know, feed ourselves with the I can, the possibilities of actually being able to navigate this the spaces. Then it makes life easier. You are the scriptwriter of your story, write the story that you wanna tell, write the story that makes you happy. If you look at anything right now, that is not in line with your values, in line with what you want for yourself. Write the story, be aware of yourself, be aware of what's going on with you belief system. I'm a person of faith.

I strongly believe in God and II, I, I'm, I make both to say that, you know, where am I today is because of the grace of God is nothing that I've done by myself because I tried and I couldn't quite figure it out just knowing that there is that other, there's a divine source, you know that you can look up to because sometimes even people around you can't give you what you're looking for.

Having moments to yourself. Your belief system helps you build the habits that will carry you to the long hole and gain the outcomes that you want. Have great intentions about yourself. Reclaim the power within we have it in there. And also the, the place of health, your health is most important, prioritize your self care. You're an individual, you know, rediscover who you are. You can't be everything to all men. Identify the bits of yourself that actually make you smile, that make you come alive, you know, be practice mindfulness, be grateful. These are things that we hear every single day. But there is power in actually doing these things when you need help, cry out for it. Women tend to not have ask for help because we wanna be slave ma, we wanna be super women. Sometimes it's unnecessary to be ask for help. There are support systems and they're waiting for you to cry out even in the workplace. You know, you have people who work under you, you have people that you lead. Can I also remind you, you can't lead somebody else if you're not leading yourself. So even my favorite book says, love your neighbor as you are, you can love somebody else. You've got to love you. So make our time to appreciate who you are. Love you feed you, you matter, you are a mother. You are a giver.

You are a nurturer, you're a nurturer at home, you nurture at work, you're a carer all around whether you are nurturing your own biological Children or, or, or family members, that's who you are. So identify with that aspect of yourself and enjoy it. Leave your life to the fullest the world wants to embrace the best of you and there is the best of you in there. It just needs to come out. So, you know, it's important to keep the main things, the main things. These are my, these are my kids. If you haven't seen anything through my slides or you know, been able to understand how I process things, family is everything for me. Yes, there is work. There are people to meet, there are people to deal with, to talk to, but family is always the bedrock of everything. They, there are people who will be there for you. Motherhood is our superpower and I use that word superpower very loosely because when I speak superpower, I talk about the power that is with it. I hope that you have picked something from here and I hope that you have moved away from here learning a few things that you can start to apply to your life. Thank you for having me. Have you got any questions? I don't know if anybody has any questions we have about um one minute to go. I know that was sort of like a breeze. This topics are always so broad. Um But I just really wanted to highlight the very basic things that you can start doing right now.

Thank you. So much for joining me and um thank you. Thank you really appreciate it. I really appreciate it. We're mothers and we're gonna thrive in doing what we do best. Have a wonderful day. Hi, Margaret. Oh, thank you so much. Thank you. Take care. God bless.