Who is Uzoma?
She… is… Uzoma.
Ha ha!! So pretentious, right!?
I promise that was not my intention when selecting the domain name for this website.
Many years ago, I knew that one day I would have my own personal website. Did I know what the purpose of this website would be? Absolutely not! In my head, I thought it would be pretty neat to be known by a mononym like my absolute fav, Aaliyah.
I decided to look up the domain name to see if Uzoma(dot)com was available, so that I could secure it.
I am not the only one on this planet with my name, so of course, it was taken. The person who owned it even had a website built, but I can’t recall what is was about.
Fast forward to 2017.
I started my business, She Leads Beautifully to help women in stalled careers advance their careers. I now specifically teach them how to genuinely and strategically network their way into their dream jobs.
The more I continued to do this work, the more I began to be sought out for various opportunities to speak and facilitate workshops . I also was contacted to be featured on podcasts and other publications. It didn’t make sense to highlight these opportunities under my business brand because they weren’t directly related, so I needed somewhere else to house them.
By this point, I had already decided that it was the perfect time to finally create my own personal site and further develop my personal brand.
To my surprise, I checked again and uzoma(dot)com was available. YAY!
Domain names can sell for as low as $11/ year, but this one was $4,000! I mean, I know my name is valuable, but NO THANKS!
The price has since dropped, but I am no longer interested.
I had an aha moment!
When you get to know more about me, you’ll learn that I place a huge focus on the importance of personal branding. Over time, I realized that having the mononym for my website name wasn’t such a big deal to me after all. I feel She Leads Beautifully and She Is Uzoma compliment each other quite well.
That’s really it. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk!
Now, back to the original question. Who is Uzoma?
I am a wife.
I am a mother.
I am a daughter.
I am a sister.
I am a friend.
I am a student.
I am an educator.
I am a mentee.
I am a mentor.
I am a follower.
I am a trailblazer.
I explore uncharted territories that not only excite me, but also challenge me to be a better human while leaving an impact.
Uzoma is a Nigerian name, from the Igbo tribe, meaning good road or good way.
When I was young child, I didn’t always love my name. One reason was because I was the only one of my parents’ three children who didn’t have the Igbo word “God” in their name.
My sister’s name means “Gift from God” and my brother’s is “God has done well”. I have long gotten over that, because I have determined that mine is best. Ha! All jokes.
Over the years, I decided to use an interpretation of my name’s meaning as my personal mantra:
“Any road I take will be a good one.”
This mantra has guided me through so many phases of my life.
It’s like meeting a fork in the road. Should I go left or should I go right? I always remind myself that it doesn’t matter which direction to take. What matters most to me is that I will always make the absolute best out of any situation, or opportunity, that comes my way. (You know, just like that silly—yet very important—decision of securing my domain name!)
I’ll be completely honest. A lot of the success I’ve experienced in my life and career has been due to leading with courage. There were plenty of times when I didn’t know what the heck I was doing. I just made the decision to go for it and then figure things out along the way.
Courage is definitely a reoccurring theme in my life.
It took a lot of courage for me to:
begin my doctoral journey, despite my doubts of being smart and capable enough.
fly across the world to meet my now husband, after only knowing him for less than two months.
start my online business, even though it was scary to put myself out here on these internet streets.
pause my career in higher education to focus on planning for a baby, even though some of the people closest to me thought it was the wrong move.
and much more.
I have been on quite a fascinating journey. Through it all, I’ve experienced lots of joy and success, but I’ve also dealt with some very difficult challenges. One thing that is constant is that I’ve always managed to see the light in every situation. My dearest friends tell me all the time that I should write a book... or three! I just might. Until then, I figured why not start with a blog.
In this blog, I will take you back through snapshots of my past and peeks into what I’m currently up to. There is a lesson in every one of my experiences and I’d love to share some of them with you.
Who is Uzoma?
I’m still figuring her out. Let’s walk down this good road together.
Talk soon,
Uzoma
P.S. I’d love to meet you too! Let’s connect on LinkedIn.
