Passion Struck with John R. Miles - Oluneye Oluwole On: Why You Should Reach For Your Dreams EP 103

Starting point is 00:00:00 Coming up next on the Passion Struck Podcast. So it was in a condescending way of looking at what I represent, what my value is. But if I had known who I was, what I was, I would have squared my shoulders to say, this is who I am. You either take it or leave it. Or if you don't love me enough to accept who I am then there is no relationship but I didn't know my value I didn't I didn't realize what I had or who I was until very late to it was a wake-up call for me. Welcome visionaries, creators, innovators, entrepreneurs, leaders and growth seekers of all types to the Passion Struck podcast. Hi, Iators, entrepreneurs, leaders and growth seekers of all types, two of the PassionStruck podcast.

Starting point is 00:00:46 Hi, I'm John Miles, a peak performance coach, multi industry CEO, maybe veteran and entrepreneur on a mission to make PassionHoe viral for millions worldwide. And each week I do so by sharing with you an inspirational message in interviewing eye achievers from all walks of life who unlock their secrets and lessons to become an passion struck. The purpose of our show is to serve you the listener. By giving you tips, tasks, and activities, you can use to achieve peak performance

Starting point is 00:01:19 and for two, a passion-driven life you have always wanted to have. Now, let's become passion strive. Hello everyone and welcome back to the Passion Struck podcast and thank you to each and every one of you who come back every week to learn to live better, be better, and impact the world. And if you're new to the show or you want to introduce it to friends or family, we have a great way to do it in the form of starter packs. These are

Starting point is 00:01:45 collections of your favorite episodes, categorized by topic, that give any new listeners a great way to find out about the show and everything that we do here. Just go to passionstruck.com, slash starter packs to get started. And if you haven't been there before we also have our YouTube channel at JohnRMiles which has over 200 different videos from long form content to short mindset moments that are 2-5 minutes in length. Please check it out and subscribe at JohnRMiles. Today's guest on the Passion Start podcast is Aluna Aosanawa Owulei, who is a speaker, storyteller, serial entrepreneur, congressional recognition recipient, mentor and author of several books, including

Starting point is 00:02:32 Dreams of a Patriot and Serve with Part and Might. Her mission is to mentor and empower entrepreneurs to become global business leaders and social impact change agents. And today we speak about the power of saying yes to life changing opportunities and how that has to find Luna's life. While she overcame personal defeat and was able to face her brutal self awareness, the biggest challenges that she sees to facing our brutal self and doing that autopsy, as she calls it, in order to do that self assessment, her personal journey from Nigeria to now living in Canada, and her advice to those seeking to become

Starting point is 00:03:15 an entrepreneur for social change. Thank you for choosing the Passion Start podcast, and choosing me as your host and guide on your journey to unlocking a no Regrets life. Now, let the journey begin. Before we begin, I'd like to emphasize that this podcast is part of my desire and effort to bring zero cost information to the general public regarding how to unlock an intentional no regrets life. And keeping with that theme, I'd like to thank the sponsors of today's episode.

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Starting point is 00:06:15 my audience a special when you subscribe. Get your one year supply of vitamin D, those five travel packs by going to athleticgreens.com slash passion struck. Welcome to the Passion Struck podcast. I am so glad to have you on. Thank you, John. It's a pleasure being here. I thank you for having me. Yes, well, as I was researching you and reached out to have you on the podcast, I think you have had such an interesting life that we're going to get you on the podcast. I think you have had such an interesting life that we're going to get into in this episode. But I thought a great starting point was,

Starting point is 00:06:51 I just read the first book by Mark Manson, the subtle arc of not giving NF. And for me, it was a difficult book to read because I have been putting it to the side, actually, for well over a year because the title of it kind of signifies everything that is the opposite of what I consider to be passion struck. But as I got through the book,

Starting point is 00:07:20 some areas I don't agree with other areas I thought he made some great points. One particular chapter though was he thinks we should be saying more knows to life. And to me I think about it just the opposite. I think there is the yes virus, but I think oftentimes too many of us are saying no to life-changing opportunities instead of doing the work to get you prepared to say yes and no one that when they come. And I think that's something that has to find your life. So I thought that would be a great starting point for the audience to get to know you and how you have said yes to opportunities that have to find you.

Starting point is 00:08:02 Yes, to opportunities that have defined you. Thank you, John. I think you rightly mentioned what encapsulates my entire life, which is saying yes to opportunities. And this has been, you know, the driving force that has brought me to where I am today. And looking back, I would say the reason I say yes, has been so amazing for me. Let me just take you back to, I would say 1997. And that was when I was approached by an elderly friend and said, would you mind working in the travel industry, you know, and this was me.

Starting point is 00:08:53 I had just had a baby, you know, October 1997, my last baby. And he said, oh, it's you're going to be working with the airline. I've never worked with the airline before. Though I have a geography background, and I was looking for a job in another direction. I mean, I was looking into the banking industry. I needed stability. I just wanted to build a career in the banking industry.

Starting point is 00:09:20 And he said, why don't you join then the Swiss air, you know, being one of the ticketing managers. And I thought to myself, hmm, that sounds interesting. And I said, yes, that was the beginning of saying yes to opportunities. Now, going into that industry was, I was a newbie. I didn't know anything about the travel industry. One thing that struck me, I have always been a very curious person, curious about my environment, news, information. And I realized that each month, Swiss Air sends us this brochure every month about destinations in Switzerland. And I will see the Swiss Alps and every other thing. And I began to think

Starting point is 00:10:14 to myself, how do I begin to bring people to Nigeria, you know, and packaged tours and all of that. I didn't really want just to be a booking agent from Point A to Point. I enjoyed it, I loved it, but I wanted the challenge. I didn't see all of that around me. So fast, fast forward, the environment, the working environment became very toxic, and then I said to myself, you know what? I need to start my own business and that would be

Starting point is 00:10:46 in tourism, in travel and tourism. And I said, yes, to that singular passion of mine, something ignited inside of me. And I spoke with my dad, I said, this is my plan. And he said, yes, okay, let's go. So that's how I moved from paid employment with a yes, that was directed to entrepreneurship, starting a travel and tourism, a travel shop. I was driven by, you know, having to take people from point A to point B, I put tall packages together during the West Coast of Africa. And then at some point, I remember that my kids, I just asked them a question. I said, where do you think you're from?

Starting point is 00:11:41 And they mentioned one random place that was away that we're from. And from and I said no you're not from there. So I began to ask myself if my kids do not know where they're from. What do I do? I started looking for information. Don't forget I said I'd love to find answers to questions you know I look for I do research so I said I'm looking for books that they could read. I couldn't find. Then I told myself, you know what? Instead of beating myself up, beating the government, say, you don't have any materials, let me be the one to write this history of my state. So I began that journey in October of 2003. Now, I think a month into that, I saw an ad in the newspaper of my state advertising for the private sector that were having an economic summit and the welcomed a private sector to help them to have a discourse to have, you know, this two-day conference, and when I got to 2004, I got a call to say the government had extended an invite to me

Starting point is 00:13:14 to appoint me on the board of tourism. And I never walked for the government before. Everybody said, who do you know in government? I said, I don't know anybody. What if the government is calling me? I would say yes. And so that began my journey into the government as a consultant. And for four years, I was able to work with the government to design and develop the tourism policies, drive tourism, investors to the state. And that was a yes that I never regretted. So if that journey, so many things, you know, saying yes to that

Starting point is 00:14:01 opportunity, open the door for me in the government because at the end of about three years of the book that I was writing for the state, this book was presented to the state government. And I told the state governor at a meeting I had with him. I said, I want the spokes to be books of reading for students in the state. This wasn't just for my kids. I was doing it for other, you know, for the future generations of

Starting point is 00:14:33 of of my state. I said, I wanted to be a book of reading. I wanted to to be a launch in the state and that's how I began my journey as a politician. I became an accidental politician because I said yes to a need of my children needing information about the state of origin. I said yes to the government inviting me to be a politician to be on the board of Torrilyne. And after, of course I had published those books. I was given a second term this time to come into the local government as a counselor,

Starting point is 00:15:17 what you call a mayor. I was given the opportunity to become a deputy mayor, but somehow it was changed and then I became a supervisory councilor, one of the executive council members, and that was for three years. So during that time, I looked at leadership. I looked at leadership at the federal, I looked at leadership at the state level, I looked at leadership at the local government level. And I wasn't impressed. I wasn't happy about where Nigeria was at that time. So close to the end of my in 2010, I began to pen my thoughts on leadership in Nigeria between 1960 when we had our independence and 2010. And I asked that question, are we still looking for the right leader?

Starting point is 00:16:10 Are we still looking for the leader that will take us to that promised land that we want as a nation? And that birthed my second book, which is Dreams of a Patriot. At the end of our tenure, 2010, I looked at myself, I said, okay, I'm done and dusted with government. I am a creative person, I'm an ideas person, I don't wanna go, I don't wanna continue in government because I wasn't happy with what I was seeing.

Starting point is 00:16:42 So the next thing was to document my political memoir, which is the serve with Hattern might. So looking at my life has always been saying yes to opportunities and taking that step means doors opening. And you never know where that door is going to lead you to but I can tell you, I can confirm to you that those doors, same yes and those doors, lead you to a higher calling of who you're meant to be and how you're meant to impact your world back to your journey. No, I think that is a wonderful way to explain your journey to almost where you are today because you were now in Canada, not Nigeria. Yes.

Starting point is 00:17:32 But I know through my own career, when I would see high potential performers or people who I thought were high achievers, I would give them opportunities that were way outside of their comfort zone. And it was always very interesting for me to observe what their answer was going to be when I directed them to thater from it. And to me, it was a great way of looking at who was going to rise above and who was going to stay in their status quo, so to speak. So introduction to asking you, why do you think so many people have a difficult time saying yes to these life-changing opportunities and say no to them instead. Thank you John. It also just to corroborate what you say. It beats my heart when I see people refusing to take on opportunities and I believe it has

Starting point is 00:18:40 to do with not knowing their potentials. It has to do with not understanding who they are and what they are capable of doing. And also I would say it's about not knowing your authentic self, not being comfortable enough to know your authentic self. Let me give you an example. Why do I say yes to opportunities? It's not because I study geography because when you study geography, you're an outdoor person, you have to go out of your comfort zone, you have to learn new places, new things. It's not about that. I could have studied geography and not be an outdoor, an outgoing person. It has to do with the individual. You perceive opportunities or how you perceive challenges. And I think it has to do with our childhood or what we have been exposed to as a child.

Starting point is 00:19:51 And I would put myself as a case in point. I come from a family of adventurers. My dad was an African immigrant student in the UK in the 60s, in the early 60s. And right from that time, he documented his education, his journey in the U.K. when my mom and himself got married, had my older sister, and he documented several times, you know, they would go to several places in England. And on their way back to Nigeria, on the street back to Nigeria, in Syria, Leon. And when I was born, he also documented. So in that, those videos that I saw in the videos, there were no audio, I was exposed to the outdoor. I saw myself, you know, outdoor on the field, in the garden, and whenever we travel, we had a very good a couple of privileged background, I said, I humbly, and we traveled several times in the,

Starting point is 00:21:00 you know, in the year, we would go for summer, we would go to different places. And that formed my personality of taking on challenges because I was exposed to that life on time. I couldn't imagine not doing anything, going on a swing, sliding down this, running, doing all sorts of things in the outdoor. So for me, that formed my personality of taking on challenges. In fact, if it's not a challenge, I don't feel drawn to it. I don't feel like it's for me. So if any opportunity comes, I see it as a challenge and I say, yes, I don't even think

Starting point is 00:21:53 about it to say, oh, are you able to do this? Is this for you? I just go. I just take it on. because I have had a childhood where my father and my mom had exposed us to the outdoor to recreation to meeting people. So I don't see any any problem. Now back to people who say no, it's a times worn out of fear of, oh, if I fail, what's going to happen? I don't want to mess up. I don't want to mess up. I don't want anybody to see my my my my frayalties. I don't want anybody to see my weaknesses. But how would you grow if you do not fail? If you just stay in the comfort zone and not do anything, I'm not challenge yourself, you're not growing, you're dying. So a lot of times it has to do with understanding how do we unclutter those things that hold people captive, like fear,

Starting point is 00:23:06 like what would other people say, or the voices in your head that's just not good enough, you can't do it, you're gonna mess up, you've done this and that. So it's a change of mindset and to expose such people to the possibilities of what can be if they say yes. Okay, well thank you for that great answer.

Starting point is 00:23:29 And I wanted to hit on your book, Serve with Heart and Might. And there were two things I wanted to talk about. One was in that book you talk about overcoming personal defeat, but another thing you talk about is having to do brutal self-assessment. And I loved your terminology for that because the second solo episode I've ever done on passion

Starting point is 00:23:53 struck was the first thing you've got to do if you're going to change is you've got to examine your brutal reality. And I use the word brutal because sometimes we don't like what we see in the mirror and it's hard to face it. And we want comfort, we don't want that pain. And to get to the other side of living the values that we set for ourselves is oftentimes pain. So for you, what did that So for you, what did that wordology of brittle self-assessment mean? And why did you pick those words? Thank you. I would say I had to be brittle to myself, to look at those things that I sort of allowed to happen because I was leaving a life that was pleasing to other people, but not to myself.

Starting point is 00:24:57 So in order for me to move to where I would be more useful or more impactful. I needed to look at what the weaknesses and what I had done or allowed to happen to me. And one of the things was not being able to value myself enough. was not being able to value myself enough. When I say value myself enough, I looked at my creativity, my the opportunities that have been given to me, and I kind of dumbed down because I wanted to please people.

Starting point is 00:25:47 And I kind of dumbed down because I wanted to please people. So it put me in a position where I couldn't be totally myself because I was conscious of of A, maybe my ex-partner saying, you know, you're too much. You know, why is it you? Why do you have to write this book again? Why do you have to be in government? Who needs you in government? Do you know your place? You're supposed to be a woman. You're supposed to be a wife.

Starting point is 00:26:22 You're supposed to be this. And there was a constant struggle, a conflict, that limited my performance. Struggle in trying to listen to that voice of conformity to societal expectations of being a mother, just stay at home, just, you know, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, with all that I have been given, all the gifts that I have been given because if I do not pour out of myself to the world, I am dying. It's like having this liquid in a container that is not being poured out after a while, that liquid, whatever it is, that's smelling. So that was that pool. So I had to look at what were those things that I compromised. You know, I compromised being able to have a voice and being able to have a voice in a highly

Starting point is 00:27:36 patriarchal system environment meant you were, you saw, you stuck out like a sore thumb. You were not the normal woman. You're not the normal wife. You're not the normal person that people would identify with when he comes to, oh, how is your wife? Oh, she's in government. She's this, you know. So I, I began to, you know, my voice became lowered. I didn't, I didn't know what to do. I didn't know whether to listen to those voices or to be the person who purpose, and to be able to move from that, I needed to assess myself to say, how did I get here? How did I be the person that I am seeing today? That was then, you know, and it has to do with what I allowed over a period of many decades. I allowed other people to define me.

Starting point is 00:28:52 I allowed the culture, the societal expectations to define me. And what that meant was I didn't leave for myself. I leave for other people. I leave for my ex-expertations, his family, what they would say, my own family, they would say, oh, what's with her? Can't she just be normal? I leave for my kids because I didn't want my kids.

Starting point is 00:29:28 I wanted a safe home for my kids. So there was in the midst of all this moja and all of that that I lost myself. I tried to find myself, but I couldn't. I did the best that I could. So writing this memoir was a way to write a letter to myself to tell other women who have fire in their bellies to have dreams and passion,

Starting point is 00:29:58 to understand the struggle that a woman coming from, the kind of environment that it came from, which is highly patriarchal, and it could be, it could be, it could be from any environment, how to navigate those challenges. There were so many land mines that I had to overcome. There were so many, so many problems that I had to overcome. There were so many, so many problems that I had to overcome. They were very, very challenging times for me

Starting point is 00:30:32 that I was back in front, being able to assert myself. I was the only female in an 11-month executive council at the local government level. So you can imagine having to speak, having to have my voice recognized as the only female of an 11-month executive council. So whenever I wanna talk, we go, oh, she wants to say something again.

Starting point is 00:31:04 They look on their faces, oh, she wants to say something again. You know, they look on their faces. Oh, she has a brilliant idea. Why did she, the only one having this brilliant idea, da, da, da, da, da, da, and that put a lot of pressure to overperform, to just drive yourself to be heard. And then I cross over from the, the, the the the walk environment to the home front where I was battling a situation of who was the person in this relationship? You know, in this relationship, you know, you're a leader,

Starting point is 00:31:51 you're a government recognized leader, politician, what are you guys doing there? Why do you have to be there? You're the only woman there. If it was meant for women, there would be many women. Why, the fact that it's only you means that there's something wrong with you, you know? So I was battling that. And I had to there's something wrong with you. You know, so I was battling that. And I had to be present for my three kids.

Starting point is 00:32:09 So I needed to be brutal with myself to understand how I can become a voice for other women who have not, who want to go into politics, but who have firing their bellies to pursue their passion and still be heard. So those were the things that I was brutal about. I was brutal about having to leave my educate, my post-graduate till 2006.

Starting point is 00:32:40 I studied it in 2006 because I didn't want to rock the boat. I just wanted to be, you know, a mother or wife and cater to my ex-susband's needs and, you know, the kids' needs. So I looked at all the things that I had done that were not in my favor to correct that and also to help other women back to you, John. Okay, and I'm going to take it one step further by asking you two different opposing questions. And the first is, for a person listening who might be facing this brittle self-assessment

Starting point is 00:33:17 and going into it, what would be your biggest bit of advice to them? And then on the other side of that, what do you think is the biggest mistake people make? Okay, yeah, what would be the biggest advice? I would say the first thing would be for them to value themselves. When you have an understanding of who you are and what you embody, what you bring to the table, and what you stand for, and being able to stand for that, I think that is the first hurdle. In my opinion, I didn't realize my had. I wasn't shown's perception of who I am. You're too bold.

Starting point is 00:34:56 You're you you you you buddhashis you are too outspoken. You're this you're that. So it was in a condescending way of looking at what I represent, what my value is. But if I had known who I was, what I was, I would have squared don't love me enough to accept who I am, then there is no relationship, but I didn't know my value. I didn't realize what I had or who I was until very late to, it was a wake up call for me. Because then I was reading somebody else's script about who I am in a negative way, in a derogatory way that didn't describe who I am. And until I found that power, I had to get my that power back. I had to

Starting point is 00:35:59 get my value back to say, this is who I am. I have, I have been this person, I have been in government, I have been at the state government, I have been at the local government, I have done this. That means I bring something to the table. So why would someone else read my values in an opposite direction, in an opposite way? So your second question would be what is the second question I lost track of your second question? The second question would be what mistakes do you see people typically make? I think in my own, I would use my example, the mistakes we make is we don't spend time with ourselves first. And we are often looking for validation. And that's the first mistake that people make. You're looking for validation from other people.

Starting point is 00:37:08 Be opposite sex, whatever, wherever. We're looking for validation. So in looking for validation, you leave the most important person, which is you. So that's the mistake a lot of people make. And that's the mistake that I made. I was looking for validation and I didn't I didn't get that validation. What I got was a bashing of this is this is who you are. I don't want this kind of person. So if you do not know or spend time with yourself.

Starting point is 00:37:45 That is the, that is the letter I'm gonna write to my younger self, spend time with yourself to know who you are. So you're not looking for validation, you're looking for someone or to complement both of you. You're not looking for the person to validate you because you already validated yourself by knowing yourself, by being authentic with yourself. You know who you are.

Starting point is 00:38:16 Right now, I do not have any apologies. I am a passionate woman. I have passion. I love the outdoor. I'm audacious. I see yes opportunities. I can fail in taking those opportunities, but I will get myself back. It would grow. I would grow from it. I will learn from it. But that does not mean that I would wait for you to validate me that I would wait for you to validate me to say, this is good, I would know this is what I can do. This is who I am.

Starting point is 00:38:50 And if I wanna have a relationship, I'm gonna bring that to the table. These are my values. And so if someone that comes in contact with you, it's either he whoever values you respects you for who you are, rather than you looking to have come to be in tune. At times I I I I I surprise myself when I say oh is that you Olu? Oh my god. Okay so I'm learning the you, the me rather that I didn't know for so many years. So I hope that answers your question.

Starting point is 00:39:47 No, I think it was a very great answer and I think it was spot on. I would say that for me, another mistake people make is they don't accept the problems in their life. And instead, if they wanna pass on, well, I got fired from that job because I had a terrible boss

Starting point is 00:40:07 or there's a relationship in work because of the person I was with or I didn't run the race I needed to because of the weather. I mean, whatever it is, I think one of the most difficult things for me to do is I spent more and more time with my own thoughts was accepting that I am in reality the person who creates the problem and the only person who can fix the problems, especially if it's a problem that keeps repeating

Starting point is 00:40:38 itself, because there's that old saying, if the problem happens one time, okay, but if it happens second and third, I mean, you're the problem. You're the problem. Yeah. So, I think that's another thing is people don't want to confront their problems and they just want to pass them off because oftentimes it's hard to want to admit that the way you're living things is. I want to stay on that a bit when you say people don't want to own, you know, at times when,

Starting point is 00:41:08 I mean, in all that I'm saying, I'm not, I'm projecting that I'm a saint. I would say one of the problems that I had was in terms of finances, how to handle finances. And I looked at that aspect of my life, that how I don't just get it, I don't just understand, I just don't know, but I had to peel back to have a self-assessment and peeling back the, you know, the, in my life, I looked at my childhood, My dad was the sole provider.

Starting point is 00:41:48 So I literally grew up in a home where I didn't have to look for money. Money, you needed shoes, it was there. We needed to travel, we just went on the plane, we needed to go in the car. I didn't know where money came from, food, everything, toys, that clothing. So I never worked one day in my life. So I saw that pattern.

Starting point is 00:42:19 I didn't know where money came from. So I didn't understand how to be financially independent. I didn't know what that meant or savings because that was there. And I saw my mother. She was a stay at her mom who she didn't own any property. My dad owned loads of loads of properties, you know, on loads of properties, you know, everywhere and anywhere. And I didn't see my, I mean, my mom talking to me or teaching us about savings or even my dad, he was always about education. So I never worked.

Starting point is 00:42:56 It was, it was unheard of. I mean, I remember a time I told my dad, I wanted to have a holiday job at his office at that time. And he said, no, no, no, no, no, no. No child of mine is working. So that was end of the story. He said, what do you want? This is this.

Starting point is 00:43:14 So when I finished university, he bought me a car. So I didn't know where that came from. I didn't, he just traveled to Belgium. Wait, wait, the UK on his way back in Belgium. He bought a car and said, guess what? I bought you a car. So right from my father's house, I went into marriage. I didn't understand finances.

Starting point is 00:43:41 I was pretty messed up with financial, you know, accountability. I didn't know, you know, this and that. And that was a problem for me. And I had a partner who had the opposite of my experience. He came from a humble background. So finances, money, saving was a biggie, wasn't issue. And for me, I was just bumbling off in life, you know, thinking money was just suffice and all of that. So that was one of the things we had a huge conflict. I didn't understand what my problem was at that time because I came from a background

Starting point is 00:44:25 that I didn't have that education about money. So through the years, I couldn't get a hang of it. So when I came to Canada, the very first thing that I did, because before I came to Canada, I did what you call an autopsy of three decades of my life. I did an autopsy, not an audit. It's an autopsy of what had happened. And on the right hand side, what was going good? And on the left hand side, what had done wrong. And one of the things that two or three things came up,

Starting point is 00:45:04 the financial, my financial problems of not understanding money and all of that and two wrong relationships. So I had to tackle the first one and that with I went into being a financial, a licensed financial advisor. So I had to learn, I came from zero understanding of money to now understanding how insurance works, investment, critical, all the, the whole nine years of money, the financial industry in Canada. And I got me a license to say this is it. So I needed to

Starting point is 00:45:50 to to to the problem. But it wasn't a problem that I I it was like my problem. I it was a generational thing. I was I it wasn't my fault. I just grew it and I, I didn't see it until I got out of it. Then I began to see what was the problem one and leave the ones that were healthy. And that was the only way because those wrong relationships led to some of the decisions that my fingers, you know, that were positive that would move me to the next level and then begin to cultivate better relations that would move me to a better to be a better expression of myself, a better person. So those are the things that I wanted to just bring out when you have to do an all detail of yourself. Yes, I actually call it conducting the mosquito principle, which is a mosquito audit,

Starting point is 00:47:22 because these pesky things are all around us, yet we often don't realize they're there until they bite us. And I think bad influences in our life are kind of the same way. Sometimes we accept them because they've been there for a while other times, they sneak up when we least expect it, but until you do that audit and pick those right influences, you're going to stay stuck.

Starting point is 00:47:47 And I think one of the positive influences we both met, which is the reason you're here on the show, was a previous guest of mine, Amy Malin, who I know is a friend of both of ours, but I wanted to use that because she's a social entrepreneur, and I know for you, the whole idea of social entrepreneurship, especially for women, is a really big thing. So I just wanted to get your ideas on why it's so important

Starting point is 00:48:15 to make social impact. Thank you so much. I think it stems from what we all have experienced that makes us to want to impact our world better. When I was growing up, I had an older sister, but she left for England when I was 10, so I didn't have an older sister in the house. So I always was looking out for an know, for an older person. And I didn't get.

Starting point is 00:48:48 And then when I got into entrepreneurship, I didn't have a mentor. I didn't have somebody to guide me. I didn't have any support. In fact, there was no safe environment where I could get the support that I needed in terms of problems that I was encountering in business. How do you do this? How do you navigate this? And then when I go into politics, there was nothing. There was no mentor to guy, there was no role model that I had in my circle that I could lean on. So going through that journey, I have built over two decades of experience in navigating and doing stuff for myself

Starting point is 00:49:43 that I said to myself that no woman needs to go through what I went through. So I became the person that I was looking for by going into entrepreneurship with a view to impact not only, you know, make profit and all of that, but also to become who I was looking for to become a role model, a mentor, a guy to other entrepreneurs because I know entrepreneurs because I know the struggle. So for me, that passion to support women entrepreneurs is born and to support them to be the voice to help amplify their voices is born out of looking for out of looking for the I never had. So everything that I did or I'm doing right now is on social entrepreneurship, which is in, you know, supporting women entrepreneurs, amplifying

Starting point is 00:50:57 their voices, and being the person that I was looking for at the onset of my journey. So that's the whole philosophy. That's the whole mandate that I have to help as many women to reach for their dreams, to give a voice to them. Either they're being underrepresented, underserved, on herd, to give a voice to them, you know, either they're being underrepresented, underserved, on her to give a voice to them. And to be that, that shoulder that they can, they can, they can stand on to be the best expression of them.

Starting point is 00:51:39 So because so much lies in a woman, so many potentials are in a woman that if she's not in the right environment, whether most negatively impacted, especially if we have a wrong, you know, influencer in our lives or role model. So being that woman and creating a space and an environment or community for women entrepreneurs is my lifelong dream because I want to be the person to them who I was looking for all these years. Okay, and I think that's a great segue for I always like to give the guest a chance to tell the listener where they can find more information about themselves at. So I think this is a great segue into that. Okay, all right. So right now I am running a storytelling series for entrepreneurs, founders, venture capitalists, angel investors, startups,

Starting point is 00:52:46 creating that community of exchange of ideas, experience, and you can find me on LinkedIn, Oluenea Uluwale, or you can find on my website, olineasphics.com. And we're going to the last episode of the Storytelling series, where we're actually transitioning into something bigger for next year, for season two. So I would say, but if you connect with me on LinkedIn or on my website, I would say, but if you connect with me on LinkedIn

Starting point is 00:53:29 or on my website, my go-to is my LinkedIn, then you would have more information regarding that community building for entrepreneurs. Okay, and I'll make sure all that is in the show notes and I'll also put your books in the show notes as well so people can get access to them. So I am now at the part of the interview where normally I ask four or five fun questions. I'm going to do that for four of them but on one of them it's a little bit more of a serious question and that is I know you love your country, and that just speaks with the way that you talk about it through your heart.

Starting point is 00:54:07 You were there through both times of military rule, and for those who don't know it about 20 years ago, little over 20 years ago, it became the largest democracy in Africa because Nigeria is the largest country and has the largest economy. Now that you're living in Canada and you're seeing some of the things that are happening in the United States, etc. What are some of the biggest or maybe the biggest lesson you learned during your time in Nigeria that could be applied to kind of the political unrest that we're having here in the United

Starting point is 00:54:42 States? kind of the political unrest that we're having here in the United States. I would say it has to it has to be on leadership leadership. The question to be the my greatest what what did you say the greatest the greatest lesson? Yes. I would say it's a leadership when leaders stop being servant leaders. By that I mean leadership is for the people, by the people and they forget the most important and which is to serve people, which is to serve you know whoever elected them into into the office. So when there is a disconnect between into the office. So when there is a disconnect between what leadership is meant to be and what they kind of see as the state of school because one of the things that happens with leaders is you know they forget the why that they were elected the why and that is taken over by a lot of things, you know, this is how it's done. This is a status quo, just and for the fear of making a change. So I see that as, you know, one of the

Starting point is 00:56:18 problems in my in my native country Nigeria, the leaders have left the duty of being a leader, being a seven-liter, to pursuing different agenda that doesn't translate to the good of the people. So I see that as a problem and it can be in any country. So when I wrote Servant with Hat and Mike, it was taken from around them, you know, Nigeria's anthem to serve with heart and mind. When a leader stops serving with his heart and with his mind, you know, he, what you get is anarchy, what you get is what we're seeing all over the world, because as a leader, you must have a heart to serve people and you must have the strength to be able to carry the burden of that office and do it selflessly to the best of your ability. So if leaders who have been called are not answering to that call, then there's going to be chaos and all sorts of problems that we see. Yeah, I think that's a great point. If

Starting point is 00:57:42 you're not really in it for your constituents, which is the whole reason that you're elected is to represent them and their desires, and it becomes more about your party's desires or your personal desires. It's never going to be a winning solution. Okay, so I'm going to ask you for quick, quick questions now. Okay. So the first one is, if you could meet a person you've never met before, dead or alive, who would that person be? Hmm. I'd say would be Maya Angelou.

Starting point is 00:58:20 And why would I say it's Maya? She represents, she's an epitome of wisdom, of a woman who's gone through a lot of struggle to be who she was and how she impacted, not only has home state of Arkansas, but how that impact reverberated all over the world to become a world leader in her own right, in arts, in spoken word, in music, in anything, and the way she carried herself

Starting point is 00:59:05 with the knowledge of who she was. So she's someone to me that I would love to make, to just ask those questions. How did you get into your own? How did you get into the poems? And when she, when she does, you know, performances as well, her poetry, you know, says, I still arise, I rise,

Starting point is 00:59:33 I just wanna hear that voice and ask her how she, how she came to be who she was. Okay. That's my answer. That's a great answer. So next question is you and I both share a passion for music. It was something I hope we could have dived more into but we didn't get a chance but it has been what has been your biggest musical influence. I would say my oh, I would say my, oh, where do I start from in terms of music?

Starting point is 01:00:13 Because my dad introduced us to different genres of music. Afrobeats, I'm trying to get you the history of my musical journey. And then I went into spiritual, you know, well, him knows because we were in, I was burning church, one in raising church. And so if I look at my musical journey, I would say right now, having gone through the different genres of music, my go-to is the gospel music now, because that's where I would say my creative zone, where I have a connection with my spirituality. And that for me is my biggest passion right now, the kind of music that I want to produce.

Starting point is 01:01:23 Like I've written two songs now. I haven't done my album so it's still in the under wraps. So and the genre is in the gospel genre. So but I have lived through Afrobeat, I've lived through Aron B, I've lived through rock. I've lived through everything, Ray Gay, naming my dad did everything. Even, you know, Christmas carols, but I would say for me, what strikes a chord inside of me is the gospel music

Starting point is 01:01:58 because I'm a very spiritual person. Okay, and then one last question. If you had the opportunity to be one of the first astronauts to go on the mission to Mars, and you were told that you could put one rule or law in place, what would it be? It would be to educate and put putting place a policy that talks about financial education for women, for girls, right from K-class. That would be something that I want to, that I would want to that I would want to, you know, see, because when a girl is empowered financially, has understanding, is one of those things that would, that is the course of, you know, gender-based violence, gender, you know, inequality, I think that would be a policy that would really, really help women to be empowered right from the get-go. So having financial education from baby class, just to know

Starting point is 01:03:19 what saving means, what investment means and all of that. That would make a whole lot of difference and stop dependence on, you know, someone else for your financial life. Okay, well, Luna, thank you so much for being on the show today. I very much enjoyed her conversation. And thank you for being so vulnerable and opening up with the audience. Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure. Thank you, John. What a great interview with Aluna. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. And now I want to introduce William, our fan of the week from the United Kingdom, who wrote this review. Awesome podcast. Just started listening. I'm on episode 12 and I just can't get enough. William, thank you so much

Starting point is 01:04:05 for taking the time to give us a rating. We appreciate those so much and they're helping us on this mission to help passion go viral to so many around the world and help people regain the passion that was once in their life. And during today's episode, we discussed a couple other past episodes of the podcast, including episode 79 with Amy Malin, a friend of Abelunas, and also my solo episode number three on how to maintain award momentum even when you're facing the largest adversity. And if you'd like to see me interview a specific guest,

Starting point is 01:04:43 please reach out to me on Instagram at JohnRMiles or also on LinkedIn at JohnMiles. Thank you again for taking the time to join us here today. And please check out passionstruck.com where you can get the full show notes and also books that we mentioned in today's podcast. Thank you so much for joining us. The purpose of our show is to make Passion Go viral. And we do that by sharing with you the knowledge and skills that you need

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Passion Struck with John R. Miles - Oluneye Oluwole On: Why You Should Reach For Your Dreams EP 103

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