LESSONS AND THOUGHTS FROM SHE LEADS AFRICA'S SLAY FESTIVAL

Hey guys!!!!!

Hope y'all are popping? 

I am really excited to do this blog because over the weekend end, I attended the SLAY Festival!!!! I am so glad I went because I met new people and finally got to meet some others that I had previously

Another reason I am glad to have attended is because one of my goals this year is to actually go out and network more rather than hide behind the convenience of social media; so I am already working on my goals, y'al! 😊

The event started by 10 am and was slated to end by 8 pm or there about: I don't know because I didn't stay till the end. The fun thing about the Slay Festival was the networking and just women and young 'mogulettes' as Fela Durotoye said, in the same space bonding and just discussing; no fights or snubbishness. The one thing I didn't like though was the organization of the event; I think SLA could have done better in planning for expected number of participants as it was a paid event; people didn't have seats, the place was hot, everyone had to seat through sessions including the ones they weren't interested in. I also didn't like the dust..mehn...my feet looked messed up even after I had cleaned them off. 

Then most of the things that were displayed for purchase were just overpriced mehn; this event held at the Running Shed of the Nigerian Railway Corporation at Ebute Metta, Lagos. The 50 cl bottles of water were sold for 200 box each and soft drinks at 300 box each; the chapman and smoothies went for 1000 box per cup, then someone I had a mutual friend with had gotten food for 1500 Naira and it wasn't worth the energy to place the order, talk less of the money paid. If I am at an event on the mainland, I would expect to have things sold 'cheaper' and not ridiculously high prices. 

Another plus for the organizers though was that they tried to fix things up as the day progressed; if there was a complaint, they would try to work on it in the little way they could at that time and I was really impressed with that. 

There were freebies though Cocktails by Contreau, a tasting of three different rice recipes by Nestle and I also heard that the henna was free too. Some folks participated in the Trace 'Do you Know The Lyrics' game and got branded tee shirts, a lady won a nice pillow for having a great post on Instagram about the festival also. Free cold water were served later on to as many as wanted to drink. 

There was this scenario, you guys, where I was on the queue to get the free cocktail from Contreau and this lady who was all covered up in her Hijab came back with her cup. Here is the conversation that ensued:

Hijab Lady: Hey! You saw that I had an hijab on and you couldn't tell me that the cocktail had alcohol in it *dumps her cup of cocktail on the counter*

Contreau Lady 1: *blank look* 

Hijab Lady: You should have told me the drink contained alcohol. *walks away*

Contreau Lady 2 to Contreau Lady 1: What happened?

Contreau Lady 1: She said I didn't tell her that the drink contained alcohol; I wonder what she was expecting

Contreau Lady 2: Ehen?! Na you carry am, make she come collect drink? Abegi!!!

Bear in mind, that some of us including myself, thought it was a virgin cocktail drink; as a matter of fact, when I learned the cocktail had alcohol added to it, I changed my mind about getting one too. Apparently, these covered up Muslim ladies do not take alcoholic drinks and the ladies serving the drinks didn't know that the Hijab Lady assumed, like I did, that the drink was not alcoholic. So that was why she was upset with the Contreau lady and the Contreau Lady 1 couldn't apologize because she didn't realize on time what the Hijab Lady was pissed about. 

I said that to say there was drama as is expected at this kind of events but they were really minor issues that didn't get blown out of proportion while the seemingly 'major' issues were quietly and quickly resolved by the organizers.

The fun part for me though was having people share their experiences; people in this case being the speakers who had been invited to speak at different sessions. I am just going to give a summary on the speakers that were REAL and educative to me for the period I was at the festival. 

Ace Director, Kemi Adetiba: She basically spoke about grabbing as much opportunities as you can with both hands, being passionate about what you do and acquiring skills that would enable you grow in your chosen field. She also shared her experiences, challenges and how she overcame them while starting out in the industry as an OAP through to becoming a Film maker. 

Personal Finance Coach, Arese Ugwu: This lady was upfront and direct in how she pushed her thoughts across. She urged us to know the importance of a support system, create value and maintain authenticity. She encouraged everyone to utilize social media to promote their businesses, to engage in collaborative projects or partnerships and also focus on expending one's energy to the important stuff. 

Media Personality, Toke Makinwa: She was jokingly referred to as "Pastor Ms" as she was passionate about placing value on relationship with God. She urged us to understand what we had and not use others as our yardsticks because everyone has their process. She encouraged us to not feel entitled and use all negativity to feed our drive to success. Toke advised that we embraced our fears and allow those fears guide us as we proceed; emphasizing that with hard work and focus, our success would definitely convince those who thought we couldn't go far.

Audu Maikori: He advised that the 21st Century woman strive to create a balance between being the modern day woman and being an African wife. He observed that a lot of African men have not gotten used to the idea of having women as their bosses or even having their wives earn more than they do; therefore to maintain peace, the 21st Century woman shouldn't throw her success in the face of the man.

Jude M.I Abaga: M.I drops lyrical gems and I already respected him for his brilliance but my regard went up a notch after I heard him share his thoughts about being a man in the 21st Century. He urged all women to be unapologetic about who they were or where they had come from and encouraged us to be real. He observed that the social media rave usually gets in to some peoples' heads causing some sort of double standard living and urged us to stick with being exactly who we truly are. He advised that all prospective mothers do their best to treat their sons and daughters the same as this would help mend the damage caused by the stereotypical African culture.

Hmmm!!!

I left after the men's session so I missed the Durotoye's talk but it was really an educative and interactive time with these celebrities who are already living out their dreams. 

The SLAY Festival had some hitches that better organizing and deals could have fixed but in all, it was a really great event. 

Thumbs up, She Leads Africa community!!!