Today we’d like to introduce you to Ifeoma Ahuna.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Ifeoma. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Four years ago, I moved to Dallas not knowing anyone in hopes of changing up my scene and starting anew. I am originally from Houston, Texas and I grew up in a smaller town called Richmond, Texas. It was there that I developed my yearning to explore, dream big, and achieve my goals. I had a few close friends (whom I value now more than ever, but I wasn’t the most well-known or iconic kid in school. However, at the time I was set on becoming a corporate lawyer and going to business school to pursue my passions. I stayed focused on school, joined the debate team, and became president of my school’s DECA chapter where I learned so much about business, communication, and people. Quickly into my freshman year of college, I realized my passion was more for communicating than it was for actual law cases, and even more than I enjoyed projects, I loved to market them.
Soon, I realized that I wasn’t just one dimensional. My job did not have to be one of the five careers I grew up familiar with such as a doctor, lawyer, engineer, etc. Growing up Nigerian, there was a lot of pressure to fit in and conform; and growing up “having to” fit into American culture, Black culture as an African American, and my own culture became limiting on my perspective. Late into my college career, that is when I began to challenge my perspective and challenge myself to think outside of the box and have an open mind. This perspective is what I challenged myself to think about people, opportunities, and myself. I decided then to add on Marketing to my Supply Chain Management degree, giving me one familiar territory (marketing) and one not so much (supply chain management). This degree path gave me dual perspective to the insides of a business and the outside marketing it. It didn’t define one career path for me, and although that was scary, it was what I needed to grow.
At the same time, I challenged myself more by working for my campus activities board, which I continued all four years of college, and working to become Executive Chair (or president) of my organization. There were good times and just as many bad, but it taught me about myself, and it taught me how to lead. Managing other students was one of the toughest things I had to do, but it taught me about my other passion, leading an organization/business and working with people. I continued with my pursuits having to learn how to communicate, improve processes, and market projects there, in campus clubs, and another job I took on as an Amazon Prime Student Ambassador. Lastly, I received a Sourcing internship at a telecommunications company which really challenged my supply chain and technical side.
Not only did changing my perspective give me exposure to different career and academic opportunity, but it opened me up to new people, who I call my best friends today. I met people who share my same marketing interests such as photography, social media, and traveling the world. I also met people who were interested in project management, supply chain, and more technical aspects of business such as coding.
Balancing all of that in college was extremely uncertain and challenging, but I made a point to succeed. Graduating with cum laude, being a part of several organizations for so long, and succeeding at my jobs made it all worth it in the end. Now, I have gotten the opportunity to work full time at the company I interned at and I have the time to market myself and my own brand, which is my ultimate passion and goal. As a marketing girl at heart, I love making content, photography, videography, and I am beginning to learn design. I don’t consider myself good at any of this, but I love to do it and it’s fun to see what I can try next. I hope to own my own company one day and be a resource for other people like me and not. At the end of the day, it will take the same mindset and determination that got me here, but I am willing to do whatever it takes!
Has it been a smooth road?
It definitely has been challenging down this journey into achieving my goals. Many assume others will get in your way, which believe me is true, but most times, it’s yourself. I found myself doubting me more than anyone had the opportunity to. Especially as a leader to two different groups of people who were my age during my time in college, there were lots of conflicts. Some conflict I didn’t even notice and some that were very obvious. Either way, in any situation, whether it was my team failing at a project, me making a bad grade, or even drama erupting amongst friends/coworkers, I had to keep the idea that “everything is going to be okay” in my mind. It sounds cheesy and redundant, but it is what helps you to block out the natural anxiety.
I remember times of extreme doubt of how I could go to my two jobs, make 2 classes, and do homework all in one day. I would often find myself working in class and doing classwork at my jobs. On weekends, I would even overload myself with work I didn’t get to finish during the week, blocking out any self-care or social time for myself. On top of that, I would spend nights excessively worrying about what my peers would think of me or why everything wasn’t as smooth as I had envisioned. Then, with my mental health and soon physical health deteriorating, I had to make a change and take control of my behaviors before it took control of me.
I am big on psychology and how one thinks. I am a big believer in manifesting ideas and concepts from your mind and the only way to have positivity surround you is to not just think, but truly believe those things from within. If I gave in to any negative thoughts that occurred from drama, bad grades, school/work stress, or failure, I would remain stagnant in my performance. So instead, after something “negative” happened, I taught myself to give myself a break, let myself feel the pain, wake up the next day and almost reprogram myself to start over. My rule was “new day, new me”, meaning feelings from yesterday had an expiration date and I wouldn’t bring them into the next. Doing this along with retraining what is now called our “monkey/lizard brain” to think and choose happiness was a daily task that required attention to myself and lots of self-contemplating. But, it was all worth it. I’d advise any girl in my situation who is struggling that even though it’s a hard and lonely path to achieving your goals if you keep focus by reminding yourself “the why” of what you’re doing, you will be just fine. I would say to take your mental health seriously and learn to not just cope with a hard time, but understand why they are hard for you and try to resolve them. This way, you aren’t scared of struggles, but you understand your pain and you let yourself feel it, and then recharge the next day.
Please tell us more about what you do, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
As a student in Supply Chain Marketing, I spent my time learning how to make a company the most efficient in terms of processes, purchasing, and manufacturing. In Marketing, I spent more time learning the value of a brand and the psychology behind what made others want certain products. In the best way, I got to apply both interests to my daily work in all three jobs I had during college. In my job as an Executive Chair of my campus activities board, I spent time training and leading event chairs who specialized in certain events like music, speaking events, campus tradition, and marketing. We got the chance to create our own brand, brainstorm event ideas, plan them, run them, and even market them. Similarly, in my job as an Ambassador for Amazon Prime Student, I got the opportunity to promote another big brand to students. Lastly, in my internship, I was able to see how it was to work in Corporate America and work in a multi-faceted global organization.
As I mentioned before, my interests in school were classified into two different buckets, which were my two-degree paths. In school, I almost had to switch my “brains” from my supply chain side to my marketing side depending on what job or class I was in. What is so special now that I have graduated and have some more personal time, I can really pursue my interests in my daily life.
I now work at a telecommunications company during the day as an analyst providing analytics for category teams to analyze company spend and savings. Other than a few projects on excel, I had never had analytical experience in the past which was challenging for me, but it opened up a new opportunity for me to learn and enhance my skill set. Today, I work with softwares like Tableau, SQL, and excel to analyze data and soon I hope to master these programs. At the moment I am still getting a grip and by no means does it come naturally to me, but I value my opportunity to learn these skills so that definitely keeps me going.
In my free time, I spend time exploring my city or other cities, planning photoshoots with my good friends, finding unique fashion, and creating video content. I have a big passion for creating content on platforms like Instagram and just started a YouTube channel. I am now exploring the world of editing and cinematography, which is both challenging, but very exciting. When I am not trying to create content, I like to reflect on my mental state and spend time motivating myself. Those activities include daily journaling, reading topical books or devotionals, and writing my feelings in free write or poetry. I find that we often take in lots of information, so this helps me to express what’s actually on my mind.
In all my work, I think what differentiates me is that I work hard and I am not afraid of big historical or new challenges. I am an activator at heart and like to get started. I definitely have my doubts, but when something sparks my interest, I seldom give up on it if it gets too hard. As my own brand, I am proud of my perseverance, my transparency, and even my failures, because it has got me to where I am today.
Who have you been inspired by?
In my life, I have found the most inspirational people to be those who are 100% themselves; because in that takes lots of confidence and growth to get to, which is commendable. Trendsetters in fashion like Rihanna and Vanessa Hudgens inspire me to express my style. Critical thinkers like Kara Lowentheil and even Judge Judy have left an impact on the way I think and how I get things done, especially as woman.
Women I have looked up to my whole life like my mother, my sister, and my best friends all inspire me to encompass different aspects of what it means to be a woman even if it is totally opposite of me. Also, women in my community who have specialized in my interests and those who are leading and speaking to others about their experience inspire me. Women in female underrepresented areas inspire me to break boundaries and women who not only express but embrace their sexuality inspire me to own all parts of womanhood.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ioa150030.wixsite.com/ifeomaahuna/hobbies
- Phone: (832) 520- 6079
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ify.gal/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ifeoma.ahuna
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/itsifygal
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPbkzpj3UfzXReJ1essUr8w
Image Credit:
Haley Garnett
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