Tag: Ayuma Michelle

I’m a Family Female First

Yes, I’m the First Businesswoman in my entire family.

But it didn’t come without a fight, for I was only given two options:
1. To do what the family patriarchs sat, discussed and decided I should do for a living & receive their full support. OR
2. To do what I wanted for a living with a TOTAL withdrawal of their support.

I’d thought it was a joke. I remember thinking: “They can’t be serious, right? They took me to school to be enlightened, to expand my options and to access more freedom than my foremothers.

“Until I chose to pursue my own path.
And in a snap, the withdrawal took effect.
No phone communication.
No financial support.
No emotional support.

I suddenly became redundant because I didn’t choose a career path that would elevate the patriarchs in my family.
I must admit. It was SO SCARY facing the rejection. And it took a lot of humility to brave through the pain, anxiety attacks, confusion and brokene$$.

In fact, I remember once searching for coins around the house to afford me a packet of Ksh. 50 sanitary towels. Yet on TV I saw the patriarchs display their wealth in business and politics.

However, there was something in me that wasn’t shaken.
For the first time in my life, I felt FREE to CHOOSE. A freedom that not so many women in my family have afforded themselves.
In hindsight, I’m so grateful for the college student I was then for affording me the freedom to choose.

To make decisions about my own life.
To be openly ambitious.
To earn my own money.
To build businesses.
To fund my own dreams.
To fall in love with myself again.
To create my own legacy as a woman.

Turns out… I am the example I’d been waiting for all along!
Sis, don’t wait for an example. BE the example – for You first, then others.

And when you see the L on my business name LetS… think of Legacy – a Family Female First.

I’m helping women like me to take charge of their own stories and use them to launch their wild women dreams.

What do you #choosetochallenge about the women-specific narratives you grew up around in your family and community?

Change the story.
Start with yours.