IWD: Echoes of Resilience Sound Loud at Mom’s Timeout

Oluchi Chibuzor

As the world celebrates women multitasking capabilities and contribution across different sectors of the economy, over 100 of them gathered together at the Silverbird Galleria in Victoria Island, Lagos, to echo that they will continue to be resilient to make the world a better place.

Speaking at the Mom’s Timeout Fiesta 4.0 themed, ‘Master of Multitasking,’ Fitness instructor and Choreographer, Esther Morakinyo, said the day was about expressing resilience, hope and highlighting the need for good mental health.

She urged women not to disregard the health benefits of physical exercise, saying it is a major solution to depression.

Morakinyo, also urged women to take a break from whatever mental challenges they are facing, especially through exercises.

Morakinyo said although women have shown that they are masters of multitasking, the overwhelming nature of what they do can lead to burnouts, stress and depression.

Morakinyo therefore called for support and said more communities should give women the backing they need to surmount such difficult situations.

According to her, “There is a lot of responsibility placed in our hands as women. We are always multitasking, often taking care of ourselves and others. There is a saying that when women thrive, the community and the family thrive too. That is why we are empowering women and pushing them to make sure that they are better than who they think they are.

“We bring women into a community of wellness. Mom’s Timeout was born from a woman who silently battled depression. But instead of making her situation consume her, she decided to start a community where she nurtures women going through similar situations. Ours is a safe place where every woman can relate and communicate together.

“Either you are a young woman exploring life or you are a seasoned mom who needs a well-deserved break, this is for you because it is part of the realisation that sometimes all you need is to take a break and take good care of yourself.”

However, sharing peculiarities to unlearn and learn from each other’s experience, the women expressed the need for every woman to remain resilient and determined to be their very best.

For Obukome Ibru, the event underscored that women are beginning to take themselves very seriously, urging them to be more intentional in supporting each other.

According to her, “Today, I think there’s a lot of joy in my heart because there are a lot of young women that are beginning to understand the importance of being a woman. For a long time, women didn’t take themselves seriously. But now, I see a lot of young women rising up to motivate other young women, a lot of older women try to inspire the younger ones that are coming up. Women have to be more intentional and being intentional doesn’t mean that you’re going out there to make trouble. We’re not competing with men. We want to give men support to make things better for humanity, for Nigeria, for Africa, for the world.

“It’s about developing ourselves. Women, we have to develop ourselves and we have to help each other develop each other. We have to be pro-woman for women. We have to give opportunities to other women in any space we find ourselves and we are able to. We have to be able to say, oh, I know a woman that can do that just as well as a guy. And it shouldn’t be a case of, oh, because it’s a man. There’s nothing like it’s a man’s job anymore.”

Meanwhile, the Managing Director, The Thought Concept, Ella Umachi, stressed the need for more parents to be conscious of instilling the right mindset to their children at home.

“I think it starts from all of us who are parents, because society is what we have done at home. So it’s creating consciousness at home, creating equality at home. Because if we do our jobs at home well; making sure that both our female and our male children have the right mindset, society eventually would get better. But we have to do and create the right mindsets at home first and that’s what we reflect in our society,” she said.

As a sound engineer with Liquidsand Production, Yeside Lawal, echoed that women should be resilient at all times in the face of challenges and obstacles.

According to her, “Today is a really great day. It’s a day that we use in recognizing women, celebrating women and their impact on society. It’s been an awesome time coming for the moms’ time out and just sharing with fellow women like myself and learning from them as well.”

On how she was successful in the male dominated industry, she said, “It’s resilience basically and constantly developing myself, learning every day because we learn every day. Sometimes you can be discouraged, I get tired, I get discouraged but I don’t stay there. I rise up and then keep going.”

Explaining the key message of the day, the Founder of FLO247Cakes and Event, Florence Oyegwa, International Women Day for her is about a strong woman who is resilient, bold, and can multitask.

“First, you need to be passionate about whatever you want to do. Nobody can stop you from achieving your dream. If you set your mind to do anything, you can achieve it. Nobody can stop you as far as you have your mind put to it, and you are able to push yourself, because nobody is going to push you,” she said.