Owning Your Narrative Returns For Year Two With a Sharper Focus

For the second consecutive year, strategic consultant Tolagbe Martins marked International Women’s Day weekend differently.

In a statement, it was noted that on Sunday, March 1st, 30 women gathered for Owning Your Narrative 2.0: The Rewrite Room; a five-hour working session designed for founders, executives, and senior leaders navigating professional transitions.

The statement also noted that unlike the panel-and-keynote format of the inaugural 2025 edition, this year’s session had no stage and no guest speakers, adding that it was just structured facilitation and honest reckoning.

“Last year we had Jola Ayeye in conversation. This year, the room itself was the conversation. It is an evolution, not a replacement,” Martins noted.

The shift was intentional, while registration responses revealed a consistent pattern: women weren’t struggling with competence. They were navigating what Martins called “evolution without narrative alignment,” their capacity had expanded, but their positioning hadn’t caught up.

The statement remarked that the five-hour session at BBCO Building included guided conversation, facilitated micro-circles, and witnessed declarations, adding that participants examined scripts around visibility, money, grief, leadership, and likeability.

One woman highlighted for the first time how bereavement had stripped away her identity as a daughter. Another traced her pattern of apologizing for being “multi-potential” while men in similar positions simply say they “do deals.”

“Small rooms change behaviour because they remove performance. You cannot outsource clarity. You cannot delegate narrative,” Martins averred.

The work got specific, and women interrogated their relationship with the word “no.” They examined, and what they were waiting for before trying things. They named the roles they would outgrow but didn’t know how to leave publicly.

“At first the ‘no’ is whispered,” one participant shared during the closing circle. “Then it becomes:
Continuing, the statement added: “No. Period. And the heavens do not fall.” Martins whose work spans corporate communication training (TMGrammar Ministry), retail systems consulting (Language of Retail), and emergency management strategy has spent 15+ years facilitating high-stakes conversations that drive alignment and action. Following Sunday’s session, she is now adapting the methodology for leadership teams and founder groups navigating organizational transitions. Year three is already in development.”