Grey: Need for Depth, Manage Multicultural Approach Led to Brand Management

The new Advisor-at-Large, Brand Management, Tuyo Ventures, Sharon Grey in this interview talks about her life, the brands and marketing industry and her role at Tuyo Ventures. Excerpts

Who is Sharon Grey?

Sharon Grey is a character I made up to achieve my dreams. Everything Sharon Grey looks like or acts like went into action in 2020. I mean I had been brainstorming her profile since mid 2019, but I only started considering putting her into action at the beginning of the pandemic. Who is Sharon Grey? – She is my ideal self. She is the person I have always aspired to be in my mind, sometimes I still cannot believe she is here. It has taken great intentionality and discipline, but in the end, that’s all anyone needs to make a drastic change in character. I am still not exactly sure what the totality of Sharon Grey is but I will give you some background. I grew up on a dirt road in the remotest part of Ikorodu. I cannot remember much of my childhood because most of it is all a blur, but I grew up on a healthy diet of John Grisham novels, Movies and Condé Nast old magazines passed on to us by our rich family friends. My mother was down on her luck, but she had great character, and people were always drawn to her beauty and intelligence, which is how we were able to even get neat copies of OK! Magazines, Vogue etc. These images were imprinted on me from such a young age, but at the time I couldn’t dream of living that life because from a dirt road in a remote part of the world, it seemed impossible.

I am an extremely visual person and I obsess over beauty in whatever form it comes in; a design interface, an article of clothing, an accessory, a typeface, architectural design, painting, really whatever has imagery and an appeal to the mind. I also studied Psychology so I understood how imagery can be used as a weapon for good and for bad. So I started cultivating my own beauty and refining my character. For brevity sake, I will not dwell on my process but it was a total and complete change because I knew aside from my beautiful mind, I also had to chisel and polish my appearance because imagery is the language of society. Has it been easy? No, but I enjoy the extra work that goes into it because I know how much more confident I am to speak up in rooms I was not even supposed to be in. It is funny because as someone that will wear bathroom slippers to lecture halls in Uni on some days, you can never catch me unfresh now, ever.

When you were younger, what kind of person did you want to become and are you that person now?

I remember my mother once asked me what I wanted to become when I grew up and I said I did not know. I mean, I knew but I couldn’t articulate it. Actually, I could articulate it but it sounded absurd. I will tell you now though, I wanted to be either a spy or a diplomat. Outrageous, I know – and I only say outrageous because there were no professional spies and diplomats in Ikorodu. But even in my childlike mind then, I knew I was never going to be satisfied with anything less.

In a way, that fueled my interest in Psychology, because what attracted me to spies and diplomats is their way with people and how they cultivated themselves to manage interactions. It seems so simple, but it takes a lot of self-respect, style and mental strength to pull it off, and I wanted to do that – maybe not literally as a spy or a diplomat, but whatever opportunities (paid or not) afforded me that pleasure was always well received. Am I that person now? Absolutely.

What would you say has helped you become the person that you are today?

Beyond my incredible mind, two things have kept me grounded amidst a lot of distractions and general life matters; my mother and my desire to live the sweetest life possible. As I have grown now and can juxtapose our traits and characters, I can actually say I am my mother’s reincarnate while she is still alive. We look exactly alike, and behave exactly alike – we laugh the same way and are generous even when we don’t have, like it’s a compulsion.

The only difference is that I am more cynical and detached. I see people, things and concepts for exactly what they are, and act accordingly. My mother is the epitome of the strong black woman. She works hard and cares hard, very resourceful and great with people, yet she was always cheated. I am everything my mother is and also everything she is not. Because if there is anything that matters to me more than working hard or caring hard, it is my desire to live the sweetest life possible, and to be able to achieve that, you have to stay sharp and use your sense because humans will always be humans. In a way, I will call those two things the angel and the devil on my shoulder, doing the checks and balances, while keeping my eye on the goal.

What propelled the switch from PR to Brand management?

A need for depth. A need to create a bigger picture. A need to manage a multicultural approach, and to interact with multicultural personalities. Anyone that knows me will tell you that I am obsessed with design, culture, technology, communications, and psychology – not studying and practicing these areas to the fullest extent I know possible would have been a life not lived to the fullest for me. I also knew I had to make that switch early because there was so much to accomplish,  and when the opportunity presented itself, I did not hesitate because it was something I’d been preparing for my whole life.

Why did you decide to join the board at Tuyo Ventures?

A phone call with Mr. Abraham Tuyo was the deciding factor. He called me on a Sunday evening and we spoke for about 45 minutes. I could tell he was an authentic and very direct person. Of course there were other calls after that where we spoke at length on plans, strategy and personal cultural opinions. There was no confusion on my part as regards what he wanted to achieve and what was expected of me. It was the perfect case of opportunity meets preparedness and I thank God for the connect. It is also an exciting role because I will be focused on managing the brand personalities of each company. I will touch on the products that are ready to go to market briefly. There is BodyByTechnology which was founded on the idea that enabled wearable monitoring technologies can improve health outcomes, save lives, increase access to health care and reduce costs. There is WAKAnRIDE which envisions roadless mass transit for Africa. The solutions are designed to take advantage of renewable energy, inform rural and urban planning, specifically transportation and its infrastructure. There is iQx10 which is a publisher of multiplayer job skills games and addresses the problem of job security. The games are designed to support the business needs of job seekers, employers, public agencies, and financial stakeholders. Finally, we have Voices of the African Continent – VOTAC, which is an integrated media platform  focused on delivering the African economy and culture to the world. 

How have you been able to manage your professional life so far without necessarily conforming to societal norms?

I used to worry about how my appearance would affect my professional growth. In my previous career, the image of the successful girl featured a sleek weave, makeup and extreme femininity. I did not look or act like that at all. It wasn’t worrying enough to make me consider changing my authentic self, but it was worrying enough to make me shy away from opportunities. Until one day, I was working out of the office of a former client, and an older and clearly top executive at one of the accounts I managed mentioned that he liked my cornrows – then he went back to discussing with his colleagues. You cannot imagine what that offhand comment did to alleviate my anxieties, something that had plagued me for so long, went away, just like that. Because I thought; he calls the shots, and if he likes my cornrows, who’s going to check me now? (laughs)

People say “you are only as good as your social currency”, how do you play the network game?

I really don’t believe in networking, but I do believe in pursuing your interests authentically, because as you do that, you will meet people that are necessary to your next moves. Life became clearer for me when I realized that the universe does not reward potentiality but action. So now all I’ve been doing and will continue to do is to explore all my interests to the point of obsession and execute all my hypotheses till I become a master in all my fields of interest.

I have been lucky to meet the best and most inspiring people that are doing fantastic things in various sectors, and my dream is to meet more people across tech, hospitality, engineering and science. Ultimately, innovation occurs at the crossroads of different industries, and it is my goal to be part of pivotal and seismic shifts in life.

Living the busy life you do,  how do you find a perfect work-life balance?

I budget time for everything, my life is very scheduled, and I’ve disciplined myself to the point of making that routine a habit. My close friends and family did not get it at first but eventually they understood how productive it made me. Every weekday I wake up at 5:40am, do a 10km walk while listening to my favourite podcasts. It takes just a little over an hour then I eat, sit at my desk and work till 7pm. During that time, I rarely answer personal phone calls. After 7pm, I start preparing for bed. I do 1,000 skips, shower and proceed to do my nighttime skincare routine. I make it a point to be in bed by 8pm, latest 9pm so I can get enough rest and energy to do it all over again the next day.

To help me sleep, I read books. I have read over 25 books in the last 2 years. If I plan to go out for events or meetings for work, I try to make sure it does not affect this routine but that’s hard sometimes, and it’s okay. Saturdays are for replenishing my mind; I watch movies, documentaries, or read magazines. These days I have also started skateboarding so that’s a fun way for me to refresh the soul as well. Then I spend Sundays with my family and close friends, the circle is very small and tight, but the love is gigantic.