Today we’d like to introduce you to Onyeka Ufere.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Onyeka. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My journey started back in 2014, when I became a wife, mother of twin babies, and started my career in the oil & gas industry all within a two year period. I’m sure you can imagine how stressful it can be figuring out this new normal. As a method to get through the stresses of adjusting to this new life, I used blogging and social media as my outlet to express my frustrations and joys of being a millennial mother of two while beginning my career. Six years into my marriage and career and another set of twins later, I found an immense love of creating content relating to my life, my kids, and my juggling act of balancing career and mom life. As a result, I now use my blog and social media platforms to be transparent about my motherhood journey, my tips and tricks of juggling family and career life, and how I embrace it all.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It has definitely been challenging. I am a Nigerian-American. When you are a wife, a mother, and a career woman, the Nigerian community can sometimes put a lot of stress on you to maintain a certain level of perfection in every aspect of your life. This left me to be super critical of myself and hard on myself whenever I misstepped. This made it difficult for me to blog consistently. Anytime the stresses of life overwhelmed me or I felt I wasn’t able to portray myself a certain way, I would give up on something I truly enjoyed doing. I eventually understood that I had to kick everyone’s validation and opinions of me to the curb and focus on what I wanted for myself. Over time, I figured out that my opinion and validity of myself is really the only thing that matters. Since then, it’s been easier to embrace the imperfections and missteps that I’ve had along the way.
I think it’s obvious to say that time management is a huge challenge. For me, the bigger challenge was focusing on what I wanted and making it happen, regardless of the time I have allocated to do it. You can’t change the time you have in a day, but you can change your mindset and approach towards getting things done. My advice of women who are juggling family, career, and a side hustle is to understand what’s important to you and put energy towards that. If you love to cook for your family, then do that. If you love your career, pursue that. If you enjoy your side business, put energy towards that. Time limitations will always be there. People judging and criticizing you will always be there. Failures and successes will always take place. What I know for myself is that regardless of any of the previously mentioned, when I am doing or indulging in something I am passionate about, even in the midst of a stressful period, I am happy and satisfied.
Please tell us more about your work.
For my day job, I am a Health, Environmental, and Safety (HES) Compliance Assurance Advisor for an Oil & Gas Company. On the side, I am the Creator and Writer for the blog, Onyee’s LifeStyle. Onyee’s LifeStyle is a blog where I share my thoughts and life experiences as a millennial mom of four (two sets of twins). My mission for this blog is to use my life experiences and lessons learned to show other moms that we can do it all (or we can at least try to). As a successful career woman in the oil & gas industry, a wife, and a mother to two sets of twins, I have learned a few pointers on planning, multitasking, and discovering ways to be my best self in the many roles I play while still making time to cater to myself as an individual.
Today, there are so many mom bloggers, displaying this unrealistic idea of perfection that does not entail a mom of color that isn’t a celebrity or doesn’t have a Gucci bag in every post on social media. What sets me apart from others (aside from having two sets of twins) is that I am the shift towards what perfection should really be: a relatable everyday mom, who is a work in progress in her career, her family, herself and still manages to smile and be positive as she pushes through.
Were there people and/or experiences you had in your childhood that you feel laid the foundation for your success?
Watching my mom as a child was probably the biggest impact on setting me up for success later in life. My mom was a chemical engineer, mother of four children, lover of fashion and beauty, and owned several businesses with my dad. Growing up, I watched her embrace all aspects of motherhood and being a woman, all while taking part in the things she enjoyed in life. Even later in life (more than 20 years into her career), she went back to school to get a second master’s degree. The decisions she made in life and her way of expressing herself through her fashion and her voice set the very high standard I hold myself to today.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.onyeeslifestyle.com
- Email: onyeka@onyeeslifestyle.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onyees_lifestyle/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/onyeeslifestyle/
Image Credit:
Blip Photography
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