Today we’d like to introduce you to Lily Wachuku.
So, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I am a teenage girl Empowerment Blogger and Motivational Speaker. The story of how Live Life The Girl Way began is a very interesting one. It officially started in the final semester of my eighth-grade year of school, but my mission to change the world for the better began long before then. Elementary school was the first time that I decided that I wanted to positively impact the world; I was determined to solve all of the world’s problems ranging from finding the answer to world peace to eradicating world hunger and poverty. The ambition that I had was the fire that kept me going throughout elementary and middle school. When I entered eighth grade, that was the time that I decided that I was going to achieve my goals and my dreams to make the world a better place. I struggled to find how I could truly start to solve the world’s problems as a mere twelve-year-old, and I started to feel like it was impossible for me to make a difference. I started to seek help from people that I trusted such as my parents and teachers, and they did their very best to help me to succeed.
A very wise person told me that you can’t solve all of the world’s problems at the same time, instead, you must choose one issue that you are very passionate about and start with that one first. Upon receiving this piece of information, I started to really ask myself the questions: “What do I care about?”, “What are my gifts and talents?”, and “What kind of mark do you want to leave on the world?”, and “What do you love so much that you would do it forever without truly getting tired?”. I thought about these questions for the majority of the first semester of eighth grade, and finally, at the beginning of the second semester, I had my answer. I cared about empowering girls to achieve all of their goals and dreams, believe in their ability to succeed, and to be confident in themselves and their abilities. The realization struck me like a lightning bolt, I had found my passion! I immediately went to my parents and asked them how I could start to make a difference in the world by empowering girls at my young age. My dad suggested that I start a blog, and a few weeks later LiveLifeTheGirlWay.com was born.
I started with a free blog to test if this truly was my passion and if I had the skills required to truly make it work, and a year later I had my answer. I loved inspiring people so much that I hardly realized that an entire year had passed. I discovered that I loved writing, motivational speaking, connecting with and empowering people, and being a role model for girls globally that strived to achieve their goals and dreams! I switched my blog to a permanent domain and I decided that I would never stop working to make the world a better place and to empower the girls and women in it. Upon entering high school, I started to notice a few things. I noticed that many girls were hiding their intelligence or their talents in order to be liked or accepted. I constantly felt like I was one of the few girls that I had met that simply didn’t care about “fitting in” or hiding my talents.
After a few conversations with some of my classmates, I realized that many girls were acting this way because of a few key reasons. Those reasons were that they believed that they needed to be pretty in ways defined by others, that being Intelligent and capable of success was less valued than beauty in making their way into the”in crowd”, and that it would be nearly impossible for them to become world leaders or prominent women in their future career fields anyway so why not instead focus on where they believed they were already most valued and accepted. To put it mildly, I was appalled. These things couldn’t have been further from the truth! It was then that I finally understood why there were so few women in prominent positions in their fields or in the STEM field. It was at this moment that LiveLifeTheGirlWay.com became a serious organization. I realized that if I didn’t do what I could to get the message out to as many girls as possible, I would be failing the world and myself. Most importantly, I would be failing the 3,881,409,438 girls that could really benefit from hearing what I had to say. I told myself in those early days that all of the girls in the world were depending on me to share my message and to make a positive difference in the world, they just didn’t know it yet. I still tell myself that today when I encounter adversity or naysayers.
I am now fifteen years old and a Junior in high school. I am going to do my best to empower girls to achieve their goals and dreams, to believe in their ability to succeed, and to be confident in themselves and their abilities. I am going to do my best to make a positive difference in the world and to leave this world a little bit better than I found it. I know that I am very young, but I believe that I can make a difference, and I plan to continue my work with LiveLifeTheGirlWay.com until I leave the planet and pass it on to the next capable and passionate world leaders.
Has it been a smooth road?
My journey has certainly not been a smooth one! It wasn’t overly bumpy, but there were definitely some challenges and learning curves involved. When I started Live Life The Girl Way, I was in eighth-grade. I was eager to share my positive messages with my classmates and tell them about the creation of my blog. When I did, I didn’t receive the response that I had expected. Instead, I received laughter, taunting, and encouragement to give up or to “quit before I embarrassed myself”. Many people thought that Live Life The Girl Way was a feminist organization, but it wasn’t. It was simply an organization dedicated to empowering girls to achieve all of their goals and dreams and to be confident in themselves and their abilities. Needless to say, I was crushed. I was so filled with passion for my goal that hearing such negativity was almost too much. I was disappointed, but I wasn’t even close to considering quitting. I knew that if I believed in myself and my ability to succeed, I would. But, that didn’t mean that the negativity didn’t hurt.
I have been blessed to have such wonderful friends, family, and teachers that care about my wellbeing and motivate me to continue to follow my dreams. I remember on several occasions my friends, teachers, and family encouraging me to keep going and lifting my up when my spirits were down. When I struggled with adversity, my support system was always there for me. God has really blessed me with the gifts and talents to do what I do, and he has really blessed me with a wonderful group of people that I am so proud to call my friends and family. I have been supported by everyone from local business owners to teachers and women that are leaders in their fields. I am so thankful that God called me to this path and equipped me with the gifts and talents required to make Live Life The Girl Way exist and thrive.
Aside from struggles caused by adversity, I also have experienced a few technical struggles! Being a teenage Girl Empowerment Blogger and Motivational Speaker, I had to learn professional skills quickly. I had to learn technical skills like how to write a proper email, how to pitch your ideas to others, how to properly attend business meetings, and how to stay firm in your beliefs even when you are talking to people that are much older than you are. I have been so blessed to have parents that have gone before me in many of these things and that give me advice and teach me how to be a young professional. It’s really interesting because I am a teenage girl! I do normal things that kids do; I love reading, eating ice cream, talking to friends, cracking jokes, and dancing! I love playing my ukulele, practicing dance routines, and practicing my theatrical skills like acting and singing. In short, I love being myself and navigating life as it comes. LiveLifeTheGirlWay.com has helped me to develop my leadership skills and to learn how to be a good role model even at such a young age. I can quite confidently say that if I hadn’t started my blog, I wouldn’t be nearly as tech-savvy, and that’s coming from a Gen-Z kid!
All jokes aside, I am really thankful for the struggles and the obstacles because they have truly shaped me as a person and made me better at what I do. For anyone that is struggling with obstacles and challenges in their lives, I encourage you to identify a good support system even if it outside of your inner circle of friends and family. Reach out to your support system and confide in them when you are struggling, I guarantee that those who love you will always be there for you. My friends and family have always offered me a shoulder to cry on when I need it, and a congratulatory pat on the back when I succeed; for that, I am eternally grateful!
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
Live Life The Girl Way is an organization that empowers girls to achieve all of their goals and dreams, to be confident in themselves and their abilities, and encourages girls to never affirm self-limitations. LiveLifeTheGirlWay.com is the headquarters of the organization.
Live Life The Girl Way offers Motivational Speaking and Mentoring. If your school or business would like to work with me, please visit LiveLifeTheGirlWay.com and click on “Contact Us”. Live Life The Girl way offers mentoring to girls from the sixth grade to twelfth grade during the summer and small group mentoring at high schools during the school year. Please note: all services will be delivered via video conferencing software during the pandemic. Live Life The Girl Way also collaborates with businesses, so if you are interested in a collaboration please contact me through my website.
What sets my work apart from others is the fact that Live Life The Girl Way solely exists to make the world a better place and to empower girls to be their best selves. Don’t be afraid to check us out! There are new posts published every week that will help you on your journey to achieving all of your goals and dreams. And there is a podcast and YouTube channel as well. These resources are all for you! I encourage you to check them out and follow/subscribe so that you don’t miss out on all of these amazing resources! If you visit my blog LiveLifeTheGirlWay.com, feel free to interact by leaving a comment. I’ll be sure to respond! That’s a real, Lily Promise.
If you like the work of Live Life The Girl Way and want to support it, you can go to our Ko-fi page and let us know! https://ko-fi.com/Livelifethegirlway. Your support really means a lot!
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I have been blessed to have many women that are prominent in their fields give back by helping me. I hope that as the focus on women in leadership grows, and the number of women in prominent leadership roles grows (especially in fields that are male-dominated today), that they will give back and continue to pay forward their success to girls and women everywhere. That is my hope for the next 5-10 years!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.LiveLifeTheGirlWay.com
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/LiveLifeTheGir1
- Other: ko-fi.com/livelifethegirlway
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