Today we’d like to introduce you to Erica Adugwo.
Hi Erica, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My name is Erica Kenechi Adugwo, and I come from very humble beginnings. I was born in Nigeria, West Africa. My parents were educators and instilled in me Christian knowledge and values about what it means to be a good and principled human being. When I was 7 years old, my family moved to Havana, Cuba, and my siblings and I attended the International School of Havana (ISH), where I learned Spanish and made friends with other international students. I loved living in Havana because the environment I was exposed to became my first experience of cultural diversity and inclusion. By the time I was 10 years old, I was writing poems, digesting books, and participating in extracurricular school activities around environmental sustainability, art and creativity, music, advocacy, reform, and change principles. At around 16, I received the saddest news that my mother was critically ill and wouldn’t make it. This was the biggest shock of my life because I never expected her to leave me so soon. I always looked up to her because of her uncanny ability to keep everything together without a trace of apathy. The way she handled things and people with care and grace, her dedication to God, her family, her business, her resilience, and her general outlook on life were all very inspirational. She became the first visionary I was ever blessed to meet. Today, I can proudly say that I’ve adopted many of her characteristics, such as her idealism and her heart posture when it comes to godly matters, life, and people, and even improved on some of them.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
As you can imagine, it hasn’t. I struggled a lot during my early adolescent years because of having to navigate many obstacles and roadblocks on my own, but in hindsight, I realize that God was with me and guiding me all along. I remember going to college just 2 months after she left this earth and then dealing with a lot of anxiety and depression and not knowing who to speak to about it since, at the same time, I was also questioning my faith. I didn’t understand any of the suffering I was going through, and especially why I had to pass through that experience. Thankfully, I graduated college, but with that came a sort of apathetic outlook on life.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I became a mindset coach because I want to help women step into their power, take responsibility for their lives, and not even flinch if someone makes them feel less than they are. Many women are stuck in victim mode, telling themselves things like, “I could never make x amount of money,” or “I can never have the kind of style, marriage, or career I want because of XYZ.” I didn’t have it easy, and there’s something about losing a mother so early that sucks the life out of you. As you can imagine, I wasn’t dealt a good hand early on in life. My cards were terrible! But I have gotten to where I am in life because I took the lemons that life handed me and made a thirst-quenching lemonade. I am most proud of the fact that I didn’t get to where I am by whining or complaining. I want people to know that I haven’t always had it all figured out. But I have gotten to where I am today with a ton of hard work. I want people to hear that no matter how tough things may have been for me, I found a way to keep going and, even more importantly, a way to own whatever messed up circumstances I was born into because that’s the past and the only role it had to play in my life was fuel for my amazing future.
My transformational coaching, or the “With God” mindset, is exactly what I teach my clients, as it is geared toward shifting mindsets for sustainable change. In other words, as a mindset coach, the ultimate purpose of my transformational coaching is to catalyze a shift in specifically ambitious, faith-filled women by helping them reframe their thoughts when they’re going to a negative place. By catalyzing a shift in her mindset, she can accomplish what she is capable of but has not yet achieved or has not achieved to her fullest potential.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
I deeply believe that with God, all things are possible. Today, I have 2 women whom God has blessed me with, motherly figures who have imparted me with so much love and wisdom. Their names are Felicia and Catherine, twin sisters who adopted me and made me theirs. So, in essence, God restored me with 2 mothers. Even though I’ve done significant work on myself, I sometimes find my thoughts swaying just slightly. Putting certain processes in place helps bring me back to alignment so that I can continue moving forward in life and business versus spewing and feeling stuck in whatever I think my problems are. My ideal client is a woman who is ashamed of things she has perceived to be shortcomings and sees herself as less than. This woman has had to squeeze herself at work and in relationships and may have even begun to think that she is that person. I feel it is my duty to let this woman know, starting with this interview, that we are not going to let any “imperfection” define us. Heck no. I may not have the right degrees, credentials, titles, or status, but you can bet I have a PhD in life. And right now, at this moment, I want her to know that when it comes to living your truth, you get all the extra credit. By being honest and owning my stuff, I have achieved great things with a less-than-stellar resume and have inspired other women to feel better about their own deep, dark insecurities. Sharing your whole truth is not about throwing yourself a pity party. It’s about re-labeling the parts of you that society wants to slap its brand on, not caring about what anyone thinks about it, and soaring even higher because you don’t have a bunch of extra baggage weighing you down. I am not sorry for who I am, where I come from, or who I’ve become. I’m not apologizing for any of it. And neither should you.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ericakenechi.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/erica.k.inc
- Other: https://pensight.com/x/ericakenechi
