Rita Laibuta: Personal and Professional Insights

As some of you may know, I sit on the Board of the Young Women Social Entrepreneurs (YWSE) Nairobi network. We host monthly dinners - "How she does it" - where we have women speakers come and talk to us about their professional journeys so far.

April's speaker was Rita Laibuta. She is an Electrical Engineer by training and the Energy Consultant for the French Development Agency on the DFID /EU - funded Green-mini Grid (GMG) Kenya program. She is implementing Mini-grids and productive use projects in Kenya therefore providing electricity to more than 13,000 households and businesses and supporting more than 10 privately owned Kenyan energy companies. Rita is a 2016 Mandela Washington Fellow and a 2013/14 Tullow Group Scholarship Scheme beneficiary. She loves promoting the development of renewable energy projects and advocates for entrepreneurship in Renewable Energy including participating in the British Council Entrepreneurial Africa London Showcase in 2016.

Rita shared a lot of great insights that she has picked up along the way on her personal and professional journey, and I thought that these were too good not to share! Some may be more specifically applicable to women, but I would encourage everyone to give this a read. Do you relate to any of these? Do you agree or disagree? I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

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A summary of the learnings picked up throughout my professional and personal life:

1. Battling the “impostor syndrome”: Every time I read my bio, I always wonder - who is this, and why is she lying to people? A lot of brilliant, accomplished women, including the COO of Facebook – Sheryl Sandberg, Shonda Rhymes (the founder of the production company Shonda Land and author of Year of Yes), Arese Ugwu (the author of the Smart Money Woman) and many others, talk about this annoying syndrome that plagues more women than men globally. Knowing that this said “syndrome” is not only affecting me but many other women out there has given me the confidence to own my successes.

We all have our failures, I have failed many times than I can count, but I have also achieved quite a lot. I am proud of my achievements and excited about how much more I will achieve in future. Re-reading my bio with the knowledge of this “syndrome” that affects many other women has helped me think to myself more and more that, “You know what? That is me. I deserve this. I did this.” I am learning to celebrate my successes and in turn, it helps me to celebrate the success of everyone around me, appreciating the fact that we are all on our different paths, and it does not hurt to pat each others' shoulders when we do good.

2. It’s all about the mindset – Life really is what you make of it - cliché, but it’s true for me. I have lived the typical negative Kenyan life. This was in me in highschool, in campus, until my friends in university - best friends to date - pointed this out. You know the talk: "there are no jobs”, “if you don’t know anyone you won’t go far”, “how do people get these things?”

I’ll tell you that it influenced this: my looking for a Masters scholarship until I got one (and no, I did not get a first class, so trust me, I was not applying while thinking I am the most brilliant Engineer in this country); applying for the Mandela Washington Fellowship (MWF), (I got rejected in 2015 by the way), but I was one of the 1000 Africans meeting Obama in the summer of 2016, in Washington DC! I had decided to apply every year until I got in.

I've been accused of living in a bubble. And I'll admit I love my bubble. The thing is, a positive and fluid mindset goes a long way, and it is a choice we have to deliberately make. We can today choose to see ourselves as winners in what we do or as victims of life, constantly wondering “How do they get those things (jobs, recognition, etc.)?"

3. On mentors and relationships – I am the type of person who, if stuck in a rut, will be googling a book on "how to get ahead in your career and relationships", “how to negotiate”, “how to become financially independent”, etc.

Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In spoke to a lot of my work related doubts. Thanks to Shonda Rhymes, I am more comfortable in inserting myself in uncomfortable situations, saying yes to requests that I would normally decline, like making public speeches; Outliers questioned my idea of what brings on success; Arese Ugwu, Robert Kiyosaki on money management, Stephen Covey is why I have a personal vision statement, Robert Greene has pretty scary laws.

My observation is that mentors do not only have to be people in our physical spaces. As an introvert, if the only option I had was to request total strangers to mentor me, I would have been depressed for sure. I have also learnt to look for groups with similar interests - you will always find these when you look for them.

And finally, I have found that mentors can be anyone around us; there is so much to learn from others. We have heard many times that we are the average of the people we surround ourselves with – I can safely brag that my circle is full of brilliant women and men. Women whom I learn from every day, women who have helped me be the woman I am today. So yes, it’s great to get that one figure that can mentor us in our various spaces, but if they are not easily accessible, look to learn from your surroundings, and books. And of course, what value are you adding to your circles? It is always a give and take. 

4. And finally on self-love – I believe that self-love is the beginning of it all. You can call me the self-love ambassador. I strongly believe that if we were all taught to love ourselves from an early age, this world would look very different. You will always know a woman who has learnt to love herself from her talk, her principles: and it's a process. Women: we are beautiful, we have so much to give, but we have to start by giving ourselves. We have to learn to celebrate our success. I have read that science supports the power of positive affirmations.

“Affirmations are basically a form of auto-suggestion, and when practiced deliberately and repeatedly, they reinforce chemical pathways in the brain, strengthening neural connections”.

Affirmations make me feel good about myself. And so as I wrap it up, my answer to how I do it is this, “I wake up every morning to my “I AM” affirmations – I am confident, loved, loveable, awesome, enough, unique, special, strong, joyous…I am my biggest fan.”

I urge every woman to be their biggest fans. With this mindset, we will continue to conquer our worlds.

Live Free, Live Fierce: An Evening with Muthoni Gathecha

Muthoni and I at the 'How She Does It' dinner

Those of you who know anything about Sewanee know that it has an abundance of empowering people to connect with, and networking events galore! I can't even begin to count the amount of times I sat down with a group of amazing men and women and had meaningful conversations about anything and everything. Since coming back to Kenya, I've definitely missed the ease of access to people I could have such conversations and connections with. This is why, when a friend of mine suggested I attend a dinner and a talk that was part of a monthly series hosted by a nonprofit organisation in the area, I jumped at the chance. Connecting with fantastic, motivating women AND a great guest speaker? Of course I went! (And took my sister with me too.) I had a wonderful time, and definitely plan on going back.

Luckily for me, I was seated right next to the guest of honour, Muthoni Gathecha (psychologist, motivational speaker, actress and presenter at The Vagina Monologues), and I'm very glad that I was! Right off the bat, her energy was absolutely captivating, and her talk was extremely inspirational. As a woman who strives to be fearless and be her very best, it was amazing for me to hear from someone who IS fearless and even better than her best.

There was no way I was keeping this inspiration and empowerment to myself, and so I wrote down as much from her talk as I could, and knew that I'd end up writing about it before the week was over. Here we are!

'I am Muthoni and I am a woman.' Captivating words, and a great introduction. Muthoni explained that that introduction fits her best, because everything else about her was either acquired or learnt. Her job, her children, her studies and other such attributes only complement who she is, and do not have the right to define her wholly. I think this is a great message for women to take away, and learn to proudly own their identity! She also introduced herself as a happily divorced woman, and said (rightly so) that she did not have space for anyone who was uncomfortable accepting that.

Muthoni led us to the beginning of the series of events that built her up to be the woman that she is today. As a twelve year old, she was very forward. She would always be compared to her siblings, academically too. When she got back the results of an important exam that she took at that age, she realised that she didn't do as well as she thought she had, but her father was up in arms. At that point he told her "The best you could be is a househelp or a prostitute." Those words stuck with her, and she swore to herself that never again would such words be spoken to her, and she would achieve great things on her own merit.

At a time where everyone was choosing to pursue degrees in fields like law or medicine, Muthoni decided to get a degree in teaching. "I love the sound of my own voice," she said laughingly, "and I find it positively orgasmic to speak in front of people, and the power that gives me!" After she graduated, she was posted to Mombasa, and just two years later, at the young age of 25, she became a deputy head teacher. She had command, and the people around her obviously realised this. Two more years later, she was again promoted, and became the principal of her school. After five years in this role, she decided to pursue a Masters in Education Administration. Muthoni loves working with youth; they have a lot of energy and a lot to give, and she thrives off of this.

After a few years in a senior administrative role and a second Masters in Psychology, at the age of 50, Muthoni realised that she was stuck in a rut. Life had become monotonous, and she needed a change. There was a lot of turmoil in her life at that point, and she asked herself if that was all she had to give. So, she took early retirement at 50, and had a dramatic change; she went into acting. It wasn't easy at first, but Muthoni persevered, never stopped believing in herself and her value, and gave it her absolute all. For her first audition, she was considered too young for the main role. She was offered one scene in one episode in a 250-episode series, and decided to say yes in the spirit of not being negative. It definitely paid off; the actress who was chosen for the main role initially could not keep up, and Muthoni got the role!

Today, Muthoni is at a place where the offers are actually lining up to such an extent that she has had to turn them down. She needed to go through all that she did before she could realise her potential and all that she had to offer. She managed to move from what she termed an 'area of mediocrity,' where she had the safety of a salary at the end of the month, to a place where she had to challenge herself for every paycheque. This may seem difficult to some, but Muthoni is thoroughly enjoying herself! She has a lot of creativity and energy, and uses a metaphor that I absolutely loved: "I am not a car; I do not have a reverse gear. I move forward!"

Muthoni's energy is evident, and I'm very glad that I was able to meet her and be inspired. Though there was no way I could capture even a fraction of her energy in my words, I hope that you all are inspired by her too!