“I had a debilitating fear of speaking in public. Now I empower women to stand up and shine” -Lillian Ogbogoh
We at BoxHuman are passionate about highlighting and celebrating inspiring humans; especially the ones who are inspiring, helping, and bringing light to the world. We do this to rebalance some of the negative messages we often hear, see, and receive daily. We met up with one of these amazing individuals…
Hi Lillian, it’s great to meet you. Without further ado, let’s start this BoxHuman Inspire Series interview. Can you please tell me a little bit about you and what you’re especially known for?
I am Lillian Ogbogoh. I am an international speaker, a coach, a corporate trainer, a podcaster, and an author. A bit about my background, I have worked in project management for various corporate sectors; while working, I started a business on the side creating events for women to empower themselves and celebrate other women to stand up and shine.
Then I became an NLP Practitioner and coach after using coaching and NLP to unlock my fear of public speaking. I started to speak on topics that I was passionate about, which focused on women stepping up and owning their power and giving them tools to get out of their own way.
I am also an author, I was a part of the bestselling book “Success in High Heels”, a compilation book of 30 leading female authors, and I complied the book project titled “Born for This!” The Journey to Success in Life, Love & Business. I have recently released a brand-new e-book called “The 7 Habits That Rob Us of Our Power”, which focuses on the habits that stop women from making an impact in their business, career, and lives.
I work with women who have experienced failures and setbacks and are now afraid to step out into the world. They have stopped taking risks and showing up for their own goals and desires, they have become invisible, hiding in plain sight. Yet they still want to achieve their big goals and feel exhausted from the in and out game of wanting their goals and being afraid of reaching for them.
The women who have forgotten that they are powerful and reconnect them with their power, giving them tools to fight back from the negative voices that trip us up.
WOW! What an amazing start to this interview, thank you! You are such a multi-talented entrepreneurial human we’d love to find out more. Can you please tell us what inspired you to start your business and what you have learned from working with your clients?
My company trades under my full name, however, my business is registered as BrokenPlate Productions. I chose this name to honour my maternal Great Grandmother Ogoli- Agnes. They were an entrepreneur in her day, she was a trader, who dealt with importers of Bone China dishes, which she sold wholesale and retail. English was not her first language, so she used to call them Broken Plates from the stories I was told about her. She lived during a time when women were not expected to own businesses.
Her trading allowed her to raise her children, as well as support others who were in need. She also partly raised my mother as well; I am enormously proud of the woman she was. I decided to choose Broken Plate as the name of my company, to honour the woman that she was. I also wanted to use it as a reminder to myself, that I am from a line of entrepreneurial women, women who chose their path, who stepped out, and were unconventional in their own way. It’s funny because right now, when we think of entrepreneurial women, we tend to look for women who are making six figures, looking at women CEOs. We tend to forget our grandmothers and great grandmothers who may not have ever made six figures but made an impact in their own way. So, my business is named after a woman who traded with European traders during colonisation in Nigeria, who defied conventions, who lived life on her terms.
Regardless of all the external differences that may exist between all my clients, they have things in common, the things that trip them up as women. Yes, they may be nuances to what they are, but they are all going through the habits, patterns and negative self-beliefs that hold them back. I have found that my clients are not looking for me to be perfect with them, but to show up for them. They want to experience my passion and belief in them.
What an inspiring story behind your business name. Your grandmother was such an inspiring human too! Thank you for sharing that Lillian. To inspire and empower others, can you please kindly share with us…What has been your biggest life challenge that you’ve personally had to go through and how did you overcome it?
Before I became a public speaker, a coach, and trainer, I suffered from a debilitating fear of speaking in public. I was co-running an events company as a side business and at one of our events, we had a female coach talking about overcoming fear using Neuro-Linguistic Programming. That day I made a commitment to deal with my own fear of speaking in public I got coached and she used NLP. I was fascinated by it so I chose to study it to become a practitioner and coach.
After publishing a book project on looking at our relationship with failure, I complied with the help of twenty-three contributors from around the globe. After launching the book, what most people did not know was that I was in tears as the launch of the book drew to a close, I was not celebrating that the book had ranked very high in two separate categories on Amazon. I was mourning the fact that the book had not become a bestseller in a particular category and by not reaching this mark I felt I had let myself and my co-authors down.
I started to compare myself to others, listening to the negative self-talk and started feeling like a fraud and not good enough. I had lost a sense of who I was. I started playing small, afraid to try again after failing, afraid to show up because I was feeling like a fake and a fraud. Until I decided to break up with these habits and reclaim my power and start showing up for my goals and desires.
Thank you for sharing a time that was challenging for you, we appreciate your honesty and openness. Moving onto our next question…Can you please kindly tell us what you’ve learned from your own personal journey so far and what others should learn from it?
I had to learn to stop comparing myself with others. I have learned to harness my inner resilience tools, which help me raise after I have failing moments. I had to learn to trust my own intuition.
I have also learned that I cannot do this alone, even though I work by myself, I am not alone. I now have a community of amazing people to support me, guide me, and tell me when I am wrong.
Thank you, Lillian, for sharing some great advice. A little birdie told me that you are working with women to break the habit of fear, self-doubt, and the imposter phenomenon. Can you please tell us more about this, what this means and what are the benefits of breaking this habit?
These are the habits that show after women have experienced failure and are now plagued by self-doubt which causes them to second guess themselves continuously. They become very risk-averse and stop taking the actions required to reach their goals.
For some, they start procrastinating on their goals, others may self-sabotage opportunities in front of them. They start listening to negative self-talk that further erodes their self-confidence, for some women it’s the impostor phenomenon.
This phrase was coined in the 70s by Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes who are both psychologists. They were researching women, which is why we always link this to the phenomena of women. It is defined as a collection of feelings of inadequacy that persist despite evidence of success. So even though you’ve got success, even though you can see things are happening, and you know, people are telling you are terrific, you don’t believe it, and you don’t feel it.
What are the benefits of breaking these habits, for a start you get out of your way and reach your goals, you give up procrastinating and self-sabotage which in turn allows for you to have more successes as you start to keep your word to yourself.
In turn, it helps you develop resilience where you learn to bounce back quicker. The main result of breaking up with these habits is that you start trusting yourself again and are committed to taking action on your goals and desires.
We’re nearly halfway through our time together. I think it’s the best time to start our BoxHuman Inspire questions before we say goodbye…
To start our quick BoxHuman Inspire questions can you please tell us…1) One thing that makes you smile? 2) What inspires you to be you on a daily basis and why? 3) And finally what is your favourite quote?
1) Spending time with my twin nephews who are toddlers, they crack me up consistently with what they find funny.
2) What inspires you to be you daily and why? The idea of becoming the future version of me, she is that version of me that has attained all my current goals and some I haven’t thought of yet. She is the one that has created a living legacy of supporting and growing other women and young girls, she is supporting causes that I am passionate about. I am driven to become her so each day I take the steps to get there. I am also inspired by the women in my circle who create legacies of their own by making their impact on the world.
3) And finally, my favourite quote is…
“You have to stand for something, or you will fall for anything”.
Lillian Ogbogoh
What a great start to our Inspire questions! Thank you, Lillian. As an author, you have written a book ‘The 7 Habits That Rob Us of Our Power’.
1) Can you please tell us what inspired you to write this?
2) Where can people purchase it?
And…3) What three top expert tips would you say to someone who has been hiding their brilliance and playing invisible?
It was about documenting the habits I have had in the past and the ways I broke up with them, the idea was to create a serialised blog about my journey and it just felt better to compile all the content into an e-book and share the tools that I used to break up with these negative habits.
Interested in a copy of the e-book you can get it via my website the link is www.lillianogbogoh.com/thesevenhabitse-book/
Playing the world’s best secret in your industry serves no one, you must show up and let people know you are there, networking and building solid connections are crucial to your growth whether you are in business or in your career.
Do not listen to the chimp committee in your head, I am talking about the negative self-talk that just wants to run you down. Create a life team of people who are committed to reflecting the best of you back to you. They are the people who will support you when you need a helping hand.
What future goals do you want to achieve and why?
One of my goals is to become a digital nomad to work and live in different locations around the world. I am about to become a qualified hypnotherapist, which has been on my goal list for the last few years.
Another goal is to create a collaborative table across the UK, the US, and Europe to work with other women in business to help support the growth of women, emotionally, physically, and financially.
My ultimate goal is to see more women of colour occupy seats at the table, boardroom, executive, or business
Lillian Ogbogoh
Dynamic, Intuitive, and a powerhouse of ideas.
Wow, what an incredibly inspiring interview! The world needs more people like you, so thank you for shining your light for others! Finally and to conclude this interview…A BoxHuman is an empowered individual. They will not be defined by society’s labels. They show the better qualities of humankind, such as strength, kindness, and inspiration. Can you please tell us what makes you a BoxHuman?
I am a BoxHuman because of the way I see the world. I look at the way it could be and that informs what I do as I see our greatest potential. I also look for the best in people and reflect back on them. I have always been an ear to listen even if it is to a random person on a bus.
“Thank you, Lillian.”
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