2021, The year that was

NEGL this year was soft, I pray 2022 is even kinder and softer...

I’ve never written a year in review before but I’ve read a couple written by friends and acquaintances and I decided to give it a shot.

My 2021 started with a lot of new things. You see, towards the end of 2020, I decided to make a career pivot from digital marketing and social media management to Product Marketing Management.  Hence, I was jobless throughout the last quarter of 2020, and spent most of this period upskilling and going through the recruitment process of several tech companies. One finally worked out and I resumed as PMM at a crypto startup at the beginning of 2021. This was my first play into the world of crypto and when I resumed I was simply CLUELESS AF. Thankfully, I had help and support from my friends and colleagues and it turned out well enough. 

Another first positive was being one of the winners of the first-ever edition of the Enyata BuildUp program. When I got the mail that I was one of the winners, I was in disbelief, and up till the day I collected my MacBook from the Enyata office, I still felt like I was dreaming and needed someone to wake me up with a pinch. Doubting Thomas much lol.

At the beginning of the year, another thing I set out to do was be more data knowledgeable. I’d been taking a few courses up till that point and felt like I needed a more advanced course hence I set my eyes on the Udacity Nanodegree. If you know nothing about Nanodegrees, know this much, they’re an expensive investment, north of 1500 dollars. So, I’d simply written down in my journal about a Nanodegree scholarship for women that Ire Aderinokun sponsors and how much I was looking forward to winning it this year. 

I was still trying to find my footing at my new place of work when barely 2 weeks in,  the Central bank of Nigeria struck with an  “awesome circular”  banning banks and financial institutions from allowing Cryptocurrency transactions. That meant the way the company operated had to shift.  I spent the next few days in hour-long meetings, strategising a new product and brainstorming go-to-market strategies, launch plans, emails and marketing campaigns just to sell the new product we’d built to counter the new regulation. It was war but I also enjoyed it as it gave me more practicable insights into what being a PMM truly means. I enjoyed working at my new job until I didn’t enjoy it anymore, and 6 months down the line, I took a bow and drew the curtains on being ‘Bee from Bitnob”, a lot of things happened during this time I’d spare you the details of. 

I spent the next month being physically, mentally and emotionally drained and trying to get back on my feet, I was really confused about my essence and what exactly I should be doing with my life at this time. This is one part of adulting no one prepares you for. The one-month-long break was good because I spent it seeking clarity about my purpose. It also gave me enough time to prepare for some exams I’d been postponing from the year before. I also spent the time briefly interviewing and so I was able to join another company(albeit briefly) by September.

Remember the nanodegree scholarship I talked about earlier? Yes, I was one of this year’s awardees. I’d almost talked myself out of applying in the first place so I spent my day putting together the answer to the scholarship questions on the last day of the applications and I got it. I’m currently trying to wrap up on my Data Analytics nanodegree.

I run a small business that supplies interior decor and productivity items for people, I started it in 2020 after the first lockdown, my business also grew in leaps and bounds this year, I decorated a 2 bedroom apartment from start to finish and to date the owner of the apartment still texts me compliments and it’s always very heartwarming. Lends credence to my creativity, my eye for good design and my business acumen. 

About a month ago, I got the funniest Twitter DM asking me if I wanted to come and head growth at a startup I’d been eyeing and positively rooting for, I thought the sender was messing with me because I’m relatively young in my growth marketing career and thought there was no way he was serious, we jumped on what was supposed to be an “Introductory Call” turned one-hour long interview and boy was I rambling. I had to mute my mic a couple of times on the call just to calm myself down because of how nervous I was. I got positive feedback some days later saying the team liked me and felt I’d do amazing and would indeed love me onboard. Things moved super fast from then on out and now I’m proud to say it publicly for the first time that I’ve resumed as head of growth at Lazerpay. If you’re reading this, say a prayer for me and then go sign your business up for Lazerpay because 2022 is about to be a “madness”.

There’s no good without the bad but to be honest, this year was a really really good one for the books. I became a much better friend to my friends, tried to work harder than I've ever done, and had twice as much fun as well. On the other hand, I lost a friend (not to death) but to circumstances, that they introduced into the friendship. If you know me you’d know how much friendship means to me and how dearly I hold my friends so it certainly still hurts a lot that there was someone I loved and respected but who didn’t feel or treat me in the same way and even felt entitled to my body so yeah good riddance! 

I also fell ill and had to deal with mental fatigue a couple of times but I pulled through and I’m much stronger than ever. 

My wish for 2022 is that I’m able to actualise all I have planned in terms of my career goals, my personal ambitions and my overall decision to become a better friend to my friends, a better sibling to my siblings and a better daughter to my parents. I also want to be more consistent in the things that I set my mind to. I want to travel more and share more content for education and helping people especially women meet their career goals. I hope 2022 is even better for us all. 

If you’re reading this it means I somehow managed to keep you glued reading my boring year in review. I would like to leave you with something my dad always tells me “You have so much potential and are capable of achieving everything you put your mind to”.

I’m personally rooting for every one of us. In the words of Issa Rae, “I’m rooting for everybody black”. 

I made a short fun TikTok recap about my year and you can watch it here.