In the dynamic world of public health and professional development, few figures stand out as prominently as Dr. Adebola Ajao. As a lead epidemiologist and acting deputy director, accomplished author, and dynamic keynote speaker, Dr. Ajao has dedicated over two decades to advancing women’s health and empowering professional women to unlock their highest potential. With a Doctor of Philosophy degree in molecular epidemiology, a master’s degree in public health, and a Bachelor of Science in Biology with a minor in Psychology, she has navigated the complexities of academia and the professional world with grace and determination. Today, as the founder of Empowering Initiatives, Dr. Ajao continues to inspire and guide women through her transformative principles and practical insights.
In this feature, we delve into Dr. Ajao’s journey, exploring the five growth principles she champions and how they can help professional women maximize their impact and live fulfilling lives. Join us as we uncover the wisdom and experiences of this remarkable woman.
What personal experiences and challenges inspired you to write “Empowered Woman” and focus on empowering professional women?
I am originally of Nigerian descent and was born to parents who were educators. As my first mentors, my parents taught me that ambition, education, discipline, hard work, and service are important to reaching ones’ potential. I immigrated to the US alone as a teenager and navigated college, graduate school, and career choices as an international student without any formal mentors. After my doctoral training, I landed my dream job as an epidemiologist at a highly prestigious federal agency working in public health and public service. However, many years into my career, I felt stuck, stretched, stagnant, and unfulfilled with no training or understanding of how to navigate my career growth as a minority female scientist in a large organization, and as a wife, and mother of three school age children. During this period, I realized that even though I was highly educated, I did not possess the necessary tools to move to the next levels in my life and career. Without any female mentors to learn from in my professional space, this period of internal struggle led me on a personal development journey where I had to discover my unique strengths and skills and align them with my professional goals. This period of navigating my career path was pivotal as it taught me the power of personal leadership, leading with my strengths, redefining mentorship, growing my community, and service in reaching my potential, maximizing my impact, and finding fulfillment. From this experience, I wrote and published my first book “Empowered Woman” in 2021. This book is a culmination of the principles and lessons I have learned on my journey, and I continue to use as a professional, entrepreneur, wife, and mother.
I focus on empowering professional women because I did not have female professional mentors to give me the tools that I needed to advance my career while raising my three children. I believe that women are the bedrock of our society and as female professionals, we have many responsibilities, and have unique set of challenges. I believe that it is imperative for women to see other women excelling in positions that they aspire for and for women who have attained leadership positions to be accessible and available as mentors to younger professional women.
The five growth principles outlined in your book – Thinking Big, Conquering Your Fears, Seeking and Acquiring Knowledge, Finding Mentors, and Acting and Following Through – seem to be the cornerstone of your approach. How do you believe these principles can specifically benefit professional women in their careers and personal lives?
I believe that each woman is unique, and each woman has a unique set of skills and talents. It is in discovering our unique skills, defining our niche, and leading with our gifts that we can excel in our professional space. Once a woman is clear on gifts, her passion, and her purpose, it becomes easier for her to set and achieve her professional goals using the five growth principles. The first principle, thinking big focuses on setting big SMART goals using tools like self-believe, faith, and visualization. The second principle, conquering fears, focuses on overcoming self-doubt using tools like affirmations, positive self-talk, and gratitude. The third principle focuses on finding and acquiring the right knowledge, while the fourth principle focuses on finding the right mentorship triangle (mentors, peers, and community). The last principle focuses on how to take daily consistent action towards actualizing our big SMART goals. These empowering principles when practiced consistently allows a woman to develop a growth mindset that is focused on vision, innovation, and progress to grow in her career and create a life of purpose. These five growth principles empower women to align their professional goals with their strengths, take more risks by consistently stepping up to their next challenge, and serving others while increasing their confidence, success, impact, and ultimately finding fulfillment.
How do the growth principles in “Empowered Woman” tackle the specific challenges that professional women commonly face?
The most common challenge I see among professional women is that they do not align their professional goals with their unique strengths hence, women are not thriving in their careers. Most professional women start off doing what they love, but, along the way, they lose their zest for the work they do and see their career as a job and a means to a paycheck, rather than a calling or serving their life’s purpose. The growth principles in “Empowered Woman” offer practical tools to help professional women develop a growth mindset by thinking big and setting SMART goals. The growth principles emphasize that each woman face their professional fears and give herself permission to continuously step into the next right professional challenge. The growth principles also emphasize the power of finding professional mentors for guidance, peers for support and accountability, and a larger community for visibility and opportunities to continuously serve in her chosen professional space.
What significance does mentorship hold within the framework of the principles you discuss in “Empowered Woman”?
In my experience, mentorship plays a fundamental role in women’s professional journey. Mentors can take many forms including an advisor, an advocate, or a sponsor. Mentors can provide professional guidance to improve performance, attain promotions, and provide connections to new opportunities. Professional women must first identify what areas they want to grow in order to identify mentors who can support their area of desired growth. Professional women should look for mentors inside or outside of their immediate professional space or work environment. Mentorship can be short or long term, formal regularly scheduled meetings, or informal casual meet ups. Whatever form or style of mentorship is desired, mentors and mentees must be appropriately matched, and expectations and deliverables must be clearly communicated upfront. Beyond mentors, peers, and community also play important roles in women’s professional journey. Peers can support, motivate, and serve as accountability partners, while a community can provide new opportunities for growth and visibility. All these professional relationships must be cultivated and nurtured to maximize professional growth.
Self-care is a vital aspect highlighted in your book. How do you manage to incorporate self-care into your busy schedule, and why do you believe it is crucial?
I believe self-care is crucial. We cannot pour from an empty cup, so as women with multiple roles, we must replenish ourselves periodically to continue to advance in our careers while playing our other important roles as wives, mothers, and caretakers. I strongly advise that all women prioritize self-care. Self-care is personal and it means something different to every woman. Every woman must define what self-care means to her and incorporate her chosen self-care activities into her daily routine. For me, self-care is quality time with myself and my loved ones. Whether, I am reading a book, watching my favorite shows, or spending quality time out with my loved ones, self-care for me is taking time out to destress and do the things that I enjoy.
There are a number of advice I have for professional women regarding self-care. First, know your values and prioritize what is important to you as an individual including family, career, business, and self-care. As professional women, we need to understand that although, we can do it all, we may not be able to do it all at the same time, and that there are different seasons in life for different goals. Therefore, prioritizing, planning, scheduling ahead, and setting realistic goals and timelines become very important so the different areas of our lives can be nurtured to the extend necessary and desired. Second, create a daily routine starting from sunrise to sunset. Healthy daily routines create good habits, improves predictability, prevents chaos, and helps with effective time management. Having a clear understanding of what we have to accomplish daily and moving through our daily tasks seamlessly becomes important in accomplishing our goals without burning out. Third, delegate responsibilities that can be outsourced to free up time to focus on the most important tasks a woman wants to prioritize for her professional and personal growth.
What impact do you hope “Empowered Woman” will have on its readers, and what is your vision for the future of women in the professional world?
I look at everything through the lens of service and impact. My goal for “Empowered Woman” is to reach as many women as possible to achieve my goal of inspiring, empowering, and transforming women into the best versions of themselves. I was intentional to make this book short, easy to read, and practical so that the principles and tools can be easily adopted and adapted so they can be transformational to the readers. My vision for the future of women in the professional world is that every woman discovers their authentic self and align their career or profession with their strengths so they can fulfill their potential, maximize their impact, and find fulfillment.
