Ingressive for Good partnered with Geneza School of Design to help 1000 women build skills and careers in design. During the training, we realized the need and benefits of study buddies to better help the women learn and complete their courses. So we created study groups. At the end of the program, we recorded over 70% completions. Omowunmi Olukunle tells us about her experience leading a study group, the impact she made and the impact it had on her.
“I am Omowunmi, a final year student of International Relations at Obafemi Awolowo University and a part time content writer. Deciding to embark on this design journey was a decision I made at a point in my life when I needed something to hold on to, to give me a sense of control. Midway through 2021, I knew that what I wanted to grow in is design because immediately I found out what UI design was all about, I felt this indescribable happiness, it just felt right like the feeling you have when you’ve found your soulmate. But then I lost a loved one just when I embraced the love for design and I didn’t feel like pursuing anything again until this year when I saw the opportunity for the 1000 women in design scholarship and it felt right again so I applied. When I got the congratulatory mail I was overwhelmed with joy and I felt like my stars were finally aligning.
I’m working on a project called Earth 911. Earth 911 is an app that encourages sustainability through active participation in recycling and also purchasing of recycled items. It’s major focus is to ensure ease in the areas of cleaning, recycling and shopping all through your mobile phone. I believe It’s a huge project and I’d like to share it. I’m so proud of my achievements so far and really anticipate doing more.
The first time I joined the group and read people’s introductions, I was thrilled. it felt like I was part of something big, a real community of amazing women from different African countries. So when the opportunity to be a team leader presented itself I applied not because I wanted to lead but because I wanted to learn, I wanted to be accountable and push myself out of my headspace. Because being a leader means you have to help your teammates grow and have answers to their questions which means I had to push myself to learn more cause this girl can never be caught ‘unfresh’. The journey wasn’t an easy one. At first I felt like I was dipped in cold water during harmattan when my team members were not responding like I thought they would. However, all’s well that ends well because I am confident that when next I am in that position I’ll only do better because I know better.
So far my experience as a leader has made me a better human being, as a learner it has triggered my thirst for knowledge and it’s a beautiful thing because I know I’ll never be short of new discoveries in this field. Every time I discover something new or design something, I feel like a total badass. I feel like I have found my superpower and I’m on a journey to becoming a UI/UX super hero and that’s on period.”
You can reach Omowunmi here
LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/in/praise-dare
Twitter-https://twitter.com/her_fadas_dawta/
Instagram- http://www.instagram.com/%22her_fadas_dawta