Money, Corporate Culture and Freelancing, with Elizabeth Uviebinené
Date: Oct 8, 2020
Elizabeth Uviebinené is a brand strategist, columnist for the Financial Times & co-author of the award winning book Slay in Your Lane: The Black Girl Bible. From a multi-title book deal, to accompanying podcasts and live events ‘Slay in Your Lane’ has become an empowering movement for Black British women.
In this episode of The Wallet, we take a deep dive into Elizabeth’s inspiring journey since the success of Slay in Your Lane. We talk about her experiences navigating the corporate workplace as a young black woman, her relationship with money and the benefits she is discovering as a freelancer. With self-employment on the rise we take a look at what’s going on in the workplace and why many women, and in particular women in marginalised groups are opting to work for themselves.
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You can listen (51 min) and subscribe here:
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1. Knowing yourself and finding your voice
Most people now know Elizabeth because of her inspiring writing and award-winning books. It might therefore come as a surprise to many that she never saw writing as something she wanted to pursue, referring to herself as the “accidental author”.
Elizabeth’s journey is somewhat unconventional: upon graduating from the University of Warwick with a bachelor’s degree in Politics and International Studies, Elizabeth began her career in the world of finance, working as a marketing officer for HSBC before swiftly advancing herself into the role of marketing manager through her exceptional hard work and talent.
Even from the outset of her career, Elizabeth acknowledged the importance of remaining true to herself: she was aware that, to be happy, she needed to strike the balance between embracing her natural creative flair and financial security. It was this self-awareness that led her to turn down more financially lucrative roles at other bulge bracket banks and resist more exciting creative graduate roles at the time.
Although her roles at HSBC provided her with a strong grounding for her career, she encountered many challenges as a young black woman; she discovered that nobody was properly addressing the intersectionality of being not only a woman in a male dominated industry but a black woman. Dissatisfied at the lack of engagement on this highly pertinent issue, Elizabeth decided to take on the elephant in the room herself. To address the added complexities of being a black woman trying to get ahead in both an institutionally racist and sexist society, Elizabeth decided to create a book that would afford young black girls with a host of role models or “cheerleaders” that she so badly needed growing up. For the task, she enlisted her best friend, Yomi Adegoke, also a woman of Nigerian descent, who worked as a journalist for Channel 4. Elizabeth and Yomi worked tirelessly to transform their vision into a reality, writing every evening and weekend around their competitive careers for a year. Against all odds as two black women appealing to the white, elitist publishing industry, they managed to secure a book deal with tremendous success: ‘Slay in Your Lane: The Black Girl Bible’ was born. Later voted as the ‘BBC Book of the Week’, ‘Slay in Your Lane: The Black Girl Bible’, was fought for in nine-way publishers’ auction, winning a five-figure sum for their trailblazing work.
Continuing in her personal mission to empower women of all ethnicities, Elizabeth is currently undertaking her first solo literary project, The Reset; Why Isn’t Work Working, What’s Next?, in which she examines our evolving work culture and the contemporary transformation in how we think about work on a fundamental level. Her new book, due to be published in Spring 2021, explores the psychological freedom of moving at your own pace and the potential gains for businesses when they tap into their employees’ creative abilities.
2. Importance of forging strong relationships and mentoring
Elizabeth explains that coaching, mentoring and sponsorship are all important components for sustained career success and for reaching the next stage in your professional journey. Although such terms are often used interchangeably, coaching, mentoring and sponsorship have the potential to achieve very different objectives.
A workplace sponsor is typically someone with the power in a company to be able to guide and influence an employee’s career progress through the organisational hierarchy. A sponsor will seek an employee who they believe has potential to develop and excel in their career. Evidence suggests that sponsorship continues to be the most fruitful avenue for advancing in an organisation since sponsors can help to increase employee visibility, create attractive opportunities and enhance an employee’s personal brand even when they are absent from the room. According to PayScale, those who have a sponsor are paid 11.6% more than those who do not. Although, unsurprisingly, there exists a ‘sponsorship premium’ for men who are, on average, paid 12.3% higher than their unsponsored counterparts compared to just 10.2% for women in the same position. The statistics for black women are even more disappointing: black women who have sponsors are paid even less than white women who have sponsors. Sylvia Ann Hewlett, an economist and the founder of the Center for Talent Innovation, explains these findings in the context of the unconscious bias that exists in most organisations wherein white male leaders sponsor or advocate for “people like themselves” - in other words more junior white males - which can result in women, and especially black women, being left behind when it comes to compensation. Still, having a sponsor is highly effective when it comes to advancing your career because it is this type of relationship that will mean you have someone to fight your corner when it comes to roundtable discussions.
A career mentor is someone who contributes to the professional development of their mentee by enhancing their skills and abilities in specific areas, such as public speaking. To do this, mentors assist in analysing their mentee’s strengths and weaknesses, following up with guidance as they begin to address their areas for improvement. Mentoring can lead to increased employee performance and yet greater benefits for the mentor themselves through knowledge and network sharing. A necessary first step in building a successful mentoring relationship requires introspection on the part of the mentee – this could be asking the mentee what prevents them from pursuing their goals, for example. From this initial building block, the mentor should contribute to their mentee’s journey of introspection and reflection, educating their mentee in understanding the ‘unwritten rules’ of their workplace to help them get ahead. It is important for the mentee to reflect on exactly what it is they hope to gain from mentorship.
A career coach is someone who helps their clients to establish realistic career goals, discover solutions to tough work-related challenges, develop career action plans and instil motivation. Many people go to career coaches for the support and guidance that is required to reach their ultimate career goals so while a career coach is trained in providing excellent career insight and direction it is the client who should hold the agenda. Indeed, a study conducted by McKinsey highlighted the ability of coaching to improve upon the intrinsic motivation of clients, making them 32% more committed to their work and 46% more satisfied with their current jobs. Professional career coaches are skilled in creating personalised plans to help their clients meet their career goals following an initial assessment of their clients’ strengths and weaknesses, keeping their long-term goal in mind at all times. In this sense, career coaches not only help clients to put their goals into words, but also carve a path that facilitates the achievement of these goals. A key difference between career coaches and career mentors and sponsors is that career coaches help their clients to develop proficiencies instead of helping them to overcome their deficiencies.
The important thing to note for all these types of relationships is that they must be forged organically in order to be strong and authentic. For example, having a mentor is not just about asking for something at the final stage of your journey but rather building a personal rapport with your mentor such that you can also be of use to them through sharing your own experiences, perspectives and knowledge. In general, Elizabeth suggests that the best way to get effective help from others is by building a reputation for helping people and mentoring others - by spreading positive energy to those around you, positive energy will flow back to you as others strive to reciprocate.
3. Taking the plunge: going freelance
Today, Elizabeth is a freelance writer, brand strategist and marketeer. For Elizabeth, leaving her corporate role was not only the best financial decision she made, but an incredibly empowering one since it enabled her to embrace her creativity and acknowledge her self-worth.
Freelancing can be a very daunting prospect for many due to the lack of security that comes with an inconsistent workload and unpredictable income stream. Elizabeth explains that there is no ‘average’ day in her life, and that she cherishes the variety and flexibility, viewing having no boss as a form of freedom. However, she acknowledges that freelancing is not a lifestyle that suits everyone and hence advises, if you are looking to leave a structured, well-paid role, to research what you are getting into first. It is vital to understand the implications of what it means to go freelance.
This episode of The Wallet deep dives into freelance work as we share in Elizabeth’s journey and the importance of the relationships that have helped her along the way…
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You can listen (51 min) and subscribe here:
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Resources:
You can follow and connect with Elizabeth at:
Linkedin: Elizabeth-Uviebinené
Twitter: : @lizuvie
Instagram: @elizabethuviebinene
Books:
Slay In Your Lane: The Black Girl Bible and The Journal
Loud Black Girls: 20 Black Women Writers Ask: What’s Next? is out now available in all good bookshops and online.
Keep an eye out for Elizabeth’s next book The Reset: Why Isn’t Work Working, What’s Next? Which will be out March 2021.