WAY TO WORK
Telling everyone about your plans to start your own collective is the key to making it happen, says 26-year-old Otegha Uwagba (pictured, right): ‘By the time I had a launch venue booked, I was like, “OK, I have to do this now.” There were definitely points when I thought, “What have I got myself into?”
But telling lots of people about it – and I told everyone – helped keep me focused and made me accountable.’
For five years, Otegha worked in advertising, which she found to be a ‘male-dominated atmosphere. Instead of trying to be at my A-game, it just made me clam up.’ In spring 2016, she launched an online community for women working in the creative industry called Women Who, which hosts events and workshops, and has since grown into a collective formed of thousands of women from around the world. Its creation also led to a book deal: Little Black Book: A Toolkit for Working Women, a modern career guide written by Otegha herself.
A defining feature of Women Who – and the reason that Little Black Book sold out within days when Otegha first self-published it – is transparency around taboo subjects, such as money: ‘I’m trying to break the stigma for a lot of creatives around acknowledging money as a motivating factor. In this industry, there can be a snobbishness, that you have to do your work for the art. I’m like, “No, I want to get paid. I can’t live and breathe on kudos and exposure alone.”’ As well as practical advice on asking for a pay rise and achieving a work-life balance, Otegha shares exclusive quotes from women, such as writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, about their own careers. Otegha says the best piece of advice she’s been given is from L.A. Ronayne, a creative director at advertising agency Havas London and a contributing editor at Riposte magazine: ‘Even if you’re a creative, you’re still a businessperson.’ And Otegha is just that: a new-age businesswoman.