I am a born again Christian, a wife, and a mother of four adorable children.

I am active in Christian ministry, where I serve alongside my husband, who is the senior pastor in a local congregation and also a senior leader within the governance structure of our ministry.

In the marketplace, I am a seasoned HR professional who has had the privilege of serving in senior leadership roles for over 17 years.

I find purpose in impacting and transforming lives, and I am a mentor and a certified coach. I have had the privilege of coaching over 70 leaders across five countries.

I am the author of the award-winning book Hope Unbowed: Faith Lessons During an 11-Year Season of Childlessness.

I am an MBA graduate, a certified emotional intelligence practitioner, and an alumna of the University of Nairobi, Alliance Girls’ High School, and the FKE Female Future Programme.

What I Am Writing About and My Motivation

I am naturally drawn to women and to leadership. I actually feel called to the woman.

I am writing two books:

a) They Were Women Like Me
b) The Waiting Room

They Were Women Like Me

This is a book from a woman to a woman. I am a woman who, both in ministry and in my career, has fought the common battles of confusion regarding my identity, calling, and purpose. All this has happened amidst both my internal limiting self-beliefs and societal definitions and expectations of who I should be and how I should show up.

This book is a call for the woman to arise to her godly call, ordained purpose, and destiny regardless of her status and gifts.

It draws lessons from select women in the Bible whose impact still speaks today.

The Waiting Room

I found myself in leadership roles, both as a pastor’s wife and as a human resource leader, which no one intentionally prepared me for or mentored me into. It was just that, being thrust into the deep end, a swim or sink situation. That is my soft spot for emerging leaders.

This is a coaching handbook grounded in my journey of endurance, hope, and resilience during my 11-year wait for motherhood, as shared in my award-winning book Hope Unbowed.

One may wonder what childlessness in marriage has to do with leadership. I would say, everything.

It is about the shared themes of resilience, navigating uncertainty, facing criticism, confusion, isolation, learning to endure, to hope, and to keep moving forward.

The motivation behind both books for me is obedience. Obedience to share my life with others, obedience to the call for impact and transformation, all for Kingdom influence.

It is my desire to receive the welcome, when all is done, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Did I Encounter Writer’s Block?

Absolutely. A number of times, I felt like I had run short of content. I am actually surprised at the number of pages for each of these two books, which are still under development.

Multiple things helped me push on and keep going:

• I had committed to write and complete the project, not leave it midway. That purpose kept me on course. The Waiting Room is a critical component of a leadership coaching programme which I need to launch this year. They Were Women Like Me is a writing project that has dragged on for about three years. I joined the class with a single mind, to get it done this time round.

• The dread that I would be on a public “list of shame” every week, where accountability was held, kept me on my toes.

• I had to trust God for grace to carry through the burden He had put in me faithfully.

• When the block did happen, I at times took a break and came back later. I also changed writing settings and moved to different spaces that would jog my creativity. For me, green spaces do wonders. So anytime I knew that I would not do well writing from home on a Saturday, I would find my way to BTL, to a serene café in a green environment.

How I Handled Feedback During the Writing Class Journey

The feedback for me was encouraging and extremely enriching.

I have embraced it as a critical part of this writing project, helping me to relook my work and integrate these independent thoughts for a more refined product. This integration is still a work in progress.

How I Prioritised My Writing Journey and Other Commitments

I juggle so many balls. I am surprised at myself that I am actually on course with this project. Though it affected my academic writing, which is now lagging slightly, it has brought me to one conclusion: we have the capacity to do and accommodate as much as we make room for. Surprisingly, we can stretch to incredible levels without breaking.

I penned down fragmented thoughts as inspiration came during the week, and mostly got to write comprehensively over the weekend, or on Thursday night because class would be coming up on Friday.

My Experience in the Jade Writing Class

The class offered many useful tips for writing. Topics like the author’s voice and showing as opposed to telling, among others, were priceless.

The class was beneficial to me, and I can definitely recommend others. I already have two ladies who have expressed interest.

A Word for Aspiring Writers and Beginning Authors

Do not wait for the “ideal” to get started. Just start. Ideal could be time, content, enough money for class and publishing, or whatever else is the “ideal” for you.

If you wait for the “perfect”, you may unfortunately never find it in your lifetime. This is a lesson for some of us who are learning to grow out of perfection. It has to be progress over perfection. Perfection is actually a saboteur.