Today’s guest on Power in Diversity is someone Dr. Omo has watched grow from strength to strength. Elaine Cunningham Walker is an award-winning educational strategist and founder of the Global Educational Consulting firm, who has also been featured in Forbes. As a mother of two highly gifted children, both of whom were endorsed by Manasa after appearing on Channel Four's Child Genius, Elaine has become a go-to consultant for parents seeking advice on how to bring out the best in their own children.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Elaine finds that many children lack the emotional intelligence and resilience to deal with the personal struggles they face on the education path. However, she lives by the code “There is Genius in every child, it just needs nurtured and developed”. 
• Elaine has become an advocate for building the next generation of leaders, emphasising the importance of ensuring that people who look like her and her children are represented in top positions. She believes that the reason for the underrepresentation of certain groups at the top is due to a lack of access to the right schools, friends, and networks.
• Networking is all about leaving a lasting impression on people's minds. It's important to be memorable for the right reasons, and unfortunately, our community often fails to achieve this.
• As women, we often neglect investing in ourselves. We tend to invest in others but fail to invest in ourselves by seeking out mentors, coaches, or individuals who have already achieved success and can provide positive guidance or advice on what steps we need to take to reach our goals.
• When we are labelled as being angry, it is because we are trying to win the argument with emotion instead of facts. If we speak from a place of facts rather than emotion, people will perceive us differently, and we will not come across as angry.

BEST MOMENTS

‘The statistics say that if you're a black single mother, your children must end up on a particular trajectory. And I didn't want that for my children’

‘You can do everything right, but if you don't know someone who knows somebody who knows somebody, those doors cannot be open for you’

‘Pitch yourself as somebody that they need to know’

‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step’

EPISODE RESOURCES 

Elaine on LinkedIn

Elaine Cunningham-Walker

Elaine C Walker BSc, MSc (@elainecwalker) / Twitter

Elaine C Walker|Mentor|Speaker|Female Founder (@elainecwalker) • Instagram photos and videos

ABOUT THE GUEST 

Elaine Cunningham Walker is an award-winning educational strategist and founder of the Global Educational Consulting firm, who has been featured in Forbes. As a mother of two highly gifted children, both of whom were endorsed by Manasa after appearing on Channel Four's Child Genius series in 2015, Elaine has become a go-to consultant for parents seeking advice on how to bring out the best in their own children. Her personal experience in raising her children, and securing their admission with music and drama scholarships to top boarding schools, including St. Paul's, Eton and Harrow, has made her a specialist in bespoke educational roadmaps, tuition, and strategies to help children achieve similar success.

PODCAST DESCRIPTION

Power in Diversity Podcast is a space where professional women from diverse backgrounds, eager to grow as leaders, come to be inspired and gain wisdom from other leaders. As my guests share their journey, I hope that it will give you; an aspiring or established female leader; meaning to your journey, illuminating your path and equipping you with a greater understanding of how to carve and navigate your success pathway with greater ease. 

Power in Diversity Podcast is also designed to equip not only individuals but, crucially, organisations who must learn to create diverse and inclusive organisations practically and not merely as a tick box exercise; especially now in this ever-changing world, everyone’s diverse insight is vital to solving world issues. I hope that this podcast allows organisations to appreciate the real barriers female and ethnic minority groups face in stepping into leadership, barriers sadly I and many others have faced, and many continue to face. 

I’m proud to be British and proud of my African Heritage, my tribe, part of the Benin Empire. I feel blessed to be a woman. This is a non-judgmental space, but a space to learn and to become aware of the gifts and Power in Diversity.

ABOUT THE HOST

Dr Omo Akoje Okonkwo is a practising Cosmetic Dental Surgeon working in Private Clinics in Surrey. Her passion for empowering her patients and team led her to Transformational coaching to bring about significant change in others.  Her many skill sets and ability to motivate people quickly opened leadership roles for her, including Director of Health care Projects and Clinical Lead and Senior Tutor at the prestigious King College Dental Hospital. Along her journey, she faced numerous setbacks despite her passion, academic background and experience. 

Notwithstanding, her passion for excellence and growth led her to embark on an MBA at the Renowned Warwick Business School. Her desire to empower women steered her to conduct qualitative research exploring Gender, Leadership, and Identity. Her findings revealed what she had always sensed, the leadership labyrinth for female and ethnic minority leaders that exists. It is now Dr Omo’s mission to educate and equip individuals, organisations, and countries on the necessity, mindset, and steps to create inclusion at all levels of society.

CONTACT METHOD 

IG: https://www.instagram.com/dr.omo_uk/

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-omo-okonkwo-65b8a542/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/omo.okonkwo