Unlocking Brilliance: A Journey to Creative Confidence
Join Kassi Kincaid engages in a compelling conversation with Dr. Ann Nwabuzor, a learning and development consultant serving as the CEO of Peace Centered Services. Dr. Nwabuzor delves into her transformative journey, initially aspiring to be an electrical engineer but ultimately finding her passion in guiding children's development.
Links from Episode:
Peace Centered Services Website
Dr. Ann & Emmanuel Nwabuzor’s Children’s Book
Transcript:
Kassi Kincaid (00:01):
Hi everyone, and welcome back to The Edge of Creativity podcast. I'm your host, Kassi Kincaid, and joined with me today is Dr. Ann Nwabuzor, learning and development consultant and CEO of Peace Centered Services. I'm so excited to have you here, Ann.
Ann Nwabuzor (00:18):
Thank you, Kassi. I'm excited to be on this wonderful, wonderful podcast today. Excited to be in your presence today, so thank you for having me and for everyone listening, thank you for tuning into as well.
Kassi Kincaid (00:32):
It is so special for me to have you here today. You have been part of my life for I think a decade, Ann.
Ann Nwabuzor (00:38):
Yes, yes.
Kassi Kincaid (00:41):
In my past life as school administrator, we have been privileged to know your family and all your four boys and to see them grow and be a part of our school. So it's really special to me to really hone in exactly on what you're doing now because you were a past college professor, you're past educator and teacher, but I'm so excited to highlight what you are doing now because it is so important and so special, and I'll let you unpack that for us.
Ann Nwabuzor (01:10):
Okay, very good. Yes, thank you. I know it's been a journey knowing you all and seeing where have come to up to this point. So like you said to your listeners, I'm a learning and development consultant for children, and basically what that entails is anything that concerns children in developing self-confidence, positive self-esteem, resilience, mindset, transformation, skills that can help these children deal and navigate challenges that come their way on a daily basis. But most importantly for me doing this work with children is trying to help them hone in on their individual gifts so that they run away with those gifts. They use those gifts to create their own compass. They'll use that compass to create the life that they see that will highlight their gifts. That's very important, that they understand their gifts, that they have value and they can bring value to this world.
(02:11):
And so that's what I do pretty much with kids. Confidence building entails all of what I just spoke about, and I notice all that through my work with children in the school space and also with my own kids. So in a nutshell, that's what I do with learning and development. So I work with, not just with children, I work with educators and training educators. So again, they're in the midst of children, and so the mindset of the educator, how they view children, how they view their work, also influences children as well. And then I also do motivational speaking too as well. So those are the three tiers of what I do as a learning and development consultant for children.
Kassi Kincaid (02:56):
That just hits home so much for me, the piece about confidence, because I feel that that is something sometimes is not taught to children. And even I know in my own adult life that I struggled with confidence and even though I was a straight A student in school, the confidence of other things, not so much just the academic piece, but the confidence of my idea with Book Days and one layer at a time, one person at a time, giving that validation and that credibility kind of helped me to grow it to what it is today. So from even coming from a not confident adult and really having to grow in that what you are doing is just so impactful to children. So it just really resonates with me in my journey and that's incredible.
Ann Nwabuzor (03:48):
Thank you.
Kassi Kincaid (03:49):
So today as we talk about creativity and impact, can you share with our listeners where your consultancy journey began and how it's progressed to where you are today?
Ann Nwabuzor (04:03):
Oh, wow. You ready for this? That's
Kassi Kincaid (04:05):
A big question.
Ann Nwabuzor (04:09):
So I've given this a lot of thoughts over the years and I have an unconventional answer, and I think it also works with this show, with the purpose and mission of your show, the edge of creativity, this answer, I think it aligns with that. And I want to say my consulting business started across the pond in Nigeria, west Africa.
(04:37):
In a mid-size cosmopolitan town called Warri. The year 1986, I was six years old. Yeah, I know I've given away my age by saying that, but six years old. It started at age six. And I said this reason because I made a monumental decision at age six. At age six, I said I wanted to become an electrical engineer. And that happened based on what I observed in my environment. I was very introspective as a child. I still am, but very, very in tune with what was going on. And at that point in time, I decided to be that because I said I associated success, respect with economic power and being in a professional field, I say, well, medicine, no, I don't like blood. No, I don't like to speak. But God has a funny way of doing things because now I speak for a profession and then engineering.
(05:40):
My personal grandfather and my dad's friend were engineers, and so they allowed me tinker with your stuff and I enjoyed it. And so I thought, Hey, engineering, it is, but what I found out along the way, I continued down that path. I made very good grades in school, but it came at a cost because at the core of who I was, I was more in tune with creative arts, social sciences, working with people that gave me joy. But then I had on this mask for so long that this is what I wanted to do. And when you're not working from your gifts, it chips at your confidence. It chips at your self-confidence, which is what it did along the way. So I made very good grades, but I always questioned myself why I was always asking questions. It says me well now, but back then I always asked questions because I didn't really understand those technical, it didn't come quickly to me.
(06:32):
I had to work extra hard tutorials. So I kept on that way through high school, came to the United States at age 16 and something really nice happened at age 16. So I'm walking you through certain experiences, not all for the sake of time. That really led to where I'm today. So at age 16, I came to the United States, started college and something beautiful happened. Maybe it's a teaching style, I don't know. I started doing even exceptionally well in school in those technical subjects. And so that reinforced that that was the part I needed to go. Professors asking me to tutor other students, I was always on the receiving end, but now they're wanting me to do that. So you can imagine confidence boost and then got invited to meet the dean because I was winning awards too. However, that visit with the dean was not what I expected because the first words that came out of his mouth that day was, you will never make it as an engineer.
(07:31):
And so it was very confusing. I know know, it was very confusing because that's not what I expected. That's not what I thought. And those were his exact words. You'll never make it as an engineer, you should consider food science or food nutrition. That is where you belong. This is not your place besides you made a B+ in trigonometry. I know you'll definitely not be an engineer. I know. So I was stunned. There's nothing wrong with food science or food nutrition, but that's not what I wanted to do. Now, B+ was not in trigonometry, but was in college algebra. And that was my first semester. I just moved from a different country and if you knew my backstory, I always made C's in math. So making a B+ and then that's one B+, and I couldn't reconcile that. But anyways, I excelled, moved to another school, and by my junior year I was failing miserably.
(08:29):
And then in my final year, I dropped out of engineering school because I was miserable. I was tired of wearing this mask. And actually I didn't want to be mediocre anymore. And I didn't think with the GPA I had, I'll get a job anyways, so I dropped out. So it was devastating for me, Kassi, in the sense that that is all I had knew that is what I had placed confidence, that is the picture. Everyone saw that I wanted to be an electrical engineer. So I didn't know who I was. I didn't know what gifts I had. So it was a process thankfully with my parents, my siblings, my faith in God and the resilience throughout that year. I didn't know I had developed that as a young child pushing, always pushing, never say, you know what? I don't understand this, but I'm going to find a way to understand.
(09:19):
So that served me well. And I got up and started honing in my gifts, my capabilities, and I found myself in the conflict resolution field. That is where I saw working with people, my creativity, my writing, everything that I enjoyed. I really saw, I grew leaps and bounds. And then from there I went into the educational space teaching, and then I had my boys. And then that is another part of my life that also led to where I'm today. So I have four boys and two of them have sensory challenges. And for me as an educator, it was a difficult time for me because yes, as an educator, but I still didn't feel like I had enough tools to help my children. And so I set out looking for different things. And then I remembered as an educator, when I brought in those conflict resolution skills into the classroom, I saw what it did to the children.
(10:24):
They had the better self image confidence, they had better relationships with their own classmates, empathy, and they had tools to help them deal with challenges. And so I channeled that into working with my children. And then after Covid, post covid during the Covid era and seeing what was going on in the world, the CDC, asking for preventative solutions, then I decided the gaps that I saw in education working with my children, what confidence building self-esteem and positive self-esteem can do for children, that those are skills that need to be part of their everyday life. I decided to start looking for programs to create programs and to have existing programs to help children build positive self-esteem and to hone in on their gifts to see that they have value and most importantly, if they have ever run into their unfortunate situation that I found myself in through with an adult or a peer, they have the tools, they know what to say, they know how to bounce back. And starting at the younger age is always the best. And that's why I focus from age six to twelve, the impressionable ages where children soak in things like sponges. That's my journey, all the up to now monumental experiences that led to where I'm today.
Kassi Kincaid (11:57):
Wow. Ann, that is just so inspiring. Your whole journey, and I love how it started with you and you saw the need that you wish you had, those kind of confidence building in your life and how you wanted to give that to your boys and really out of your personal life, you really saw the need to give that to other people. And that is just so inspiring and how you're wanting to give back to the community in that way. I know as an educator myself, seeing it's not just all about the academics and I love how you touch on that so beautifully that it's all about the character building behind it that people can make such great grades and then not know how to feel or express themselves in failures. We all have successes and we all have failures. And you teach how to really hone in on both. The failures are not everything and successes, we can celebrate them, but they're not everything either. And just the confidence of growth and I absolutely love that. So switching gears just a little bit, how do you use creativity in your home life and in your work life? And just a few examples. I know we could be here all day because you are such a creative person in everything you do, but what would some of those things look like in your life?
Ann Nwabuzor (13:32):
Oh, in my home life. So what I found that has really helped is I've honed in, I've brought in all experiences that I have had along the way, being a part of a family of five, growing up, having brothers because I have boys, how they played, what they enjoyed, how they learned. So I was in glee club from elementary school to high school. And so I used to find out my kids' learning styles. I would do write drama pieces, singing. I brought in my engineering experience routine, schedule experiments. But one of the other things that has worked most along the way, if you're talking about creatively keeping my children, getting their attention, keeping them in tune with themselves and bringing out their gifts and bringing out information from them to learn and to help them is spending quality time with them. One-on-one or in a group setting and how have I done this?
(14:34):
Reading books, I let other things do the heavy lifting for me and all the way up to now I had that as a child. My parents were great storytellers. Even if they didn't read from books, they could fabricate stories. I'll use books to teach about challenges that they're going through and they're able to identify and things that happened to them that we have not talked about before came out from them because they were comfortable. They didn't feel that they were the target. And then we listened to podcasts. I'm telling you, I've been trying to get them to clean my car for years. And in the podcast, my 5-year-old said, well, this person said that if we clean, do this for 90 days, it becomes a habit. How about now? I was on I 35 and I promise you I've never do this. I almost had whiplash.
(15:21):
I told him that. I'm like, you said what? Yeah, I'm going to tell my brothers that we need to clean the car and then we can set goals for one week, maybe two weeks. I said, where did you hear this? Say? Well, the podcast, there's a lady that would like to listen to Terry. She said, she said it on the podcast. I said, you know what? I don't care who said it, but you're going to do it. That's fine. And we set a goal and they have been reaching those milestones. So things like that. I use lots of charts, kindness charts, gratitude charts, because we go through times at home where they are setting things that they're struggling with and how can I do it in such a way which I found are not punitive, but they can also learn and that mistakes are okay. And that's why I drum into them. It's okay if you made a mistake, it's how you handle coming back from the mistake. What do you do if you did something to somebody? What do you say? And them as well. So I use everything as a teaching moment, which they don't see, but then they're getting it. But then that's the most important key I've gotten success as a parent.
Kassi Kincaid (16:31):
That's incredible. And I love that you really use their creativity and you twist it with your own creative spin for a positive outcome.
Ann Nwabuzor (16:43):
Yes, yes, yes,
Kassi Kincaid (16:45):
What are some of the ways in the way you consult, what is one example of creativity in your business?
Ann Nwabuzor (16:56):
So in my business with the program that I use, one thing that I really like aside from using stories which I just described with my children, is doing hands-on activities. Because children learn, they make that connection between their hands, just like pen to paper when you're writing. They make that connection. And so that has had great success with that because they're able to remember, use that as momentos of what we have talked about in the lesson, and they reference that even if sometimes they can't remember the exact topic, what they can do, like, oh, we made a gratitude jar. And in there I have to put slips off things I'm grateful for every day and I can take it out. And then we can now talk back to why we talked about the gratitude jar. So that has been exceptionally well received in the program working with children. So that's one example.
Kassi Kincaid (17:57):
I love how you mentioned that because especially the work you do, a lot of it is virtual. Is that correct?
Ann Nwabuzor (18:02):
Yes. Most of it is virtual.
Kassi Kincaid (18:05):
So a lot of what you do is virtual meetings and for people that maybe are trying to visually kind of grasp what you do, I really loved having family members in your consultancy business. It has been really awesome to see their progress. And I love that you mentioned you do the hands-on piece. That is just so brilliant to me. Even though they're virtual meetings, a majority of them, you're giving them the tools that they can do there at home. And they don't necessarily have to be looking at you, kind of like we expect in school that they doodling or doing things, the things that you give them and their hearing and their learning. And I love how you don't require that to pay attention or anything like that. But it's about more about their hearing and their processing and the hands-on piece. And I don't think anybody else rivals you at all. And in this niche. And how you have set up the success for your program. So wrapping up, how has the use of creativity in the ways that you just described made an impact?
Ann Nwabuzor (19:17):
Oh goodness. I almost got teary-eyed. So I'll start even with my family and then I'll move out broader. So impact. So my desire always has always been, like I said, I've always had the heart of people working with people and to impact the world. I see it as starting with the child, the child as an entryway for all of that. Because if you impact the child, you impact the family. And then what happens, the family goes out and impacts other people. So starting with the child, so even using my son as an example, my son Emmanuel wrote a book, he's nine. And that took close to five years for that to come about because of my own fears. And I can say by honing in on his gifts, his creative, realizing at a young age, age and then actually going ahead to do what I did, to do what we did to bring out this book, our relationship has forever changed even for the better.
(20:28):
Wow. The way, yes, that's huge. That has just been huge. And he actually told me, and I'm holding it together, he actually told me, he said, thank you for all this coaching. I've seen what he has done. I'm trying to paraphrase what he said. I've seen what he has done for me in my life and I wouldn't have been able to do this book too, if not that you had been coaching me. So seeing that, how that he responds even to his brother, to everyone else, our relationship, how he has just blossomed, the confidence, his naturally confident person, but it's just different. There's a softer edge. Let me put it that way to him. And that's the impact. And that's how it has transformed the family life and transformed the way he sees other people. And in the same way with the children I have worked with and the families, you see parents who are worried, I'm a parent and I know when my child needs something, that I'll do whatever I can to make sure that they're okay.
(21:30):
And so when parents come to me looking for those solutions, they are at their last end, wits end looking for something and then seeing how when they go through the process, go through the program, the child becoming more confident, the way the parents respond, coming back to seeing the changes that are happening in the family and how that's translating into the school. That is impact starting with children. Our children are our tomorrow, our future. So if we get them young, if you start them young now with these tools, confidence building, resilience building, I can do this. I can stretch. I succeeded. Oh, this didn't work out, but that's okay. I know that you building their mindset. Yeah, you are strengthening their mindset. My whole thing is that, and I tell my children, I want it to be that your mindset is your greatest asset, calm, whatever happens, you're solid, you'll still move. And that is what I do. I want to say I believe, and I know from my work with my children and with other children that I have learned how to see them, how to hear them, and how to validate them. That is what children want to be seen, to be heard and to be validated. That's my mission that every child, one single child will never ever feel that their ideas or who they are will ever be invalidated and no one should be.
Kassi Kincaid (23:08):
I love that Ann, and the testimony from you are such an amazing mom, and you have always been such an amazing mom. I have to love seeing how you interact with your kids even years ago as an administrator. And I love how you bring everything that you're doing professionally and your mom hat and just seeing it come together in the lives of your own kids. You are making such an incredible impact. And I love how, because to me, it's always family first. If everything in the family needs to be thriving, and then from there we can do outreach and impact. And you are such a great example of that, and I love how you finished with kids being seen, heard, and validated, and I feel that even every adult needs that as well. And so that mission is just incredible. You are doing such amazing work in the community and even just all over the world. Ann, it has been such a pleasure to have you here today.
Ann Nwabuzor (24:12):
Thank you. It's been my pleasure. And thank you so much for having me and helping me spread this message to others. Well, I really appreciate it.
Kassi Kincaid (24:20):
Thanks so much for joining us for this episode on The Edge of Creativity podcast. Be sure to follow so you don't miss any of our upcoming conversations. We'll see you next time.
