Last Thursday night, I spoke at the Pretoria Chapter of the Professional Speakers Association of Southern Africa (PSASA). 

For probably the first time in my life, I felt true con-fidence. I used to think confidence was a mask. It was a con. A mask you wore to appear as if you had it “all sewn up”. 

But now I realise true confidence is a dance of confiding with one’s audience and confiding with one’s readers. I have grown an identity as a writer that speaks. 

But on Thursday night I finally felt like a speaker that writes. I reflected on how much I had learnt and grown, both as a speaker and a writer.

Through all the mentorships I have received over the past six years from people across the world as well as my inner tribe in South Africa, I have evolved. They have made my growth their greatest gift to me. They saw something in me before I could see it in myself. They curated my courage and my curiosity to claim a new identity as a speaker and a writer.

On Thursday night, I shared the journey of becoming a “Soul Speaker”, an elegant, vulnerable storyteller. 

I realise the more I tell my story, the easier it gets, the more I step into “flow state”. 

Documenting the road map I had developed to create a powerful keynote was the culmination of my own long walk to freedom. 

From being a spectator in the arena of personal development – to being the gladiator in the ring itself, as a speaker and a writer. 

In the dust, bloodied, sometimes battered, but always learning. From “Worrier – always worrying about what people think – to Warrior”, a messenger of transformation.

“Ndini”, as they say in Nigeria which means “This is who I am now”.

A confider in the dance of destiny, to encourage others to dance to the song in their souls. 

That is the thing about identity. Sometimes identity finds you when you least expect it. Global storytellers touched my life six years ago. They allowed me to understand the power of words to touch lives.

Now, I live my life in stories.

“Writing made sense of my whole life. Today I am a writer who speaks. I did not write this book. This book wrote me. Writing chose me, writing healed me.” Now I choose to live a life worth writing for, a life worth writing about. I choose to step into the light.

Except from “Belonging; Finding Tribes of Meaning.”