The Esthitude Place

Slay Festival 2018 is the second edition of the yearly slay festival organized by She Leads Africa. It is an event that celebrates everything innovation and culture.

This year’s edition was my first time attending the event, last year I was in faraway Delta serving the Fatherland, I attended the event as a volunteer.

Yeah, my events game has progressed from event attendee to event blogger, to media partner, to event volunteer, and event manager (more gist on this in another post).

Slay Festival 2018 took place on the 17th of February, 2018 at Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), Lagos, Nigeria and it featured 3 main stages, tech village, experts corner, leadership circle, master classes, meet and greets with amazing speakers and facilitators like Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, Tonye Cole, Ink Eze, Bonang Matheba, and a host of other amazing people.

It was a great event with lots of motherland moguls (participants) who were there to learn, network, take pictures, etc. Of course, there were brands like Maggi, Bella Naija Style, ARM, Clinique and more there (no Samsung though), with Maggi sharing delicious bottom pot pottage and rice, I had a taste of both and they were great.

I attended Slay Festival as a volunteer, I was the Information Desk Officer; due to my task I was moving up and down trying to ensure people got directions correctly as TBS is quite big, so I couldn’t participate in most of the classes.

I gleaned some lessons from the tech village and heard some points from the money and success stage, but it was Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde session I was able to fully participate in, and it was lit.

Her session was moderated by Afua Osei, co-founder She Leads Africa, it was engaging and interesting.

Major points from her session are highlighted below:

1. As a married woman, prioritize family but take your career very seriously too.
2. Women are caregivers; however, as you take care of others, find time to take care of yourself.
3. Have a clear understanding/discussion with your spouse on issues like career, faith etc, before getting married.
4. Learn to love yourself. If you don’t love yourself, you cannot love someone else.
5. Don’t be ashamed to accept what makes you happy.
6. Find your happy place.
7. Social media is a great influence on people these days, watch how you let social media impact you. In her words, “don’t do pass yourself”.
8. Don’t live by anybody’s standard, do what you can.
9. Be confident in yourself; know who you are and what you are doing.
10. Don’t lower your standards, any man that is intimidated by you is not right for you.
11. Don’t hurry into marriage.
12. The man is the head of the family, you need to know how to be submissive. To be able to this, marry a man who is responsible, and treats you with respect.
13. Love is not enough; you need someone who is proud of you, who supports you.
14. Marriage to the wrong person can mar you forever.
15. Unashamedly follow your passion.

When asked what was next she was going into, Omotola who recently celebrated her 40th birthday, responded that she would continue with acting, activism, empowerment and she will be doing more of music too.

In all the festival was a great one, despite the hot weather, long walking distance in TBS and the late start.

Where you at Slay Festival 2018? How was it? Why was your experience? What were your favourite sessions?

P.S: My phone got spoilt few days before the event, so I couldn’t take lots of pictures😢😑. I took a few, but other pictures used in this post are from She Leads Africa Instagram page.