Adaeze Iloeje-Udeogalanya is the founder of African Women in STEM. In her TEDx talk, she made the case that cultural identity is the key to unlocking success in STEM. This time, the conversation goes somewhere she's never taken it publicly before.
At three years old, growing up in Nigeria, she picked up a book and read it out loud to a stranger, just to be seen. That instinct stuck with her. By ten, she was leaving her house at five fifteen in the morning, walking thirty minutes to make six a.m. mass, already certain she'd build a school that took a child from infancy through college.
Then she got to corporate America. A boss told her he didn't want to babysit her. People told her she couldn't, she wouldn't, she shouldn't. So she did something she hadn't done before. She went quiet.
This episode is about what happens when a mind runs unsupervised, and what it costs to build a story about someone before they've finished saying hello.
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CHAPTERS
00:00 The theme is Unsupervised
00:27 The signature question: age ten to twelve
00:53 Nigeria, primary five, and skipping a grade
01:20 Waking at 5:15 AM to walk to six a.m. mass, alone, at ten
02:36 Opinionated, fearless, and certain she could conquer the world
03:24 The orphanage visit that planted a school she never built
04:31 Reading at three, and the day a stranger found out
05:56 "Somebody saw me"
06:42 Big dreams, the "why" her father always asked, and a life fully planned
07:57 Corporate America enters the story
09:08 The company newsletter, and "I don't want to have to babysit you"
09:56 Going quiet to protect herself, until she didn't recognize her own face
10:19 The oil and gas pipeline field, and the guys who didn't care about politics
12:08 The system-and-culture bridge: her TEDx talk on cultural identity in STEM
12:58 The existential crisis, and losing every plan she'd ever made
13:24 The Christmas cards, and "what's your angle?"
15:43 "This has to change. I have lost myself."
16:19 Into the maxim game
16:45 Maxim 1: An unsupervised mind decides what's true without asking permission
18:50 Maxim 2: A story doesn't need to be true, just someone willing to repeat it
22:46 Why STEM, and her father's quiet influence
23:26 Wanting to be an astronaut, then a botanist, then an engineer on purpose
25:43 Girls in STEM, the stereotypes that start at six, and building her own culture
28:05 Traveling to the future: total self-expression, systems built to hold the rest
29:45 Hiring people, paying people, and sharing in what they love
30:18 "Success comes in cans, not in cannots"
30:48 Maxim: you can build a verdict about someone before they finish saying hello
35:06 The tabling story: "are you African?"
38:22 Maxim: two people can watch the same ten seconds and each leave certain
38:51 Unconscious bias, culture as belief, and not understanding racism for 15 years
40:15 Seth Godin's definition of culture, and changing the system by changing the culture
47:04 Recommended reading and why
01:03:02 A tool that's been a game changer: Claude
01:04:47 The community she's found real value in: her own
01:06:49 Mount Rushmore: three to five people who shaped her, no family
01:11:10 Her biggest takeaway: letting the mind loose, unsupervised
01:12:12 A message for the people following her journey
01:13:54 Closing
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REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE
Original TEDx Talk: "Cultural Identity is Key to Unlock Success in STEM" | Adaeze Iloeje-Udeogalanya | TEDxDilworthPark
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYcVJJKBQrY
Seth Godin's definition of culture: "how we do things around here"
"Success comes in cans, not in cannots" — a saying from Asher's coach, Joe Weldon
An African proverb: "Until the lion learns to write, the hunter will always be the victor"
"Humans don't run on truth, we run on shared stories. Whoever controls the story controls the species." — read by Asher during the conversation, source not independently confirmed
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BOOKS MENTIONED
I Am My Brand — Kubi Springer — https://amzn.to/45MuDjE
We Should All Be Millionaires — Rachel Rodgers — https://amzn.to/4whqRd7
A Girl Is a Body of Water — Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi — https://amzn.to/3RWnVEs
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CONNECT WITH ADAEZE ILOEJE-UDEOGALANYA
Instagram (personal): https://www.instagram.com/theimpactsage
Instagram (African Women in STEM): https://www.instagram.com/africanwomenin_stem
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adaeze-iloeje-udeogalanya
Website: https://africanwomeninstem.com
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CONNECT WITH ASHER WRIGHT
Memoirs to Millions: https://memoirstomillions.com
Life Changing Wisdom Marketplace: https://lifechangingwisdom.com
Weekly Intel Newsletter: https://m2mweeklyintel.com
100 Books That Changed How I Think: https://asheralbertwright.com/1000bookchallenge
Free Memoir Strategy Call: https://api.leadconnectorhq.com/widget/bookings/memoirs
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/asher-wright-310731227
Facebook: https://facebook.com/lcwforu
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ABOUT MEMOIRS TO MILLIONS
Asher Wright is a 22-year US Army veteran, Jamaican immigrant, and 7x published author. He helps veterans, immigrants, and entrepreneurs turn their life stories into published books that build authority and income.
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MUSIC CREDIT
'Life In Motion' by Scott Buckley — released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au
