Show notes
From childhood reading to feminist awakening to the brutal truth about why being yourself means refusing to let anyone's opinion control your narrative - and why the books from Madeleine Albright to Roosevelt's memoirs reveal that greats are just human beings with the same 24 hours and same organs as you proving "why not me?" is the right question, the psychological reality of self-awareness where you insult yourself so harshly that when strangers on social media try to bring you down they become mere mortals because whatever they say you've already said worse to yourself, the Rwandan minister reaching out about Women of Valor triggering imposter syndrome asking "what does this woman want?" before realizing it's the fourth year of promoting this event so it's not a big deal, and why Ghanaians are not timid - they are overly nice, overly polite, overly respectful to the point where they won't tell you your shirt is hideous to your face but will smile and say "oh yeah feel" while thinking something completely different, while the real question becomes: are you confident enough to disagree with people, to be authentic, to say no when you're exhausted, to tell a crying girl "if you're crying because I don't have time right now then cry more because I don't have the time, but if you're crying because of why you want to talk to me call me tomorrow when my brain works better," because being yourself means knowing when to set boundaries, when to say no, when to protect your energy, and when to give your number to someone who needs help and actually mean it when you say call me tomorrow at 7 a.m. and she does and you invite her over and she takes three hours in traffic from Ashiaman to sit in your living room and gulp down water because today is going to be a long day and this girl is going to unload her story just like Junior did at the first Women of Valor event when she shared how her father's friends defiled her as a child with their "mehri mehri you want to say" red flag behavior and her mother heard that story for the first time and cried and the whole room broke down and one girl in the crowd couldn't speak up because she was going through it right then and came to you after the event needing to talk.
In this raw episode of Konnected Minds, host Derrick Abaitey sits down with Nana Aba Anamoah - a powerhouse media personality and feminist who dismantles the dangerous "be humble and let people walk over you" mentality that keeps young women from setting boundaries, speaking up, and protecting their energy, revealing the exact moment when reading books from Madeleine Albright and Roosevelt made it clear that greats are human beings with the same 24 hours and same organs as you so "why not me?" is the only question that matters, when being so self-deprecating and insulting yourself harshly means nobody on social media can bring your spirit down because you've already said worse to yourself making their opinions irrelevant, when a Rwandan minister reaching out about Women of Valor triggers imposter syndrome and the panicked thought "what does this woman want, maybe somebody told her something about me" before realizing it's the fourth year of this event so it's not a big deal, when people call saying "they're writing about you on social media" and the response is "I haven't even seen what they're saying because I don't pay attention, I don't lose sleep over opinions of people who shouldn't be discussing my life," when Derek and his friends sit around discussing the worst things about Nana Aba thinking it will bring her spirit down but it actually eggs her on because she thrives on it, when the only person who can bring your spirit down is you and nobody else has that power.
When Ghanaians are called timid but the truth is they are overly nice, overly polite, overly respectful - they won't tell you your shirt is hideous to your face, they'll smile and say "oh yeah feel" while thinking something else, when that's not hypocrisy it's just being very nice people who don't want you to look bad or feel bad, when children are taught to start sentences with "please" and end with "thank you" and use magic words and be respectful, when that doesn't mean Ghanaians are timid because if you disrespect a Ghanaian you will see the real Ghanaian.
Guest: Nana Aba Anamoah
Host: Derrick Abaitey