Inspired
Glory Edozien talks Making a Difference as She Covers Guardian Woman’s Latest Issue
Glory Edozien, the founder of the Inspired by Glory Academy and 9to5chick, a career development hub, is the front cover of Guardian Woman Newspaper.
She spoke on the work she does to help mid-management female professionals access senior management positions through the teachings provided at the Inspired by Glory Academy.
Read excerpts from the interview:
On how she teaches women to become visible in their careers
Times have changed. While hard work (or rather smart work) is still extremely important, research now shows us that women can lose out on promotions and high visibility career opportunities because senior managers may not know them well or be acquainted with their work and may, therefore, underrate their job performance.
On How and why she started Inspired by Glory Academy
I honestly was tired of seeing talented women hold themselves back either due to lack of confidence, limiting beliefs and/or narrowly defined societal norms of what women are allowed to be or become. Having struggled with confidence issues myself, I never want another woman to feel she is incapable of reaching her highest potential, whatever she deems that to be. However, I must be honest, I never set out to open an academy at the start. It evolved. First from trying to discover my own passions and potential.
On the importance of mentoring women, especially those in the corporate world
While I agree that mentoring is very important for career advancement, all the research now points to the fact that women tend to be over-mentored and under-sponsored. Sponsorship is the act of a more senior well-established career professional, employing their social capital to advocate for the career advancement of someone junior to them. Sponsorship is key because it goes beyond giving career advice to actually opening doors, which the recipient may hitherto not have been aware existed, especially as many career advancement decisions happen when the individual in question is not present.
On who and what drives her
I want to make a difference. I want my life to count for something. I want to sit with my grandchildren when I am 80 and tell them stories of how their grandmother made life better for other women.
