Ama Duncan
Corporate Trainer | Business Coach | Author | Speaker
Welcome to my blog! Here, I share valuable content on BUSINESS & MONEY to help new women in business to plan, execute and achieve their business goals.
STAY TRUE TO YOUR 2022 RESOLUTIONS PART 2
Hello my friend, I sincerely hope 2022 is going well for you. Last week I started a 2-part series entitled Stay True To Your 2022 Goals. I explained the following points: Have 1 key focus at a time Tie goal to something bigger than you Keep goal in view Have accountability Which one of these
STAY TRUE TO YOUR 2022 RESOLUTIONS 1
Happy 2022! We have some exciting news: have you heard of our upcoming conference in Fab Hub Ashanti? Well, to commemorate International Women’s Day this year, we are hosting The International Fabulous Women’s Conference in March and calling on all our loved ones to join us. We’ll definitely share full details soon, for now, let’s
KO WAKYI KAKRA
ch a good time to retreat. I mean, even on the streets, traffic is less during this period. I wonder where…
CHRISTMAS MESSAGES
Merry Christmas my friend! I hope the season has treated you well so far. Enjoy the following messages from a few of my coaching clients: ‘This is a season of miracles. Let’s lean into and enjoy it’ Ama Mansa Amoah Kusi, Fruityluv ‘In 2022, we are all going to succeed together’ Maame Baffo, VA Baffo
HOW TO MAKE EXTRA CASH THIS CHRISTMAS
Christmas is approaching like kakai! There was a time in my life when this season was somewhat busy for me; I used to make hampers and it was very good business. Although I have chosen to take it super slow this Christmas, I thought I would share how to make extra cash this Christmas, just
YOU’RE ALREADY A ROCKSTAR
Recently I got a call from a very good friend who is in full time employment and also runs her own business. She has an opportunity to apply for another job which is exciting. She is however worried about a period on her CV in which she was solely running her own business. She asked
My Story
Dealing with low self-esteem
I was born in Sekondi to a nurse and a farmer. When I was about 5 years, we moved to Komenda, a small town in the Central Region of Ghana. Even though I was one of the best students in primary school, I always felt ‘little’ when we travelled to cities like Cape Coast, Accra and Takoradi.
I felt everyone there was more beautiful, more intelligent, spoke better English and was generally better than me. I had a similar experience in secondary school, always looking down on myself and feeling I was not good enough. Oh, how I wished I were an ‘Accra girl’ because I thought they were so cool! Yet, when my family finally moved to Accra, I still didn’t feel cool. On top of this, I didn’t even have a boyfriend! If only I could get a boyfriend, then I will be cool like the other girls… I thought.
In University, I met some really wonderful friends, some of whom were from ‘rich’ families and I thought being friends with them will make me feel cool. I didn’t. I had the opportunity to start travelling abroad, and I was certain that when I returned, I most definitely will feel cool and belong in a ‘cool girls click’. Well, I did have cool friends before and after travelling; still, I didn’t feel like I was cool and ‘there’ yet. Oh, by the way, in my third year, I finally had a real boyfriend (now my husband). Not only that, but he also lived abroad, and hence, I occasionally went to visit him, which should have made me feel cool, or? Well, guess what, I still didn’t!
Even as a career woman working in an international four-star hotel as a manager, I looked down on myself. Once my General Manager called me into his office and asked why I never came asking for a pay raise and promotion when other managers always came to him with such requests. My response was ‘I want to earn it, not ask for it’. That was a half-truth. The real reason was that I felt I was not good enough to deserve more. I convinced myself that ‘I was not there yet’. I used to look at my friends who were lawyers, doctors or pursuing something big and wished I could do that too. I also wanted to be ‘somebody’.
To make matters worse, I was just getting pregnant and fat! After having my two kids, I thought getting an MBA will make me finally feel cool and ‘important’, yet I felt no different after completion. Even with a handsome husband and two adorable kids who doted on me, I thought I had very little value. Interestingly, at various stages in my life, I would meet people who were so impressed by and thought highly of me, yet I never saw what they saw. Mostly when people even complimented me, I doubted them and thought they were just trying to be nice.
How I found my ‘cool.’
Read the rest of my story in Yarns of inspiration II