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.
TAKING CARE OF OUR PHYSICAL WELL BEING IN THESE TIMES
Hello, my wish for you in these times is that you thrive in spite of whatever may be happening in the economy, system, etc. My conversation with Coaches Sena and Diana on this week’s episode of Mind Your Business is to help us do just that, in terms of our physical wellness. Like I mentioned
TAKING CARE OF OUR WELL BEING IN THESE TIMES | SPIRITUAL
Happy November! In Ghana, prices of many goods have doubled in just a few months. A friend in Europe says she’s paying more than double for electricity. With all these things happening, how are you doing really? Are you experiencing peace in spite of the economy, etc? For the next couple of months on Mind
FAB YOUTH CAMP | MENTOR PRESENTATION BY BARBARA ACQUAH
Hello! Are you considering upping your multiple streams of income game? Listen and get inspiration from one of our mentors at Fab Youth Camp – a woman who currently has at least 6 streams of income. It was a pleasure to have The Barbara Acquah of New Adubease aka Your Sexy Baker come and bless
FAB YOUTH CAMP | MENTOR PRESENTATION BY LAUD ANTHONY BASING
Dr. Laud Anthony Basing never seizes to inspire me! He gave a fabulous presentation during the Fab Youth Camp Mentoring Day and I’m so happy to share a bit of it. Among the many things I loved about his presentation were his curiosity and networking skills which have opened many doors for him. Please watch
MENTOR PRESENTATION BY ABIGAIL BAFFOUR AWUAH
Happy October my friend! We continue with Fab Youth Camp Mentor presentations. Abigail Baffour Awuah’s presentation was so inspiring. In this video, she shares about how she and all her siblings were talented artists when they were younger. She studied business in school and yet had a job in human resources. She had no prior
FAB YOUTH CAMP MENTOR PRESENTATION BY MRS. HANNAH HILDA EWOAME
Hiya, over the next couple of months we’ll be sharing some of the presentations from Fab Youth Camp. This is so that other youth who were not physically present can learn from the mentors. Please share with others you know. Today’s episode is the presentation from Mrs. Hannah Hilda Ewoame, an Assistant Director at the
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