By Fortunatus Ekklesiah

#MyYALIStory is primarily about networking! That's where it started, and that's how it has continued to unfold. I first learned about YALI from a connection I had made (network!!). My first application was for cohort 1, I mean who hasn't hoped to meet (network!!) with Obama!. Well, as my profile here will always live to tell, I didn't go for Cohort 1—I was waitlisted. And so I waited, admittedly longer than I thought I would have to, until I realized applications for Cohort 2 were out. I applied for Cohort 2 and got selected, but not before being selected then waitlisted in the same round! But that only became a joke we used to network with Imran.

As anyone who has been to the center knows, there is a lot to be learned from all the sessions. However, my biggest lessons in it's small and various forms came from the network of participants and it was how to create and leverage networks. I was in the Civic Leadership track, but I managed to learn things in Business & Entrepreneurship through shared resources and discussions. From the program I realized what I wanted was to structure my people development work as a business, and so I made the switch from nonprofit. The switch wasn't straightforward but the network I made helped with insights and referrals to other people (network!!). So my network really grew from the center. One prolific person who I connected with at the center was Mark McCord, the Chief of Party then. He went on to become a mentor, share resources and connect me with people who I have learned immensely from and some have connected me to paying clients.

From the center, my first corporate client was a result of the networking within the alumni chapter. That client has since remained as a repeat client and has connected me to more corporate clients. One thing I learned from my own observations during the experience at the center was that, stronger bonds are created by the genuine value we bring to each other. So that has been a principle for my relations with clients and other people. Today, my consulting business is mostly driven by repeat clients, referrals, and connections from around my network.

This lesson I have shared with various young people in my sessions. Just recently, while training youth in a leadership program by one international organization, I met a familiar young lady whose specifics I didn't quite remember. She reminded me where we met, it was during another session I was facilitating a couple of years ago (courtesy of an RLC alum). This lady was a participant in that program (a couple of years back) and had taken the lessons on networking and personal branding to heart. When she walked up to me, she introduced herself, reminded me who she was and went on to tell me that the change in the way she presented herself within her network, and the value and content she consistently shared eventually landed her an opportunity in the organization she was working with. Talk about shared fire!

I have always loved people, and believed them to be the most important resource, and #MyYALIstory is about practical ways I experienced and passed those lessons on.

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