Dr. Lilian Ekpo embodies the word ‘extra’ in the much longer word ‘extraordinary’. Juggling her 8 to 6 with a family she loves and an active social life, it came as an exciting shock to learn that she has just completed her MBA at the prestigious University of Warwick, UK.
What drives her? Find out below:
Why is this achievement special?
It’s been a long time dream of mine. My desire is to help grow healthcare as a business, not just a service. The MBA is a step in that direction.
How did you juggle motherhood, work and education?
By sleeping 4hrs a night for 2 years straight!
Lol!
Seriously though, my boss helped by allowing flexible work hours and my husband and mother were fantastic. Especially in the last 7 months since I’ve had no domestic help.
This was my routine:
- Up at 4.30am/5am
- Listen to a message/worship song while making school meals for my son and breakfast/lunch for myself. Quick house cleaning if I can.
- 30am Everyone out of the house. ( My husband drops my son in school)
- At work at 8am. Leave office 5pm to pick up my son from after school care which closes at 6pm.
- 6pm till 7pm. Help my son with homework while fixing dinner/doing laundry.
- 8-8.30pm. Bedtime story/putting my son to bed. My husband and I take turns.
- Bed at 10pm/11pm.
Weekends.
- Saturday : Dust and mop floors in my house. This ends at about 10am.
- Library till 9pm.
- Sunday : Church online, library till 9pm.
What was most frustrating and exciting about the 2-year course?
The most frustrating part was the time away from my family and the lack of time to read other material apart from school books. My weekends were taken up with studying.
Most exciting was the opportunity to interact and learn from such a diverse group of experts from different fields during the MBA program.
Is there any time you wanted to quit? What stopped you or motivated you to go on?
Quit? Not in my dictionary.
With this, what’s the plan for the future?
What next? To use my skills and knowledge to grow Avon into a world class brand.
If you could advise your younger self, what would you tell her?
I used to take on a whole lot of demands from other people without regards to my personal wellbeing in the past. I have learnt to say no. It can be very liberating!
Take more time for yourself. Stop and smell the roses.
Favourite food:
Yam and my husband’s fried eggs
Favourite way to spend the weekend:
Curled up reading a book or in the cinema watching a movie
CONGRATS!!! Dr Lilian
Conratulations Dr. Ekpo!!! this is truly inspiring…well done.