Your Voice Shapes Your Identity

Paula: [00:00:00] Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Chatting with the Experts where I speak with impressive women from Africa, from the Caribbean, and in the diaspora. These women are entrepreneurs and professionals, and we also speak with a few men, but they share my mission, which is to educate, encourage, and empower women globally. Today on this episode, we are going to be talking about Your Voice, Your Balance. My guest says, your voice shapes your identity. So when you speak with clarity and confidence, you define who you are and you set the standards for how others engage with you. She believes that balance is a power [00:01:00] strategy.
She is the founder and CEO of Vessels of Virtue, and she’s also an alum of the Cherie Blair Foundation, and she’s also AGIBS alumni. I always have such impressive guests. Their bios are always so… blows my mind and I know I probably haven’t touched on everything about her, but I’ll do that as soon as she joins us, which will be right now.
So welcome Precious Nyarambi to Chatting with the Experts. Thank you so much for joining us.
Precious: Thank you so much Paula. It’s an honor to be on your platform. And greetings to the audience that’s joining us from all [00:02:00] over. Thank you so much.
Paula: Absolutely. You’re very impressive. I mean, I love what you’re doing.
I know that I didn’t touch on everything because it’s oh, mind boggling. So is there anything that I left out regarding you and what you have achieved before we jump into the show?
Precious: By the grace of God, I think recently I received an award, which was anonymous for me, and I’m very grateful for it because it’s really from my country of birth. And, I was nominated as one of the women in the diaspora who are doing the little that we are doing to empower communities and , yeah, so I’m grateful for that. I think in the new year there are a lot of other new things we are implementing. We are actually inaugurating to try and enhance the women in the business front. That includes launching our own [00:03:00] insurance company. It also includes launching our own women empowerment fund. That we believe is gonna transform an average entrepreneur, particularly women and youth, to be able to implement things that are practical, that makes sense at bottom level. Yeah.
Paula: Wow. That’s impressive. Really impressive. And I guess that’s why, we are gonna be talking about Your Voice and Your Balance, why they go hand in hand, and how your voice can shape your identity. Because when you empower women.
Precious: Absolutely.
Paula: That’s so good. So let’s talk a bit about, you say your voice shapes your identity.
What do you mean by that?
Precious: I thought I could talk about something that I find to be deeply personal. Mm-hmm. Yet I universally powerful. I believe your voice is your balance. In a world that is constantly demanding us to give more from our time, our [00:04:00] energy, our presence. Many of us are busy being available, but not always being aligned. And when we lose alignment, we lose clarity. When we lose clarity, our voice softens even when our responsibility grows. Today I had a conversation with another gentleman who was telling me about how anonymously without a track record of where he is coming from or where he’s going he wants to mentor me, and I did say to him that I appreciate the offer and the opportunity, but I also don’t want to feel like I’m drowning in the voices of many other people speaking. I do have mentors already, and with all due respect, I still want to be able to hear. So the world is so loud that sometimes it can really come in and close your inner voice. And I think when you hear more of yourself as well, of course, guided by other people that speak in to your life, you are [00:05:00] able then to carry power. Not only power, but authentic power for that matter. Yeah.
Paula: Yes, yes, yes. Authentic power is absolutely necessary because, you know, you can carry power, as you correctly said, and emphasize authentic power goes a longer way. So you mentioned the personal thing, that somebody wanted to mentor you, but you realize that you have so many other, you have mentees that are already mentoring you and you don’t wanna add another voice to your head. And possibly, I guess, sometimes when we have too many voices, we can lose focus, correct?
Precious: Mm-hmm.
Paula: So that makes me think about balance. You know, you’re trying to balance things and you said it’s a personal strategy.
Precious: Yeah, it is. It is. It is. So it gives you clarity.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Precious: It [00:06:00] helps you to be focused. And it has to be clear from within as well, what it is that you’re set out to do. Because sometimes I feel like, when we allow too many voices to speak, our own becomes so diluted that we kind of like lose way. Even if a mentor comes in and nudges us. They speak to who we are on the call aligned with their experience, their expertise to help the inner person become better. Because I think we need to be aligned. We need to be whole and function from that place of completeness and wholeness , so that we are true to ourselves. And we are authentic to ourselves. And when we are true to ourselves, the world can tap into that authenticity of what we are bringing in to the world.
Paula: Absolutely. So I know you’re the founder and CEO of Vessels of Virtue. [00:07:00] Tell us more about this Vessels of Virtue.
Precious: I think one of the days when, way, way, way back, I think 2010 to be precise. I had left my home country to come and live in South Africa and I was just reading and meditating on the word of God. And I saw one of the scriptures, it’s in Isaiah, that spoke of vessels, that there are vessels that are of honor and some that are of no honor. And subconsciously when I read that part of the scripture, I felt like God was speaking to me to being one of those, you know, vessels. That will carry virtue in my lifetime. Not easy. Yes, of course. But I thought that if each one of us could carry some virtue, we can be able to make the world a better [00:08:00] place. So that’s where it started. And one way or the other, that’s how we carry ourselves even with the people that, working with us that are on board, different stakeholders is on those basis that can we carry some virtue into the world and make it a better place like a city on a hill that cannot be hidden. Let our light so shine in a way that transforms others positively one way or the other. Yeah.
Paula: Awesome. So this is based on biblical principles, obviously something that you believe in and trying
Precious: Absolutely.
Paula: Hmm. So I also noticed, or you also mentioned that you were an alumni of the Cherie Blair Foundation, and I know…
Precious: Yes.
Paula: Somewhat connects with the Vessels of Virtue, to those in the audience. Tell us about that, because from what I [00:09:00] remember, from the research I’ve done, it’s a global, nonprofit organization that’s dedicated to helping women. Am I correct?
Precious: Absolutely. , so they’ve embarked on empowering women, particularly in the African continent, to enhance leadership entrepreneurship skills. So I participated in one of their cohorts and some of the programs that they have running in Africa. And as you know, , Cherie Blair is a wife to the former prime minister of UK. So it has been an honor participating in such platforms and learning as much as I can. They’re very intentional about women empowerment, in every sense of it. Yeah.
Paula: Congratulations on being an alum of that foundation. And how does that intertwine a bit with the work you’re doing, with Vessels of Virtue? Do they, I mean, do you get funds from them? Do you [00:10:00] get advice from them? Do you get mentors from them? How does that quite work?
Precious: So you get support, but not financial as yet. You also get exposure to different stakeholders that can enhance your work. You get mentorship. You get wisdom, advice. They give that liberally without any restrictions. So, for me it’s always a good thing to learn from some of the women leading women out there who are doing outstanding work bigger than my little organization that’s doing what I’m doing. And so, you know, there is a quote that says that if you want to see far, you stand on the shoulders of giants. So I believe they are giants in the space of women empowerment and so we look up to them to be able to do things differently because it’s a terrain that comes with its own challenges. And so sometimes even when you feel like you’ve also burned out [00:11:00] from doing it, you then must glean from others that are doing it exceptionally well. You learn also how they navigated frustrations, challenges, and things like that. So, yeah. I count it a blessing that I participated in the wonderful work that they do.
Paula: I can see that they’ve been very instrumental in your business in particular, but in like I know in Africa in general, they have really helped empower women, especially in rural areas where they may not have as much support in getting educated or even awareness, just bringing awareness to those areas so that women are encouraged to move forward because when you better a woman, you are actually impacting the community in ways, a lot more ways that people sometimes, you know, understand. Women are the nurturers and typically women are the ones who bring up the children and children become the adults in the [00:12:00] community. So when you don’t have a strong female base, many times your community is not as strong as you’d like it to be.
Precious: Absolutely. Absolutely. I agree. And again, you know, when we touch on your voice, how it shapes your identity. It’s more like when your voice is more than sound. It’s how you define who you are.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Precious: When you speak with clarity, when you speak with confidence, you set the standard for how people engage with you. When you hesitate, or if I explain or shrink, the world often follows your lead. And so I believe that in some of the work that we have done, we’ve been able to champion women to be more confident, to listen to themselves, to be true to themselves, to work with their inner power, to work with the support structures that are around them. You know, it’s even an honor that I can be on this platform. It’s another woman who has created that platform for me to [00:13:00] amplify my voice, to amplify the work that I am doing, which I believe resonates with your core. I believe that your voice carries values. It carries boundaries.
Your belief in yourself and then leadership then begins the moment your voice matches your truth. Not your fear, not your past, not your need to be liked, you know? But, it begins with that moment when your voice matches your truth. So it’s important. That’s why I was speaking of that authenticity, being true to myself, being honest with myself, and then factoring in other positive attributes that other women bring into my space to make the world a better place.
Paula: I love it. I love it. I love it, Precious. And because we are all about empowering women, both you and I, is there any story if there any women in particular, you don’t need to name, you know, give names, who, when you [00:14:00] think of you could see how what you’re doing has impacted her life, impacted her family, impacted the community?
Precious: Yes, yes, yes. On so many levels. And I think that’s why I never stopped doing this even when it didn’t make sense. . I think I gave you an example of the other time, the cleaning company that we founded in 2013, how it has empowered, women over 5,000 women on jobs and predominantly from the SADC region. I also believe that figuratively it’s 5,000, but the impact is more than 5,000 because then if a woman is given a job, then she can take care of a family. So there’s a, like more of a ripple effect on that. So it’s some of those women that we empowered through the cleaning company. It’s also women that we have trained [00:15:00] through our entrepreneurship program, financial literacy program is also some of the women that we have had, when we do some of our tours internationally, that will come back and say their lives were changed for good. So I believe that would be a countless number.
I wouldn’t be able to quantify it at this stage of some of the impact that we have been able to do. And one in particular is one lady, and I believe I’ve shared this story with you, that was handed over to me when she was crossing the border, from Zimbabwe to South Africa. And then on doing that, it was an illegal trip and then she found herself abused. The time I met her, we could not even understand each other. I could see that she was in pain, but she could not communicate in a language that I understood. But with time, with love, with opportunities, we have become more like sisters. I was able to get her a job, even though she couldn’t [00:16:00] communicate with me. There was someone else who could, who took her in, gave her job, and gave her an opportunity. So it’s a number of those encounters that I’ve had with women that are coming from broken families that are trying to put food on the table, take care of their children, and when you give them a job. You have given them hope. You have given them a sustained livelihood. Yeah, so I think some of those testimonials that we receive on an ongoing basis. Yeah.
Paula: And the reason I asked you that was to give them, give more light to the work that you’re doing. Yes. You and I have spoken it probably like four or five years ago, but your work is still… It still goes on. It’s still impacting lives, still changing lives, you know, and because this is a global show. I love to highlight, you know, instances where it is not just in the Western world per se, but also in parts of [00:17:00] Africa and in the Caribbean and the diaspora on the whole, where people are doing, where women in particular are doing work that is changing communities, changing lives, and as we change lives, we change the world, obviously.
Precious: Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. And I think it is sometimes we want to give it numbers and sometimes it doesn’t have to be numbers. You know, there’s some piece that comes with knowing that I changed a life positively somewhere. I don’t know. For me, I always tell people when I go to my bed and sleep, I know I did what I could have done. And even when we are launching the new products that we are launching. I count it an honor, because I’m launching them from places of experience of what I’ve had to go through, the frustrations. You know, as an entrepreneur, we always then have to address the challenges, the frustrations that we find on our way as we are building what [00:18:00] we are building. And , I believe that the work is still there. We are the people that we are waiting for. We are the change that we want to see. We have to do what we have to do to make an impact and change, and sometimes we don’t need to have much. It’s just your willing heart to want to do something. It’s a chat that you can have with someone that will leave them empowered, that will leave them with hope, and then they are able to pick themselves up and run their own race. Yeah.
Paula: Love it. Pick themselves up and run their own race with dignity, with power, with confidence, and knowing that
Precious: absolutely.
Paula: The race they run is never for themselves. It’s for themselves. Yes. But so many others are looking to them. Looking at them, being encouraged to see what they can do.
Precious: Absolutely. And it speaks to what you even shared earlier, that the beauty of empowering a woman is that you have not just [00:19:00] empowered one, you have empowered a community. There is an African adage to that. More people then get empowered from just one woman. So you can imagine the impact when all of us collectively do what we have to do to hold another woman’s hand to say, no. This is the level where you are, but with this opportunity that’s there. I can also take you, I can open this door for you to shine, for you to get further support. Maybe I can only do so much, but here others will take over and then they can be able to empower you more. Yeah.
Paula: Yes, yes. I absolutely believe in that adage that says, you know, if you wanna go fast, go alone. But if you wanna go , far, bring others with you.
Precious: Absolutely.
Paula: Everybody brings, yes, everybody brings something to the table, you know, and collectively, we can make a change.
Precious: Absolutely. I agree.
Paula: Wow. [00:20:00] Precious, I’d like you to tell the audience if they like to get in touch with you how they can do that.
Precious: Thank you, Paula. So I am on LinkedIn. I am on Instagram. I’m on Twitter, Facebook. You can find me as Precious Nyarambi. And the organization Vessels of Virtue, those pages you’ll still find them on LinkedIn. You find them on Instagram, , Facebook and Twitter as well. Yeah. Thank you.
Paula: Thank you so much. We will drop it in the show notes for those who need, you know, to , who would like to get in touch with you. ’cause as we say, one woman can impact only so much, but collectively we can impact the world.
Precious: Absolutely.
Paula: And for those of you listening in. Just like Precious Nyarambi has been a guest on my show. If you’d [00:21:00] like to be a guest on Chatting with the Experts, I ask that you reach out to me on my website, which is chattingwiththeexperts.com. I’m also on LinkedIn on my business page called Chatting with the Experts .On Facebook, it’s also Chatting with the Experts. And on Instagram, my handle is at chat_experts_podcast. And last but absolutely not the least, we have a YouTube channel. We ask that you subscribe and like the videos that are there because it’s all about women from Africa, women from the Caribbean, and in the diaspora, empowering, educating, and encouraging women globally.
So thank you again, Precious. Patient Precious, because you I know have been doing this for some time. And now let’s open up the floor to those who joined us so that they in turn can ask you [00:22:00] even more questions and you can explain to them and let them know the work that you’re doing that is changing lives.
Thank you.