2023: More than words
… the year of evidence.
This year feels like a movie, you know one of those movies where right off the bat, it was fast-paced, it felt like you know how it would end but there was a brief intermission and a shocker you never expected. This is the overview of my year. I started the year with work, I was thrown into a sprint in the first week of the year, meeting with customers, trying to make sense of ‘continuous value’ but beyond that, I was already tired. I know, the year just started but I was really over it at the very beginning but one thing was constant ‘putting in the work’!
The initial title of my year in review was ‘The Year of Evidences’ and this new one sprung up after reflecting on how much I showed up and showed out. I realized my year has been ‘more than words’, I realized I consistently put in the work as a product manager, as a web designer, as a friend, as a sibling, as a daughter, and as myself — it has been a year of ‘I said I would do that and I did that!
Quarter 1: Finding my foot
The year started with some major work deliverables to deliver, navigating the intriguing world of ‘shipping a product’ that actual people will use, this was my first experience of ‘producting’ in its glory. The moment went from ‘What the hell did I get myself into’ to ‘So I am this good?’. This sprint had to be the one where I proved myself as an asset at work and one of my major highlights was delivering the product to our customers. I was at the frontline, defined the product specs, led the development with my team and we delivered it. The product was adopted by an enterprise, reducing paper trails in their operation process. So yes, I did that!!
From the beginning of the year, I shocked myself with the quality of work I delivered as a product manager and as a web designer delivering projects for both local and international clients and my rate card increased at this point. I took my first professional headshot courtesy of work for #IWD2023, they’re my favorite pictures this year — they made a lot of features on flyers of tech events I was invited to speak at. And in Q1 I spoke at 3 tech events about product management.
Of course, there were doubts and the occasional bouts of depression and imposter syndrome but I learned to deal with it better as I paid more attention to myself going into the new year.
Quarter 2: Understanding My Being
Going into quarter two, I was more conscious about myself, I took care of myself, and started getting myself the things I wanted — some big girl buys here and there. It was rather slow for me because I had a little break from work and had some exams to do. I did some resting while at it too.
For the first time, I set up my workspace, I got an ergonomic chair and had a desk made for me. I started proper skincare lol and my skin is thanking me for this very moment. My mentorship program with the awesome Ms. Mena, a product manager at Booking.com by Tech4Dev kicked off in June. Delivered more awesome websites for my clients, spoke at more tech events, and participated in my first hackathon — Women Build Celo Hackathon.
I shared more often on social media and started to build my brand about being a product manager, I continued sharing my product journey, shared product management content, and released the Product Manager Toolkit — a library of resources for aspiring product managers.
Quarter 3: Actualizing my being
The 3rd quarter marked the start of my year literally, I went on a camping trip in July and ensured to engaged in all of the activities at the camp — I swam in the ocean and this is for someone that can barely swim haha, built a camp house with my team, went hiking to the beach, led a dance group, made new friends, partied with my new friends, and ended the camping trip with a merit certificate. Again, I did that!!
I joined a new firm as a technical product manager and this came with new responsibilities and more work haha. Now my experience as a dev is been leveraged more as I interpret customers’ needs into technical concepts and break them down for my non-technical team members. I also interfaced with 3rd parties service providers about integrations and I enjoyed every bit of it.
I had to deliver new products and a key partnership at work and began the journey in Q3, this had to be the most hectic thing I had to do all year, I survived the longest and never-ending email thread of my life, it seemed like the back and forth was never going to end at some point. I always say I have the best team in the world because work comes easy working with them.
I have always wanted to volunteer and got an opportunity to join an NGO targeted at empowering women as a web design facilitator. I knew I wanted to do more and I am happy more volunteering opportunities came in Q4.
My birthday this year came with more clarity about the things that mattered to me, I realized this journey called life isn’t a race but a marathon. I was a happy birthday girl and enjoyed every bit of my day!!! I became my navigator and didn’t forget the fun of life while at it. Q3 tested me but I survived and didn’t burn out, this to me is a big deal.
Quarter 4: Let There Be Evidence
October started with celebrating a major milestone at work — delivering 1b naira to our customers and continued with the endless partnership back and forth, it started with more refining and iteration, and it started with the need to provide evidence!!!
Sometime in November, the partnership was finalized and alas, I was able to breathe easy. The funny thing? The actual journey has just begun and I am excited about what the future holds.
I was nominated as the Most Promising Product Manager for this year’s No Code Tech Awards by No-code Tech Summit and I won!!! This was a very tough category as the other nominees were very talented PMs I learn from. This has been a major highlight this year and one for the books. It serves as a reminder that my hard work is not going unnoticed. I am once again grateful to everyone who took the time to vote for me.
This year, I attended my first Google DevFest Lagos as a volunteer!!! I worked on the speaker support team with amazing people and we were responsible for taking care of the speakers, ensuring that their slides were available and ready, and ensuring that they were able to locate their session rooms. I also helped out the other teams, the important thing was ensuring that the event was a success and it was.
I also volunteered on the Google DevFest Lagos Student Edition team as the lead product manager, I worked with a team of talented engineers, designers, content writers, social media managers, and product managers to deliver the first-ever Google DevFest Lagos SE website.
On LinkedIn, I became a top product management voice and a top product development voice. I spoke at 9 tech events about product management, I was featured on two tech community blogs — Contech Africa and Tech4Dev where I shared my tech transition story, and I stayed consistent at the gym all year long yet again.
I implemented 10+ websites for both local and international clients and x10 my salary at the beginning of the year in Q4. Looking back at the sessions we had with our mentor, Mena, I had set out some goals for the year and one was my finances which I smashed and was able to achieve.
Above all, I was able to help over 50+ newbie product managers get started in product management and was consistent with managing a Product management community — Product Buddies of over 500+ entry-level and junior PMs. It still feels surreal that these things happened this year!! My year was more than words, it was the year of doing and delivering.
2024: The year of Greatness yet to come
I am thankful for what 2023 brought my way, for the ‘doings’, for the ability to deliver, and for the gift of community, friends, and family. This year has been a reward for the Ls I took in 2022 and I am grateful for the lessons I took away from that experience.
Like my friend said “You did that, baby girl!”
2024 is about to be the year of greatness, if you think you’ve heard about Florence, be ready to hear more about her greatness, and if you haven’t heard about her? Consider this an introduction. The goal is to be in the top 1% remembering that this isn’t a race but a marathon, the journey is never-ending and there’s always room for growth and improvement.
Go after what you want, show up and show out, learn from your failures, leverage that opportunity, and remember to be your navigator but never lose sight of the fun of life. I wish everyone all the strength and love they need on their journey.
Happy New Year and welcome to the start of a beautiful year 💜
