- This project was inspired by a post that Dr. Esther Dindi posted on her Facebook timeline.
- The publisher states that the book will have more volumes of different leadership lessons of women leaders in the country and beyond.
- The book’s release is a way to position the wisdom of women of Africa on the global platform and give credit where it is deserved.
This book and this launch is about turning seemingly ordinary people into extraordinary stories that can inspire, spotlight and encourage women to lead
Catherine Musakali, Chief Guest.
The powerful book She Leads was launched in a pompous and glamorous event at the Weston Hotel in Nairobi.
She Leads, an empowering book, has insights into women leadership and has been co-authored by 17 women leaders who have shared their stories, lessons from lived experiences and tips on how to forge ahead.
The masterpiece is published by ZionPearl Publishers.
“She leads with courage, she forges forward even when it looks smoky, she keeps going and when she arrives, she brings color, nice texture and makes it look like the journey was easy,” said Mr. Dooso Radido, the Operations and Strategy Director at Zionpearl Publishers.
Book’s background and message
Mr. Radido recollects how he was inspired by a post on social media, and the idea of creating She Leads came to mind.
“This project was inspired by a post that Dr. Esther Dindi posted on her Facebook timeline,” he remembers.
Dr. Dindi is a health and fitness enthusiast who runs a Facebook group called “Thriving Couples”.
“Dindi one day posted a beautiful photo of herself walking on the beach and captioned it she moves I knew what she was talking about but I kept wondering exactly what she was talking about,” Mr Radido continued.
He said that he kept looking at that post and got inspired, thinking about what was going on in her mind as she did the post.
“A bit of what I got from the post is that Dindi was challenging women to take charge of their lives, not play victims and make life work,” he states.
The idea was deep-rooted in his mind, and he thought about reaching out to different women who are moving things because moving is equally leading.
He then reached out to different women leaders whose individual pieces would collectively be documented as one.
“We were very intentional about the structure of the book; we wanted to create something that has a way in it so that it looks like a chama, a group of women sitting and having a conversation on leadership,” Mr. Radido explained.
Further, he stated that the intention of the project is to be able to amplify the voices of women in our midst and especially those who have been able to get into leadership spaces.
“We are interested in showcasing them because one of the things that goes on is that we keep making reference to people from other parts of the world and never quote ourselves or put names for reference,” said Mr. Radido.
Why women should lead
The Chief Guest, Catherine Musakali, the Co-founder and Chair of Women on Boards Kenya, termed leadership inherent and everyone, regardless of the position, can and should lead.
“Let us redefine leadership; we need to start seeing leadership through a different lens, a lens that positions leadership that speaks to us differently. That leadership is inherent to each and every one of us that it is not about that position but rather about you,” Ms. Musakali said.
In her words, Kenya has to become the reference point for women leaders, and mentoring others is a good step towards a bigger goal.
In the She Leads Foreword, Ms. Musakali shares where she calls for many women to read the book and be encouraged to lead through these stories.
“Taking charge and responsibility begins with women being vulnerable in sharing their lived experiences that will encourage others walking the same journey.
I congratulate each and every one of you for stepping up in moving the needle toward women’s leadership,” said the leadership guru.
Retired Major Lucy Mukuria, in her speech during the launch, stated that women who have been brought up to stand up for themselves end up standing up for others once they are in leadership spaces.
“There’s no single time a woman has had to stand up for others and they didn’t. being raised in an enabling environment allows women in leadership to be considerate and non-discriminative,” stated the co-author.
In his part, Mr. Radido stated that in areas where women have been allowed to take up leadership roles, a positive impact is evident.
He notes that even though women make up the big number demographically, their leadership representation is only 20%.
“Tapping into women has been approximated to raise KSh20-30 billion in the country’s GDP.
Therefore, we need to shift our mindsets and be more accommodative, supportive, and intentional in identifying and mining these potentials,” he stated.
A product of collaboration
The secret behind success is hidden in the golden word “collaboration”.
It is seen in the book where different women who hold different leadership positions in different and diverse areas bring together their knowledge and expertise in the book.
Mr. Radido says that the collaboration was intentional and demonstrates teamwork and cooperation.
He notes that the book is meant to make women lead by telling and learning from lessons of phenomenal women leaders to impact the world and “wake people up”.
“We need to demonstrate by way of documenting models of exceptionalism, excellence, and success by looking at people who are making it in our space.
Success stories of others wake you up, and when you get to a point where your story wakes somebody from sleep, you know you have some real legacy to be proud of,” Mr. Radido said in his address.
On her part, Ms. Musakali notes that diversity is one problem the country is struggling with.
Therefore, women lack role models to look up to in leadership. However, she called for women to give their experiences.
“This book and this launch is about turning seemingly ordinary people into extraordinary stories that can inspire, spotlight and encourage women to lead,” she said.
She encouraged the women to look at their colleagues and friends as leaders because when people start working together, great things happen.
“When we start to say that we don’t have mentors it is because we are not looking at those sitting around you as leaders,” said Ms. Musakali.
She pledged to use her leadership position collaboratively with the publisher to make the project bigger, better and international.
She Leads, the future
The publisher states that the book will have more volumes of different leadership lessons of women leaders in the country and beyond.
“The release of the book is just the beginning what they want to do. We want it to be a reference book for related school programs and speakers and most importantly, to create conversations insightful,” he said.
He further hoped that people would pick pointers, implement different strategies suggested by different authors in coaching, mentorships, and training, and use the book to spice up these programs.
Mr. Radido advised that we adopt a culture of documenting literature as it is a way to be intentional about raising the next generation of leaders and branding oneself as a global asset.
“We are interested in documenting this and positioning it on the global platform because if we don’t document our stories and talk about them openly, the world will think there’s nothing that goes on in Africa,” he said.
The book’s release is a way to position the wisdom of women of Africa on the global platform and give credit where it is deserved.
The newly released book is available in bookshops, Nuria Books Kenya, and on Amazon.
Different co-authors such as Esther Kiringa Muiruri, Grace Kaome Mukasa, Terry Kigundu, Catherine Wanjohi, Esther Katiba, Major RTD Lucy Wairimu Mukuria, Anna-Maria Mwachinga, Kush Tracey, Sandra Ochola and Prisca Motogwa attended the launch.
In conclusion, Ms. Musakali advised them not to lose sight of their goals but to put their mind on them as the universe conspires for it to happen. Women have the power to nurture and transform and create God-given duty.
She quotes the co-author Mary Wamae: “Finally, I embrace these three simple rules of life.
WE REVIEWED THE BOOK: BOOK REVIEW: She Leads: Lessons from Women Leaders
If you do not go after what you want in life, you will never get it. If you do not ask, the answer will always be no; if you do not step forward, you will always be in the same spot.”
