My purpose is something I have known for a while now and, daily, I work towards achieving it. When I was told to write an article about my purpose, I knew it was going to take me some time to get started on it. Yes, I have been told that I am an amazing writer, who can literally write about anything, but I have an Achilles heel, which is writing about myself. Well, here it goes.
Everyone who knows me has heard me talk about natural haircare and skincare at one point or the other. Well, my lifelong goal is to help solve healthcare and skincare problems of the skin and scalp of people of African descent using natural remedies and technology.
Now let me walk you through how I came to the realization of my lifelong goal.
Several years back when I was a little girl, I was watching the television and what I saw changed the course of my life, I saw a Paralympian win a race with prosthetic legs, and I was wowed.
That here was someone who may have thought that he doesn’t have any hope of standing again, or he was going to be disabled for life, but technology has made him whole, and he is living his best life.
There and then I said, this was what I wanted to do with my life, I want to be able to help people, especially those who thought that their disabilities will be a limitation to them, so I wanted to help ameliorate the lives of the disabled people. To make them happy and give them back their smiles.
So, I asked my family what field of study was able to help this man, they said it was medicine. Well, they were not completely wrong, but later I got to find out the field, it was called Rehabilitation Engineering, an area of specialty under Biomedical Engineering.
I think my family told me medicine because they wanted me to study it, but to be honest I am too empathetic, and I don’t like the sight of blood, I would have been an awful doctor.
So, despite being one of the best students in my secondary school, I didn’t get into the university immediately after secondary school, even though I passed the necessary exams. Nigerian schools and their politics, I guess. Then I tried again the next year, this time to the University of Benin, I got into the university, but it wasn’t the course I wanted. I didn’t stay up to a year there.
Because my family was like “You are too brilliant to study that course;” the course was fisheries and aquaculture, now don’t get me wrong, the course is a good course, but it’s not the course I wanted to get a degree in.
So my family told me to apply to another university again the upper year, but this time I had already had time to reflect on what I wanted to do, and I found out I loved both medical courses and engineering, so I went online to look for a course that encompasses my likes, and this was when I found my course Biomedical Engineering, and I remember being so excited, that I spent the whole night reading about the course, and its multiple areas of specialties, then I got to find out that what caught my attention on the television when I was a little girl was made possible by rehabilitation Engineering.
So, I decided to apply for the course, but my family couldn’t afford the private schools where it was being taught, so I had to apply to the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, (FUTO), where they offered the course as Biomedical Technology. And Thank God I got in, even my then Head of Department then in Year 1, when he saw me during clearance said he remembered my name because I topped everyone and was the first name they submitted to be admitted into the department on the merit list. This was a surprise to me, because I was sick when I wrote the exam, at the end of the day, what is for you, God will find a way to make you get it.
Now Biomedical engineering is still a relatively new course in Nigeria, even though more schools now offer it, but their curriculum is streamlined to just an aspect of the course called clinical engineering, and this is one of the reasons that I am glad I went to FUTO, as our curriculum exposed us to all aspects of the course.
So back to my story, I got into school, and put in my best because it was the course I wanted, I just told myself, no excuses Mary-Rose, when others are complaining you can’t complain because you chose this course.
To be honest my university journey wasn’t really easy because for the early and final years of my degree program I was ill or going through one health challenge or the other during my exam periods, and how I scaled through to be the best graduating student of my department, and the first female to graduate with a first class degree in my department is indeed a miracle because all I can say is that it can only be God.
During my university days I acknowledged the fact that I had a growing passion for natural hair care and skin care using natural remedies from my teen years. I experiment a lot, I like to mix different herbs and try them out. I remember it even got to a point that when I was at home from school during holidays, before you take anything from the fridge you have to ask me to identify it for you, because I put a lot of herbal mixtures in pet bottles and some of them looked like soft drinks, lol. I have got to give it to my mama, she was amazing in accommodating all my weird experiments in her home, back then when I used to be under her care. She took my “weirdness” in stride and supported me the best way she could.
Initially I was a bit confused, because I didn’t understand how I could be passionate about natural remedies, and I said I wanted to major in rehabilitation engineering. This confusion led me on a journey of further discovery. And I discovered that I could combine my course of study with my passion, but that meant I had to change specialties from rehabilitation Engineering to Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine. It was at this point that I truly discovered what I wanted to do with my life. Which is to help solve problems of the skin and scalp of Africans using natural remedies and technology.
Daily I see people mixing different stuff whose effects to them in the long run could be unknown, just because they want their skin to look a certain way. So, I want to help my people achieve what they want without any fear of side effects or adverse consequences. I want to bring health to the beauty industry using natural remedies, whose efficacy have been amplified with technology.
I know this is no easy feat, and to do this effectively well, I know I will have to go for graduate studies in my chosen area of specialty. In the meantime, I am striving to put little blocks in place to help me achieve my dreams, like starting my natural haircare and skincare blog called marynrose.com, building my personal brand online and networking with people.
Currently I am building my brand as a creative writer and storyteller, that’s because writing comes easy to me, it’s one of my innate talents, and I discovered I could make a living from it, so now I currently make a living as a writer, but that is not my final destination. Writing for me is like a vehicle that will help me get to my destination of achieving my life-long goal of establishing a natural hair care and skin care brand for Africans, made by an African.
Lessons from my story
- Sometimes rejections are blessings in disguise. When I didn’t get into the University when most of my mates were getting in, I was hurt. But God had his own plans for me, that I was able to tap into when I took time to pray for directions and reflect on what I really wanted.
- Delay is not denial, I was able to find my purpose early, because I was delayed a bit. Sadly, a lot of people are not living fulfilled lives because they haven’t discovered their purpose, they are just following the status quo of going to the university and getting a job. This is one of the reasons why most people are unhappy with their jobs.
- Take time to invest in personal development, most of the things I know now, are because I invested in my self-development. Last time I was at home, my mum said something that touched me, she said I am really happy you chose the school and course you wanted, your mindset is totally different from people your age and you think so maturely now, she said it was due to the people I exposed myself to back in the university, and that’s true; my tight clique back in school, especially in my final year, was composed of people who were all about self-development.
- Sharpen your talent, I don’t rely on my natural writing ability only, I take courses that help me get better. I am a self-taught writer who gets better at her craft daily. I have never paid money to learn how to write, but I take my time to watch free training videos on LinkedIn, Udemy, YouTube, or any other opportunity I have access to, I am all about learning and improvement.
- Don’t be afraid to speak your mind to your family. Yes, they can give suggestions, but you’re the one living your life, so if their suggestions don’t suit you, feel free to tell them what you want, and go after it with all your heart. Because at the end of the day, we regret the things we didn’t do. And do know, that you’re responsible for your life, so you can’t put the blame on anyone.
- Learn to not pay heed to what people say, because no matter what you do people will talk. So, learn to do what’s best for you. Assuming I listened to what people said, I wouldn’t have gone for what I wanted, it wasn’t easy knowing that I was one of the most intelligent students in my secondary school, yet I was going to graduate a couple of years behind them. But I am glad I followed my heart and did it anyway, because I am better and wiser for it.
- Don’t follow the crowd. That time when we all finished secondary school, everyone just wanted to get into the university, not minding the course of study, today I am glad I didn’t follow the crowd, because I knew it was just going to be a short term euphoria of getting into school quite early, versus a long term regret of studying a wrong course, and I didn’t want that, so I chose to wait to get the course I wanted, and I happy about this. Some of my former secondary classmates have even called me in the last year or two, to tell me that I was strong to do what I did, that they wished they did it too, because they regret the course they studied in school, as they can’t use it to do anything, other than to take any available jobs they can get. This is also the part where learning a skill comes in, because that skill can help to give the choices your university degree can’t give you.
- To get anything you want out of life, you have to put in the hard work and don’t forget the God factor.
It’s my utmost prayer that my story and the lessons that I have drawn from it, will be of help to someone out there. I wish you all the best in life. Thank you for reading my story.
You can connect with me on LinkedIn at Mary-Rose Ilaya. And may you have a happy forever.
