Exclusive Trusted Magazine Q&A with Bwalya Mukupo, Freelance Social Media Marketer @ Zamtouch digital agence
How could you describe your career path in few words ?
I would describe my career path as very challenging, uplifting and knowledgeable.
Being a lady, sometimes we are faced with a lot of discrimination from society. We tend to be restricted in what we can do so being a lady and working on my own, I've had to understand that there are times I just have to pick up myself and close my ears to naysayers.
I have always believed that there's always a way to achieve something and so I had to find that way. I had to open my own path, listenin to what was more positive than what was negative. Otherwise, I would. I would have been trampled upon by my own thoughts and my own negativity.
Finding the best alternatives to offering my services as a new person in the industry, where a lot of experienced people are ahead of you is quite devastating.
What was your most challenging experience and it has changed your mindset ?
My most challenging experience, and one I think I would never forget is 2020, after we got hit by the COVID 19 pandemic breakout. It really taught me a huge lesson. Sometimes we get so comfortable that we do not anticipate Unforeseen circumstances that may come and get so comfortable in what we're doing without realizing.
In 2019 I had got a good job with a mining engineering firm, working as an administrative assistant. But just a few months later COVID-19 broke out and I had to be laid back. So how was I now to handle society with the without employment now? That was now up to me.
Was I going to stay hungry? Was I going to remain sorry for myself? Was I going to keep on wondering what exactly is going on? Or did I have to change? There was a lot going on in my mind, but one thing that I knew was that I had to change. I had to change my mindset. I had to do something.
And that is exactly what I did. I sat down and researched businesses I could dive in at the time, and found that digital marketing was trending. So I decided to niche down into social media marketing learn what I could, taking upto 5 months. copywriting? I had to make sure I understood everything, at the same time start earning income.
It was really difficult for me because I needed money and need clients quickly. But how I was going to pull through amongst experienced digital marketers was another issue.
I gave up a number of times but this experience really changed my life in the manner that I now had to open all my eyes, not just one. I had to think outside the box. I believed in my strengths and put an ear shut to all negativity and soon things started falling into place. I'm grateful I didn't give up.
When you get surprised by unusual or uncertain context, what do you think ?
When I come across an unusual context, I first understand their may be different views over it.
I may have a different opinion from others and people always tend to have a message that they need to spread across. So I will not proceed to judge and give my opinion. But first I would try to understand what it is going on. Why is it happening? Who put it up and where is it going?. Because if I am quick to just put my opinion out there to saying "this how this should be done instead", I lose the opportunity to learn and stand a risk being judged as well.
So I have to put an ear out and take the opinion of others too, to see what they understand of what is going on and then when I get several answeres, I will then try to link up the pieces which I can only express when my view is requested ofcourse.
Based on your experience, what’s the key success factor for a female leader / manager ?
I feel the number one factor for success as a female leader and also as just any female that's trying to work it out, is not to drive emotions into your goals. You will not reach far.
You have to think, as the men do, you have to put yourself in their shoes. Why are they moving forward? You see, when you look at men, they have a mindset that does not lag.They think ahead and put all distractions after their goals.
But as females we mostly find ourselves putting a lot of emotional stuff at the center of our success and our careers, and that should end, as a female leader, you have to have thick skin. You have to understand that you are capable of doing all that a man can do.We have equal opportunities and equal rights as men and women, we have to take advantage of that.
And as women too, we have to hold each other down. Yes support may come in less but we should aim to make every woman understand that we are creating paths for all of us present and the generations to come.
We can do what a man can do.There are alot of things that we can do. So as woman thats what you need to know, you need to put aside emotions. You have to understand that there are times that you that you will be required to take the a stand. If you are prepared to be that leader, you have to be prepared to be in the same place with that great man.You have to oversee everything that the man is doing and you do it too. If you want to be at the top, do not over undervalue self. Do not put yourself down. You are amazing and do not ever think that you're any less of a person.
