This week’s conversation takes a different turn from our usual course. Everything that we do, needs to flow from a place of knowing, and knowing who we are. We’re all so different, and come with different strengths and abilities, and in order to unlock our highest potential, we need to go through the process of becoming aware of ourselves and living from that place.
This is not a one-step or a one-time process, but is a lifetime journey of self-discovery and intentionality. Join myself and 23-year old founder of Eudaimonia Wellness Hub,Funke Braithwaite, as she walks us through her ongoing journey. She shares so much passion for personal development,and this shows in her intentionality in pursuing it. More than anything, she wants people to takeaway that we can all do it, and do it our way. We can all tap into our guaranteed uniqueness and build lives around these that will facilitate becoming the people we’re destined to be.
Trust me, you’re going to love this one.
Rhieme: Hi Funke, thank you so much for joining us today. Can you please tell us a bit about yourself?
Funke: Hi, thank you so much for having me here, I’m really excited. I'm 23 years old, and I'm a full-time founder of my wellness hub. The aim of it is to promote African wellness on the continent. Aside from that, I’m currently preparing to do my masters in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at USC. I'm really passionate about wellness and lifestyle, content, marketing and tech. These are things that interest and drive me. My faith is a big part of my life and I use that as a compass. I believe that I'm walking out my purpose every single day, that's the why behind everything I do.
Rhieme: Thank you so much for sharing that. Could you share vision of your hub and how have you’ve been able to find the confidence to really walk in it?
Funke: I've grown up around wellness, and the wellness industry for my whole life. My mum is the founder of a 20-year Wellness business and owns a gym and spa. So, for me, wellness has always been a part of my life,it was just subconscious. It initially propelled me into starting my research and understanding what the industry looked like. I had seen it from a personal perspective but not a business perspective. So I wondered, how can we push this message forward? How can we create an environment, create a culture around wellness? When I was researching into this especially for Africa, because I am African and Nigerian, I started realising that there were just a lot of gaps, there wasn't much research into what it means to us in Africa. I knew I wanted it to have a wellness focus, but I wanted it to be for Africa. My vision with Eudaimonia is to bring it to the forefront and make it accessible. We started with content and teaching people simple ways they can be more intentional about things, whether it's the skincare routines, or how they journal. Things like how to deal with relationship issues at home or between friends. By the grace of God, we now have a physical hub. We're bridging the gap between luxury wellness and affordable intentional living.
With confidence, that's something I really struggled with. I've just placed my confidence in God. By myself, I don't think I could carry out what God has called me to do, but I trust that the confidence I have in Him is enough. Everywhere I am weak, He is my strength. Another thing, walk in faith. When you're putting one foot in front of the other, and carrying things out holding God's hand, He will prove to you at every single step that you can do it. From there, you begin to have building blocks that you can look back on.On the days that imposter syndrome tries getting in the way, I respond by saying that God did this for me before. It was such a big leap to actually make Eudaimonia a physical space. But I had to remind myself of the times where God just defied the odds when it came to me. For example, my internship at Google. Confidence also comes from trusting and taking a step. Yes, you may fail but what if you don't?
Rhieme: That’s so good. I’ll recap briefly. You mentioned your mum and how you were sort of raised in the wellness space, experienced it in a personal, affordable way but didn’t have much experience in the business side of things. You found a gap; no one was really doing what you do, and because you felt like you had the adequate resources, you decided to create a space. I'm currently in a space where I'm trying to not focus on what I can see and focus on what I believe God is saying I should do. It's funny that you mentioned that because earlier on today while reflecting, I was just thinking about how people tend to simply copy others because they’re scared to take that leap of faith. But you’ve proven otherwise–you held unto your solution and carried it out based on your experiences.
Funke: Thank you so much for even summing it up in that way. It’s so interesting to hear you explain it like that. For me, I didn’t want to do something ground-breaking, it was literally just my lived experience. I was putting forward what I needed essentially so it’s interesting to hear people say that this is so different. I also like seeing other wellness brands popping up because I feel like it's time that we as a society start understanding the importance of looking after ourselves. It shouldn't be luxury, it should be a necessity.
Rhieme: Yes! And what you said about not necessarily thinking about something ground-breaking. Sometimes we think what we’re doing has to be huge but sometimes it's not that serious at the beginning, the vision evolves as time goes on.
Funke: I feel like that's very key because this is why it's so important to walk with God. For me, it was the only way this could be possible, because I had an idea in my head of how everything was supposed to look and come to pass but God had a completely different idea. I was trying to launch quickly and then COVID hit. I couldn't do anything because every time I would want to continue the renovations, restrictions kept increasing. I was kind of defeated. But God spoke through my dad and said why don’t you start building a following and equipping people? I would listen to Emily Wise, the founder of Glossier and how she would always talk about Glossier and refer to how they already had a readership that informed a lot of their business decisions. I focused on getting a page and building a community. I didn't even know if the physical hub was going to be possible so soon. Everything fell into place and aligned with God's guidance and confirmation, that’s how I ended up here. It's very important to have that foundation because it really changed how I saw things versus how God saw things. They were miles apart.
Rhieme: That’s so important especially because we always have a timeline. You know, by this time, this is what should be happening. But we fail to realise that when we're doing it God's way, it’s not necessarily about how we want it to pan out, it’s about God’s plan. So the fact that you were able to really surrender to Him and His plan and what He wants is so beautiful to see. Maybe in the moment, you were like I really don't know what's going on. But then you thought about it and made the decision. You also touched on how you gain confidence from God on what you should do. I love how it's from God and not really people.
Funke: Yeah, I was going to say what you said about affirmation is true. I feel like that's a big hill I've had to climb. This process has taught me the importance leaving people's affirmation and applause. I’ve been quiet, on and off with social media and always keep my vision on God. I love what you said at the beginning about not looking at the reality of the situation but looking at what God has said.One way that really encouraged me was through a prophecy that I shared on my personal Instagram–someone confirmed to me that God wasn't telling me stop. He told me to stop posting on Eudaimonia’s Instagram and not engage as much. In that time, I could not sleep–the ideas were running through my mind. God would speak and He'd speak in dreams, so many ways. I feel like the way we hear from God is natural to us so don't try and follow what other people are doing or how they hear from God lean into your natural inclination.
Rhieme: Yes, so good. One phrase I keep on thinking of is from a worship session I was listening to today, and it's “just lay it down and walk away”. In the session, the person was speaking on not carrying what God's meant to carry.
Rhieme: How have you been able to pursue a path that is typically seen as unconventional and stay consistent?
Funke: So this is interesting because my path seems unconventional but in the same breath, this is an industry my mum has been in. I'm very blessed with entrepreneurial parents and grandparents. It was almost natural for me to go against the grain and not have the traditional career path. Even though I worked there, I’m not against it. My parents really believed in me, and I feel like having the traditional background I had helped me, and they gave me the motivation on how to do things properly.When it came to executing, my parents believed in my vision and most importantly God’s vision. Another encouragement is to look at people who have gone before you, they don't have to be doing the same exact thing as you.As I said, earlier I was listening to a sermon and reading founder stories, articles, and understanding the minds of people who are successful, and it all comes from this unconventional place or from this place of risk. You have to take that leap of faith. God wants to see you take that leap and, in that gap, He knows you’re going to get to the other side. I have God and He has promised me that I will have peace,I will have joy. So, even if it doesn't look like how I interpreted or imagined it, I will still have that peace and joy. I also think my personality plays a role. I like my uniqueness and I tried to lean into that because I feel like that is everyone's strength.
Like earlier, we were talking about people launching something that might be similar or copying but at the end of the day you can't even copy exactly because everyone is an individual. The way they execute may just be a little bit different. Even with me, it's not like there are no other wellness brands out there but because I have my own uniqueness inside that brand, it looks a little bit different.I feel like everyone should kind of lean into their uniqueness and make unconventionality of who you are and what you're interested in.
Rhieme: So good, and the power of having the right people around you. God can give you vision, and it's a bit vague at first, but you know it's from Him. The wrong people around you may try to kill it. Even being unconventional, I've come to realise every career path is equal. Some may think traditional paths are superior but it’s about owning your uniqueness and walking in what God wants you to do. That's what’s most important because at the end of the day, God wants us to dominate and take up space, so thank you for touching on that.
Rhieme: So, throughout this interview, you’ve spoken a lot about surrendering to God's plan for you. And I remember the Skinneeds envisioning event you touched on how there was a phase where it was just you and God. How were you able to trust the process at that point in time?
Funke: Yeah, I laughed because it wasn’t that easy. I just love God so much because He never leaves us and always gives us something to hold on to. Even in the face of distractions from the enemy or pressure to do what the world says we should, He gives us peace. I always say, God has given His peace to us. Are we walking in it? I remember the day He was like, put every single thing down and focus on me. He literally led me to Matthew 6:33, just seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be provided for you. I feel like if He's putting me in the wilderness, it’s because He wants me there, becoming who I'm supposed to be to walk in the purpose He’s set out for me. That was the first Matthew 6:33 season I acknowledged and I realised a lot, He took me to a testimony–Letitia Wright’s–about how she stopped acting for two years and focused on God fully then came out of that with Black Panther. I asked God questions like how does this look like in practice? And He was like, I want you to spend more time with Me. We fill our lives with work, responsibilities, and commitments. This was the first time in my life where I was literally doing nothing. So I was watching sermons every day, and having my journal and literally studying and understanding what it means to walk with God and build up your faith. I feel like in that season, He changed my desires from wanting to have a career or wanting to launch a brand to giving me the desire to want to seek Him. There's always going to be doubts, but that's when our faith kicks in to remember, these are the promises He’s given us, we have to write them down and hold unto them. That was enough for me in that season.
Rhieme: I was just thinking about Romans 12:2 that talks about not conforming to the patterns of the world. God really used that season to show you that it's not really about what you're doing it’s more of who you're becoming in Him. You've literally shown that you can pause.
Funke: I was really lucky honestly, and God has a special place for me because it was during lockdown where the whole world was having the same realisation. There wasn't this pressure to have the job, so I was really lucky. I will add that I feel like if it was pre-COVID my parents may not have been as understanding so I was really fortunate that this took place in my life at that time.
Rhieme: Someone said to me yesterday that God who sent you will back you. Your parents also understood the vision. Because sometimes, I think even though God may tell us something, we need to keep people in the loop otherwise it may simply look like excuses to others.
Funke: I also feel like don't even be worried about that. After that season of putting everything down, I got approached by a company I had prayed about it and felt a nudge to ask them more questions. So they got back to me and it wasn't even full time and my contract came and was less than what we had agreed. But I was like God this isn’t the salary we agreed on, so I took it back to them doubting that they’d agree. Surprisingly, they did but I had to go through that phase of looking silly for not wanting to accept a salary a bit less than what was agreed on.
Rhieme: Thank you for sharing that. You’ve emphasised the importance of holding unto the promise even if no one else can see it.
Rhieme: In your day to day then, how do you integrate wellness and managing your finances?
Funke: I'm definitely learning and I'm the type of person that makes moodboards for everything. I make lists for everything, how I want things in my life to look. For example, for my finances. I knew at the start of this year I wanted to have set financial goals. I decided that every single month no matter what I got paid, I would tithe. One thing I had to obviously do was get a business account and separate my finances. Another thing I did was build habits, like I have ways to invoice and keep track of what the business is spending. My dad is into insurance, so he always asked to see the numbers from renovation costs to business plans. I did a lot of initial planning that was very annoying and had to send my dad emails in the appropriate format. It taught me the importance of doing things properly when it comes to finance and business. All these types of structures and that mindset has helped me. I am willing to learn and intentional about learning so if I need to do the research on how to invoice properly or track my money in a business, I'll do it.
Rhieme: An overall theme you've really emphasised is learning. I know you mentioned you were listening to loads of podcasts, I love podcasts as well, and creating those systems. Even though it was your dad you gave updates to, it helped you build a system.
Funke: Yes! It taught me a lot. I'm really grateful to my parents and I'm really blessed to have parents who are so wise and have had all this experience themselves. But really, nothing was handed to me. My parents were like this is my money that I'm investing, and I need to know how to do things the right way. The truth is that at some stage, I'm going to get bigger investment and I’ll have to do a proper pitch for external investment, it's not just always going to be angel investors and family and friends. I think people actually think personal development is really boring, but it's really what I love.I didn't realise how interesting it is that I read all these books about how to become a better person and how to do things better and be more efficient and compassionate.
Rhieme: Yes, so good. I love personal development as well. It just gets to a point where I’m like you need to step up.
Funke: That’s what growth is. I was listening to a sermon, I think it was Rich Wilkerson and called What makes God angry–what makes God angry is stagnation, and he was talking about when Jesus cursed the fig tree, because it was refusing to grow and was stagnant. And I feel like, if you feel that discomfort within you–and that discomfort can be an irritation with yourself, it can be lethargy, feeling tired, it can be depression–your body's essentially telling you that the way I'm living right now, I'm not happy with this. So you, you can respond to that, and you can change that. And that means you're growing. But if you're just there and you're accepting of it, then that means you're sad and God hates that nature for us.Like, that's not what He wants for us. So, at every stage of life, we should be growing and, you know, all growth, essentially is uncomfortable in one way or another. So like, even me, I had to grow so much. And I had to shift so much to be able to launch Eudaimonia. But now a lot of things are happening that, you know, when I was doing all that shifting and all that growth, it was behind the scenes.But there's the next phase, there's growth, that's just the beginning.So there's now this other discomfort. There's this other season of maturing and growing that's currently going on so that I can bring to manifest whatever it is that God has actually spoken over the next thing I am doing so it's just too interesting. I had this nice perspective that was like okay, I've done my wilderness season, everyone keeps talking about this. I was like I did my own in 2020, how was yours? You know, just like getting the vaccine. I've done it. I've done mine, cool. I'm ready to face the world. But there's also round two of that vaccine, even round three. So understanding that growth is constant is key. So that means, you know, my Matthew 6:33 season is constant because I need to be hearing so clearly from Him, which means I need to strip back. I need to get rid of things that I enjoy, you know, idols I might have built up, opinions I might be listening to, like, it just kind of makes you strip back again. But yeah, it's just so interesting that we're just constantly evolving, and we're constantly growing and because our purpose never really ends, like we're just we're doing it until it's our time. We have to keep growing and we're not perfect. We're trying to be like Jesus, I have a long way to go till I get there, so yeah.
Rhieme: I love how you said you first had to become that person God wanted you to be before you could even produce the fruit. You had to go through all the nurturing and pruning.
Funke: Yes, like the verse I posted on my Instagram post was so important to me because I didn't want people to just see the success of what I had done. The point of that post was like, see, this is what I had to endure. Like if you want to get this, it’s not just getting and renting a space. I mean, you knock down some walls, paint a bit and put up a sign. No, actually, you need to go through the process before that. And that was very, very important for me to share.
Rhieme: I'm really big on always showing people the process because so many people are going through it. And they think if you haven't made an announcement or something, then they're lacking or they’re behind. Now with this blog, someone might ask how did you just come up with this. I didn't just come up with this. I've gone through this process. All of this is still very new to me, like even speaking to new people. This time last year, I couldn’t even speak, I would just be scared and shy. But then I obviously had to put in the work, you know, writing down what was holding me back, praying about things that were tying me down, there was still a lot of work. And even now that of course I've left that space, now that I’m here, there's even more work. The more God removes the things that are not of Him, the more you have to then step into who He wants you to be. And that's a lifetime thing.
Funke: Yes! That's why I always feel so cringe when people are like, oh, they want me to speak on something or share. Like, what you guys are seeing, you might like it, you might think it's cute, but your girl is still on the journey. But yeah, I think I've also just come to that place of like, also understanding that people are not trying to listen to perfection and the end product, they also just want to hear where you are in your journey. And, you know, I hope that whatever I say from where I am right now will bless someone where they are right now. I've learned to balance social media, like not being on it all the time, taking time away when I feel like it's overwhelming me. In fact, I was watching a video by Jenn Im, she's a YouTuber and I really love how she does like personal development and productivity type stuff and like she’s just really good vibes. She was just saying how she’s has changed her relationship with social media to the point where she only goes on when she needs to. She's a huge influencer. She spoke about time blocking for social media.I think it's really important. Even what you were saying about not conforming to the patterns of the world, I'm meant to be me and it's okay to be intentional about my feelings. Understanding myself, my identity and my value then gives me the strength and equips me to be able to make those decisions and be strong in them.
Rhieme: I love that for you. Even just finding what works for you. You have to create a life that allows that vision to really be executed as it should. I love how you're just finding what works for you. Like your life is not meant to look like anyone else's. So there are people who can spend hours on social media because that's their job, or that's what they like to do or perhaps they don’t even know what they're doing–they just do it. You’ve learned to find what works for you. When you think about it, scrolling on social media, you’re actually looking at everyone else but yourself.
Funke: It’s too much and you’re right you don't understand how it's affecting you. Every single day comes with a lot of consumption. We have to set the boundary. I'm not perfect, Give yourself grace and understand where you are and just pick yourself up. I said to my friend the other day that I'm one of the most self-aware people ever. I really take the time to understand myself and understand my weaknesses, understand the things that trigger me.
Rhieme: I think it was you that recommended a podcast by Dr Anita Philips.
Funke: Yes, I love her podcast, I just discovered it and she's so wise. I keep saying to God that I need to be able to like secure it myself like this. Like, I mean she’s a doctor. I love her content. And I feel like it's really meaty. Like, it's a lot. I feel like it's not your everyday podcast where you're like, painting your nails and listening, like you have to really be plugged in. But there's so much and the guests she has on are people that I've never even heard of. Yeah, I really enjoy it.
Rhieme: I love everything you said, especially just like, knowing when you feel a certain type of way, questioning it by asking yourself why you feel that way.
Rhieme: How were you able to start your brand in general, from raising capital to the vision board, to executing?
Funke: I’m kind of lucky because with my brand, I didn't hold back–this is my aesthetic. I just kind of made a mini me in a way and put myself into it. It stays personal in that way. My dad's friends had a look at my business plan as if it was a real thing, so they could give me feedback. Also, it’s okay not to know it all, when you’re first starting out and can’t afford a big team, I’d say invest in business coaching. I have a business coach, the company’s based in Nigeria and called WhatNextCoach.For me, it’s transformed everything. She’s really helped me on days when I want to quit, she gives me so many solutions because she has so much experience and is very affordable.
Rhieme: You’ve poured out so much. I love what you said about how everything you’ve done with Eudaimonia has come from a place of uniqueness and what you like. Also not being afraid to admit you don’t know it all. Thank you so much for joining me, it was so lovely having you.
Thanks for reading! How did you find this conversation with Funke? Did she share anything that's spoken to you personally? What would you say is your biggest takeaway? Feel free to comment down below, I can't wait to hear all about it. Before you go, check out Eudaimonia Wellness for amazing wellness experiences.
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