NANA Amoako-Anin, founder and CEO of Bliss Yoga Accra, knows all about finding balance as female executive.
As a trial lawyer with the New York District Attorney’s office and as financial officer in investment banking on Wall Streets for many years, she had an exciting yet stressful life. Yoga became her best friend as she tried to find a balance between her life as an executive and her wellbeing.
Since she returned to her home country Ghana a couple of years ago, she has been encouraging others to find that balance in their life through the sport that she has practice for 18 years.
In a recent interview with She Leads Africa magazine in the Bliss Yoga Accra studio she had these five tips for executive women:
Know your own voice
“You should really understand who you are and promote that. You don’t have to change or hide or make changes to yourself based on who you are as an executive woman.
Make time for yourself
“Take time to rest that is very important.”
“(For me) Yoga is a business and I sometimes don’t forget that because I just really love this as a personal practice. But how do I relax? I just step away. Maybe I will take a week off or a day off. It’s about the small pauses that accumulate and can help you. And I think sleep is really important. It is literally the basics. It is just finding your own place to be well when you don’t feel like you are well.”
Make sure you stay with the people that really inspire you
“If there is somebody ahead of you in a foundation or in your industry that you admire, get to know them, become their friend. They could become a life long mentor or just a close friend. That happened to me.”
You really have to be careful about how much you do
“I am the type of person who likes to do a lot. And sometimes, may be you have to sit back and say to yourself, may be there is one thing you need to focus on and try to do well.”
Remember whatever you say people may repeat
“Try as much as you can to start a revolution. Make yourself known, find things that are interesting to you and say them because they may carry forward and you might help somebody or inspire them in another way. You never know.”
Nana concludes: “Live a long and healthy life and do that by just taking care of yourself. I hope people will repeat that.”