ACEVO’s first-ever week-long digital festival takes place on 16-20 November, bringing together social sector leaders to reflect, reboot, rebuild. The full programme is available on the website and in this blog series, you will get to know our speakers a little bit better.
A narrated version of this blog is available at the bottom of the page
Ndidi Okezie is the CEO of UK Youth. At #ACEVOFest, she will reflect about building the #YoungAndBlack campaign at speed, platforming the voices of those affected, logistics of working across different organisations, and lessons learnt.
How would you describe your time working from home because of lockdown in 5 words?
Surreal – Intense – Single-Minded – Rewarding
What was the best thing you did for your own well-being in the past few months?
Truthfully I haven’t been very good on this front. And it may sound odd but the best thing I could do for my wellbeing was to accept that was the way it was. I actually gave myself permission to just be razor-focused and single-minded about work. It was what I felt I needed to do and I didn’t beat myself up about not having the kind of balance that you should ideally have.
What’s the best advice you’ve been given?
Take the time to understand your “why” – and the motivation for the work you do. It will be the thing that anchors you when everything else goes crazy.
What was your favourite digital discovery this year?
Has to be Amazon’s Alexa. No idea why it took me so long to jump on the bandwagon. (Likely an inexplicable allegiance to Apple) – but Alexa has been an absolutely delightful addition to our home life!
If you had to leave a message to yourself to read a year from now, what would it be?
Ndidi, I told you that ‘this too shall pass.’ Now here you are looking back at a very strange period of life that at the time, felt like it would never make sense. I hope you did occasionally stop and reflect on the simple moments of joy along the way. Knowing you, pausing and being still was a challenge, so how about you stop and do that now.
