Our LagosMums mum of the month is Tracy Nnanwubar. She is a super mum to three wonderful children. She is an English For Special Purposes and Communications consultant, and CEO of TheOnlineLady – a boutique English and Communications consulting firm; while wearing so many other hats…we can’t keep up! We really enjoyed talking to her. Read more about this amazing mum as she shares her passions and her motherhood experience so far.
Please tell us about yourself?
My name is Tracy Nnanwubar and I am CEO at www.theonlinelady.com – a boutique ESP (English For Special Purposes) Consulting Firm. I am en route to a Ph.D. in English Language & Communications at Trinity Western University (TWU) in Canada.
Share one unexpected thing about you?
I am a Thalassophile.
Can you share all the hats/roles that you wear?
I am a postgraduate student en route to a Ph.D.; I am a Management Consultant who deploys the English Language for special purposes e.g. written content engagements, designing learning assessments, designing teaching curriculums, and administering training programs; such as English For Academic Purposes (this project is on-going at Howbury School in Lagos), English For Business Purposes, English For Medical Purposes, English For Aviation purposes and English For Tourism purposes (this project is on-going with NLNG); I am on the board of trustees for Goge Africa Foundation; I am the Communications Coordinator for the Graduate Students Association at TWU in Canada.
Tell us about your beautiful family.
I am a super mum to three thriving children. The girl is in between and they are all under the age of 8. All of their first names start with the alphabet S (it is not my favourite alphabet … lol) because I thought the uniformity would be cool. Now that I am in that ‘future’, it is so stressful because I start calling one person’s name and the other sibling shows up!
2020 has been a year of ups and downs; what did learn through the course of the year?
To find ‘me’ in a way that I never have before. It was in 2020 that I started to go back to my happy place. I read some 100 books and I was gifted with the opportunity to spend a lot of time with myself, by myself, for the first time, since I became a mum.
Tell us about the domestic challenges that you faced
I changed nannies 13 times in 2020. I almost ran mad – at a point, I even started thinking: Maybe, I am a bad person? In the end, all I needed to fix the situation was to find the right person … and I have!
How have you grown through these challenges?
I never stopped reading. Reading was my first love as a little five-year-old girl, but I lost that love affair when I got married. Reading throughout 2020 helped me to find my own voice again as a woman – it opened up new levels of self that I am still celebrating today.
What are your goals for 2021?
To build an even stronger relationship with my children and help them see that being a Professor in the making or a Management Consultant doesn’t make me any less of a mother to them.
What has motherhood taught you about yourself?
That children don’t sabotage your happiness. Prior to my first child, this is EXACTLY what I thought.
LagosMums Mum of the Month – Tracy Nnanwubar Click To TweetWhat’s one thing you think your parents got absolutely right raising you that you would like to pass on as you bring up your own children?
They let me roam with free rein of ideas in lieu of discovering my own environment and choosing my own paths. My mother and my step-father were the best parents ever! I got to choose my life path and they scaffolded me, all the way up. I need to mention here that I was a very ‘tough’ kid to parent.
How do you balance work and parenting?
I plan my children into my schedule. I currently occupy a role that lets me work-from-home and I can travel with them when I am on ‘consulting duty’ too. Above all, their grandparents live 250 metres away from us and I have a domestic support team of 5 people.
How important is a support system for a mum? Who is in your Tribe? What kind of support do you have now?
Ha! I would be useless without my team oooo! Without my tribe of helpers, I can kiss my dreams of being an English Professor goodbye. I have a hairstylist for my daughter’s locks, a nanny, a cook who also cleans up, a young man who handles laundry, a home tutor who works with the kids after school; and of course, a driver who moves me around so I can use my hands while in transit. The kids’ three uncles also live in the same estate as us so babysitting is never a problem while I work or study.
Use one word to describe one thing that should not be missing from every home?
Love
Share one self-care tip. How do you relax and spend time on yourself?
The Spa … I am addicted to Radisson Blu’s Amani Spa.
Can you tell us how you stay stylish and your beauty routine?
I pick my own products and I do not miss my daily beauty routine. I also observe other chocolatey black sisters who are a size 10 and import any of their styles that I find intriguing. In the end, I glam up through a combination of comfort, fit, and the end ‘look’ goal.
What do you love about LagosMums?
Yetty’s “superheroine” drive in building a community for millennial mums in Lagos that actually works! I love this vibe in her tribe, I swear!
#MumGoals Trivia
N1million or more sleep?
Sleep, please.
Go on a shopping spree or all-expense-paid trip to your top destination?
All expense paid trip to Aruba
Home-schooling or traditional school?
Traditional school
A spa day or Eat out?
A spa day
Read Motherhood experiences and journeys of other mums in the Mum of The Month Category
