We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dami Babaniji a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Dami, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
Thank you for having me. It is always an honor to share my story.
As a physician, I have learned that life, like every journey, begins with an origin and ends with a destination. Our lives and shared humanity exist between one’s known date of birth and their unknown expiration date. I imagine this human life experience as a giant gift exchange party where we humans are the guests using our gifts and creativity to help each other on our respective journeys toward the grand success of this party. So, imagine a guest attending such a party with a beautifully, nicely wrapped gift, only to return home without gifting or sharing it with anyone. Pretty sad, right? That is how it can be to have a purpose and not share it with the world.
Everyone at some point in their life has asked themselves this unnerving question, ‘Why am I here? Does my life have any meaning or purpose?’. This question plagues the hearts of everyone — irrespective of race, gender, religion, faith, creed, education, sex, or socioeconomic status. Sometimes people hear the word ‘purpose’ and have this unsettling feeling because it seems so mysterious, abstract, and vague but the reality is that purpose of a thing already existed, even before it was created.
Although there are many books, self-proclaimed gurus, and how-to messages for finding one’s purpose, I believe that the purpose of a thing was determined before it ever was and can only be found where that thing was made or by whoever created it. Purpose answers the ‘Why’ question of that thing–the issue or problem it exists to solve. Simply put, the purpose of a thing is the reason it was created or designed in the first place.
I have always been all about living on purpose. I called it my LIP service (Legacy, Impact, Purpose) to the world (ironically, without any thought or reference to lipsticks at that time). I even created an Instagram page in 2019 during my medical training and named it @doctoringonpurpose to be a hub of encouragement and inspiration because I felt a deep sense and call to do that at the time.
However, the COVID pandemic brought all that to a jolting halt when I became so burned out and disillusioned that I questioned everything about my purpose, self-worth, and identity. In between work-life adjustments as a physician, wife, and mother of three young kids, physical exhaustion from long and busy shifts, high patient census, endless workload, widespread misinformation, public backlash & unappreciation of drained healthcare professionals, the emotional toll of breaking bad news every single day to devastated family members, and the worst part for me was the increasing death toll (despite our best efforts), it felt like the world was burning up and I had lost myself in the middle of it all. I slowly realized that I had somehow equated what I did with who I was, so when I didn’t particularly enjoy or feel like I was making a difference or an impact anymore, what I had worked so hard to achieve felt forced, dry, and lifeless. I felt so lost and stuck and even considered quitting medicine altogether.
But there is a saying that when you hit rock bottom, the only way is up. I completely agree.
After seeing so many COVID-related deaths, I recognized that time was my most expensive commodity and didn’t feel like I was using it well. I decided to start living a more fulfilled life by spending my time wisely and without regrets. I chose to take hold of my life and embarked on my journey of clarifying my life purpose starting with intentional self-care practices which included a lot of time in meditation, reading my Bible, prayers, and my unwavering faith in God whom I consider to be the Source of my life. My personal belief is that when God created human beings, He first started with ‘Why’ and our job is to seek to know the ‘Why’ of our lives from Him because, during life’s harrowing and unpredictable circumstances, it is our ‘why’ that allows us to endure.
I also decided to invest in professional coaching, which was a game-changer for me. I had a huge mindset shift about my life which led me on a journey of self-(re)discovery. I began exploring more of what it meant for me to live a more authentic and fulfilled life which exposed my hidden passions — one of which is to inspire women to live up to their fullest potential. It was at this point that my LIP service evolved into a lipstick brand called V.I.P. LIPPY which was launched in May 2022!
While one’s purpose is ultimately determined by the Creator, I believe it evolves in seasons. The creation of V.I.P LIPPY became another season for me, a different chapter in the storybook of my life to help other women from my own lived experience — using lipsticks as a tool and an agent of change.
You see, even as I cared for patients during the pandemic, despite the layers of personal protective gear I wore, I always had my lipstick on. It was interestingly one of the few pleasurable things that helped boost my mood, spirit, and confidence while I worked. It wasn’t really about the attractive element that lipsticks are commonly known for as no one could see it under my masks. It was something else. My lipstick had somehow become my invisible BFF and confidence booster even as I prayed silently under lipstick-stained masks.
I began to imagine a world where every woman lives intentionally to her fullest potential while using her lipstick as her confidence booster (think of what a world that would be!). I believe that this is possible but begins with addressing our limiting beliefs and shifting fixed mindsets. I am a firm believer that you are what you think and become what you speak to yourself.
I named the brand V.I.P LIPPY, which is an acronym (physicians love acronyms lol!) intending to inspire our clients whom we call “V.I.P LIPPY ladies” to clarify their life Vision, make an Impact, fulfill their Purpose, Live & Leave their Legacy, be an Inspiration, live with Passion, unlock their Potential,…and every time they apply any of our beautiful lippies, they are saying a resounding ‘Yes’ to all that! This is what makes us different from any other lipstick brand on the market.
Even the slogan below our V.I.P LIPPY logo, “purposeFULL lips” is because we believe our lips are not just for beauty but are the mouthpiece to speak into our lives and shape our destiny. The words we speak to ourselves, and others matter so this is a consciousness that we hope to instill in all our V.I.P LIPPY ladies about the power of positive self-talk, and affirmations to change mindsets.
In essence, V.I.P LIPPY is an inspirational lipstick brand designed for women who love clean beauty and a dose of hope and encouragement infused into their everyday life as they become the best version of themselves. We hope to inspire them to reveal their inner beauty while enhancing their natural, outer beauty and to change their world for good from the inside out. Think of V.I.P. LIPPY as your daily cheerleader and beauty bestie!
Bouncing back from burnout gave me clarity of vision and a sense of purpose. I always say you cannot give what you do not have. To know your purpose, you must search to discover what already lies inside of you. Finding your life purpose is one of the secrets to dispelling anxiety, depression, and fear because that sense of calling awakens one to a life of passion, fulfillment, abundance, deep satisfaction, and meaning.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you.
As a physician, it was also important for me to have a clean, nontoxic brand, so all our lip products are proudly vegan, gluten-free, paraben-free, and cruelty-free. We are also so excited to be rolling out new lipstick shades soon in our bestselling collections according to popular demand & requests as well as our new ‘fruitFULL’ lips collection which will emphasize the importance of daily self-care and rejuvenation.
To honor our pledge to spread inspiration, positivity, and encouragement, we use our beautifully designed lipsticks with inspiring lip shade names and corresponding EmpoweHER affirmation cards, coaching programs, and online courses as tools and daily reminders to help women on their respective journeys of becoming their best HER.
Our self-paced online V.I.P LIPPY courses are an avenue to help women who are interested in actively developing their potential to live and design their own V.I.P LIPPY life. These have been transformational for the ladies who have participated in it. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive! The information to enroll in the courses is listed below.
Outside of my business, I am a board-certified Internal Medicine physician that treats acutely ill patients in the hospital setting and have no plans to quit medicine anytime soon. Medicine is a part of my core and becoming an entrepreneur re-fueled my passion for it. After my burnout experience, I got passionate about physician well-being and got certified as a Physician Peer Coach to help our physician healers by creating a safe space for their well-being.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
The three would have to be God, Grit, and Grace.
These three qualities have helped me along my life journey whether it is from when I decided to go from being a registered nurse into medicine or when I evolved from medicine into entrepreneurship all the while juggling my responsibilities as a physician, mother, and wife.
Grit helped with facing my fears with courage/confidence while doing hard things even when afraid and not letting life’s challenges defeat or define me. Also, with the endurance to keep going and not give up.
Grace taught me self-compassion reminded me to be my own best friend and be kind to myself while practices good self-care habits throughout the process.
My faith in God is the glue that holds it all together. That is the core and essence of my being.
I advise anyone who is on their journey to have all three for success.
Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played an important role in your development?
The Bible – the best book ever. It is filled with so many life principles for a successful and abundant life even today. Highly recommended!
The most impactful, overarching message for me is that unconditional love is the constant language of God to humans– to love God, love others, and love ourselves.
In summary, my purpose stems from the greatest commandment God gave all humans – to love God, love other people, and love myself. So, how does that show up in my life specifically? I believe that I honor God’s ‘Why’ for me when I use my gifts, creativity, authenticity, and passion to inspire and help others to live their own abundant life. I believe that my story will encourage someone out there not to give up and to keep hope alive while pressing on. Learning how much I am loved by God helped me love myself better which led to loving others better. In the words of Karl Menninger, “Love cures people – both the ones who give it and the ones who receive it. Self-love is not opposed to the love of other people. You cannot love yourself and do yourself a favor without doing other people a favor, and vice versa.”
The greatest tragedy in life is not death but life without a purpose – Myles Munroe
Contact Info:
- Website: www.viplippy.com
- Instagram: viplippy
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/viplippy
- Other: V.I.P LIPPY courses: https://viplippylady.heymarvelous.com/
Image Credits
Yobo Photography
