Meet Malaika Writer And Social Impact Consultant

We were lucky to catch up with Malaika Writer And Social Impact Consultant recently and have shared our conversation below.

Malaika, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

In a sense, I’ve had it easy because purpose has always been instinctual for me. I’ve actually wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember. It was a desire that sort of then become so fundamental to me that I was almost on autopilot as far as having purpose and all I had to do was check in every now and say, “Hey Purpose, are you still the same?” Which it was. Of course, life got more complicated and I realized the need to make a living through a more conventional type of career. I choose international development and social change — essentially, the business of trying to improve the lives of those less fortunate, or living in contexts where social services and political structures are less developed. There too, I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to have a really meaningful career, which helps in some small way to improve people’s lives, and through which I’ve been able to grow and discover new skills.

One such new “skill” is an almost insatiable desire, and some accompanying level of ability, to create things. One might assume that finds an outlet through my writing, and to some degree it does. But I’ve found over time a different purpose of building projects, even organizations, from the ground up. Put me in a new organization and before too long, if they don’t put me out before then, I’ll be scheming to marshal people, resources, and ideas towards creating some new initiative or other. It’s a purpose I’ve followed into the creation of my creativity-for-social impact consulting firm, Ignited Word. I find this type of purpose to be a double-edged sword; while I wouldn’t trade it, it means that as of now, I have no interest in ever retiring, for as long as I have the physical and mental wherewithal, because what would I do with all this restlessness? We’ll see how I feel when I get into my twilight years; I expect I’ll have a different view by then, but perhaps not a dramatically different one.

Finally, purpose for me is underlaid by my Christian faith which is unequivocal in its statements on the inherent purpose of every human being. Scripture also dictates that purpose better be directed to the betterment of your fellow human — both attending to physical need and also calling out injustice and speaking out on behalf of the oppressed. For me, this purpose is like an ongoing course where the objective is to rewire your mind and heart so that those behaviors become instinctual. Being as flawed as the next person, I find that a tall order. But the idea is to be earnest about it and to keep improving.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

Some people have neat identities. They belong to one race, or place, and they’ve only ever had one type of profession. Not me. The simple question, “Where are you from?” elicits a longer-than-average response, as I was born in Nigeria, to a Sierra Leonean and a Filipino parent and grew up in all three of those places. Imagine growing up in one place (West Africa) when your maternal relatives were over 10,000 miles away on a different continent (Asia). Then, as if that multiculturalism wasn’t enough, I emigrated to the U.S. to attend college and settled here and married an American and have traveled to over 50 countries for both personal and professional reasons.

My debut novel, Creature of Air and Still Water, deals with some of these themes of place-lessness, or, in a more positive light, the ability to be defined by more than one place, one country, or even to find an identity in the in-betweens of place and culture. I’ve known people, including a close relative, that are loyal only to their country of origin, and see a stay, even of decades, in any other place as a form of exile. I understand and respect that, But, by virtue of my very identity, I have space in my heart for more than one loyalty to kin, country and culture. The official book launch is on April 8 and I’m excited to finally have readers, as that’s the whole purpose of writing!

Through my creativity-for-social impact consulting firm Ignited Word, I’ve being able to further advance a career of internationalism and nonprofit work (both here and in the U.S.). Several of the actions of the Trump Administration, including the dismantling of USAID, have several impacted the nonprofit space in the U.S. and abroad. At my firm, we’re creating new campaigns to contribute in our own small way to helping nonprofits and their funders adapt and be creative in the space of these disruptions.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Humility — Certain personality types, like mine, set high standards and can be prone to the peculiar hubris of the high performer. If you have been used to doing better-than-average, say academically, or in a given job, it’s only a matter of time till you will find yourself out of your depth in another area or lagging your peers in a given skill. Cultivating humility helped prevent these kinds of blows from becoming crushing. When you learn that achievement is relative and that you will inevitability fail at or be bad at lots of things, it helps you develop the right mindset for the long road to success.

Imagination — I’m a slavish believer in the powers of the imagination. Having imagination is esssential for a fiction writer, however, I find the use of the imagination severely underrated in other aspects of life. Allow yourself to not only “dream big” but to dream colorfully and weirdly. Imagine three separate futures for yourself, each dramatically different from the other. If your job sucks, dream up a new job or a new version of your job that will electrify you. Imagination is a lot like panning for gold (but a lot more fun). Do it often enough and you’ll find some real nuggets that can help you out in the here and now. As one example, I actually have created my own jobs as acts of imagination and been compensated for them.

Ambition — This is tied to imagination as ambition requires some imagination. While we’re taught, rightfully so, eschew naked, ruthless ambition, there’s nothing inherently wrong with ambition, In fact, we need much more ambition dedicated towards noble causes in this world. For women especially, we’re often not supported to be ambitious in the good sense. My advice is that you are an ambitious person, check that your motives are honorable, and then own your ambition. Don’t be ashamed if you, unlike everyone else, don’t hate Mondays because it’s the start of the work week. Perhaps you’ve had ideas seething in your head all weekend and can’t wait to start working on them. Don’t be alarmed if you have intentions of having not one but two or even three careers. See them as avenues to explore yourself.

What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?

I believe it’s almost always better to go all in on your strengths. While any areas of glaring deficit should be addressed, the fact is, you’ll get better returns on your time and care when you work to be better at something you’re already good at — if that area requires a lot of skill. For example, I’ve always had some level of innate writing facility and an ear for using language. Yet it’s taken many many years, and much toil to achieve my current level of competence in writing fiction, but I have been able to get my first novel published in literary fiction, a difficult genre. I’ve never been good at math. If I’d invested that effort into math instead of writing, I”d be a mediocre mathematician today — not bad, mind you, but mediocre.

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Jay Black

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