Meet Odera Macfoy Akachukwu

We were lucky to catch up with Odera Macfoy Akachukwu recently and have shared our conversation below.

Odera, thank you so much for joining us. You are such a positive person and it’s something we really admire and so we wanted to start by asking you where you think your optimism comes from?

My optimism wasn’t handed to me. It was forged.

I grew up in a world where nothing was guaranteed, where you learned early that life doesn’t owe you fairness. But somewhere in all of that, I realized something important. If I allowed my environment to define me, I would never rise above it. So I decided not to pretend everything was perfect, but to believe that everything could change if I changed first.

My optimism comes from watching impossible moments break open into opportunity.
It comes from the nights when I had more ideas than money, but I kept building anyway.
It comes from the days when life hit me hard, yet I still woke up the next morning and chose to try again.

A lot of people think optimism is just positive thinking. For me, it’s discipline. It’s a habit. It’s a spiritual posture. It’s knowing that God doesn’t waste pain. Every setback I’ve survived sharpened something in me. Every closed door redirected me to a better one. Every loss matured me. Every win proved that patience pays.

My optimism is rooted in identity.
When you know who you are, you stop negotiating with doubt.
You stop over-explaining your vision.
You stop shrinking.

I carry that into everything I build as a founder, a father, a husband. StayLyte exists because I believed in a version of myself I had not yet met. The Wellsourse exists because I know men can rise again, even from the lowest places. I’m living proof that broken pieces can become building blocks when you stop seeing yourself as a victim of life and start seeing yourself as a steward of purpose.

So where does my optimism come from?
It comes from battle scars, from faith, from resilience that didn’t come easy, and from the quiet confidence that tomorrow will always reward the man who refuses to stay down today.

That’s my source.

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?

My work today sits between two powerful forces shaping modern culture: wellness and identity. I am the Founder and CEO of StayLyte, a functional hydration company built for high performing people who need clarity and stability, not overstimulation. I am also the founder of The Wellsourse, a platform focused on male formation and leadership development. These two areas may look separate, but they are deeply connected.

StayLyte began with a simple observation. People are tired. Not because of nightlife, but because of life itself. Long workweeks, rising responsibilities, and the pressure to perform on every level. When we first launched, we positioned the brand around nightlife culture. But our data corrected us quickly. Our repeat customers were not festival crowds. They were entrepreneurs, fathers, professionals, creators, and builders looking for clean, functional hydration they could trust every day.

That insight pushed us to evolve. We reformulated the product completely. We reduced caffeine to a natural trace amount and added ingredients that support calm focus, cognitive performance, and mood balance.

This shift from party Hydration to functional clarity has opened a new world of opportunities. Wellness retail. Corporate partnerships. Gyms. Co-working environments. People are not chasing stimulation anymore. They want performance that lasts. They want to be present at work and present at home. That is the StayLyte consumer.

At the same time, I am building The Wellsourse, an environment focused on the internal well-being of men who operate in high-pressure settings. It is a formation system that supports clarity, identity, emotional stability, and discipline. Over time, we have discovered something powerful. Many of the people drinking StayLyte are also seeking the type of inner grounding The Wellsourse provides. Performance and identity are not separate. They fuel each other.

For that reason, we structured StayLyte as an impact-centered business. Ten percent of all profits fund identity and family restoration work through The Wellsourse. This is not charity. It is strategic. Stronger individuals build stronger companies. Stronger companies build stronger communities. Both systems feed into each other.

I also wrote a book that documents the personal side of this journey. The title is I Would Begin With Normally: Atom’s Journey to Soaring Heights. It explores identity, resilience, and the internal work that shapes modern leaders. It is available on Amazon, and the feedback has confirmed how hungry people are for honesty and structure in both life and business.

StayLyte’s next phase includes expanded retail distribution, new functional formulations, and partnerships across wellness, fitness, and workplace ecosystems. The Wellsourse is scaling into a structured leadership platform for men navigating responsibility and internal growth. Together, these two initiatives form one unified idea: the future belongs to leaders who are physically clear, mentally grounded, and spiritually aligned.

We are building products and platforms for that future.

If there is one thing that guides everything I create, it is this. Clarity is a competitive advantage. Whether you are growing a company, raising a family, or fighting for your next level, the ability to stay stable, focused, and aligned is the new currency. StayLyte fuels that clarity. The Wellsourse forms it. The book gives language to the journey.

We are not simply building a beverage company.
We are building a generation of clearer and stronger leaders.

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?

Looking back on my journey, three things have shaped everything I am building today. They are not complicated, but they require honesty and discipline.

1. Self Awareness
My real breakthrough came when I stopped performing and started paying attention to who I truly was. Self-awareness gives you direction. It tells you what to build, what to avoid, and what you must grow into. Without it, you move fast but blind.

My advice for anyone early in their journey
Spend more time studying yourself than studying trends. Know your strengths. Know your gaps. Know your triggers. Know your calling. When you understand yourself, the path becomes clearer.

2. Operational Discipline
Dreams are loud, but discipline is quiet. My career in logistics and supply chain taught me to think in systems, to create order, and to build things that can scale without collapsing. That discipline is the backbone of StayLyte and The Wellsourse.

My advice
Build a routine that supports your goals. Structure your time. Learn the basics of planning, finance, distribution, and execution. Do not confuse motion with progress. Consistency compounds in ways talent never will.

3. Emotional and Spiritual Stability
Ambition without stability is dangerous. There were seasons where I looked successful, but my internal world was exhausted. When I rebuilt that foundation, everything else fell into place. That is why The Wellsourse exists. And that is why StayLyte focuses on clarity rather than stimulation.

My advice
Do the internal work early. Learn how to manage pressure. Learn how to tell the truth about what you feel. Learn how to anchor yourself spiritually. A stable person becomes an unstoppable builder.

These three qualities shaped my path because they shaped me. If you develop them early, you will not just chase success. You will be ready for it when it arrives.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

Yes. I am very intentional about collaboration, but I am selective about alignment. I am building platforms that require excellence, clarity, and people who are grounded in purpose. I am open to working with individuals and organizations who understand what we are building and want to contribute real skills to it.

For StayLyte, I am looking to connect with
Investors who understand the wellness and functional beverage space
Retail partners and distributors who value quality and long-term potential
Health, fitness, and corporate wellness groups who want to bring functional hydration into their communities
Creators and operators who understand brand building and want to help expand StayLyte nationally

For The Wellsourse, I am open to connecting with
Men who lead, build, and influence, and who want to be part of a serious formation environment
Community leaders, counselors, and faith-centered organizations that understand the importance of identity and family restoration
Partners who believe in strengthening men so they can enhance homes and generations

No matter the platform, the people I work with must share the same core values.
Integrity
Discipline
Excellence
A desire to build something that outlives them

If someone reading this feels aligned with the mission, they can reach me directly through https://linktr.ee/Staylyte or connect with me on LinkedIn under my name, Odera Akachukwu. I am open to conversations with people who are serious about impact, serious about growth, and serious about building the future with clarity and purpose.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://oddymacfoy.com/about/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oddymacfoy/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/odera-akachukwu/
• Twitter: Oddymacfoy
• Other: https://staylyte.com/

Image Credits

@Tolujay1
@OkeyAni