Nigerian Women Architects

"It’s very important at the end of the day to be very clear about your purpose. The thing that has leapfrogged my career has really been knowing myself and being myself."

"Let us build products that are purposeful with a consciousness that we are building new systems, and each offer our unique contributions in this conscious intention. Any company that is not marinating in inclusion, you will find is not truly an innovative company"

"As an architect, you need to be very structured because you work in a business focused environment."

"The work of public relations in architecture cannot be overemphasized in this ever-changing global space. People need to see what work is done and how great the work is."

"It is a fulfilling 24-7 existence, with the opportunity to be the captain of your own ship, while effecting change hopefully for the betterment of many more people than just yourself."

"Being a creative, it is one thing to create a product, but you need to [be able to] get it to market."

"The important thing is not to walk around with a chip on your shoulder or feel victimised."

"Even if you find yourself as a woman in a man’s world, it is not for you to feel that there’s a battle you are fighting with the men. A lot of us women, we miss it. We think that we are in some kind of war and we have to go out there and fight the men and prove that we can do it, that is not so. Rather, I think we should see ourselves as co-developers in the nation’s progress."

"You’ve got to believe in yourself.Don’t ever let anybody put you down.Even when it gets really rough ,don’t give up, because somewhere along the line you’re going to get where you need to be."

"“We make decisions every moment of our lives. They may be simple ones such as what food to eat or more profound ones such as careers and choice of spouses. Many of our decisions are not based on conscious thought – they are spur-of-the-moment actions – and are influenced by a range of factors including time, emotions and our environment"

"If you want to stay in the sun, you must be ready to put on sun glasses. If someone tells you, you are putting in more time, don’t listen. Just keep going. Get to the point where nobody can intimidate you. It will be scary sometimes but keep going."

"Women who want to be up there must work for it.It is not a joke, you must show that you can do it.""

"As a woman, you already come from a position of disadvantage, not because you are disadvantaged, but the society chooses to decide that you are disadvantaged,they forget that Intelligent Quotient has no gender. All through my career, I always found myself in a room full of men. I was always told I had to be in the kitchen."

"I had a dream to get to the top of my career and nothing was going to let me go off that dream. Sometimes it looked like a distant dream, sometime it would even fade to a dot in the horizon, sometime I would want to give up but the good thing was that I had a lot of supportive people who believed in me, people who, when the going got really rough, said to me, no, you cannot give up."

"You know you meet a lot of men who wonder what you are doing in their territory and you have to spend everyday of your life proving that you should be here. For me there is nothing in this constitution that says I am not a full fledged citizen of this country. I don't see it anywhere, but you have to be resilient enough and claim your place because nobody is going to give it to you."

"Your parents have invested well in you.How wisely you protect that investment is up to you.You must be humble to believe that others know what you do not know. Avoid short cuts and slothfulness. Focus on what you want to do and pursue it. Never abandon your dream no matter how tough.Learn to rise up each time you fall because falling is real. Hard work is the key you need to unlock success.... stand your ground and never let go your dream."

"Mentoring by role models will go a long way in changing these dynamics."

"It takes wisdom to stay married and have it all you can be a lioness at work but when you get home metamorphose into a kitten."

"There can be only one head in a marriage and I may be old school, but the man is that head and must at least feel he is the head no matter what rough patch he is going through."

"Note, you can’t love what you are doing all the time. You must sometimes get through some serious boring, tough grunt work just to reach your goal of engaging your passion. Stick at it, it’s all part of the journey."

"Be discreet, remember your best friend may have a best friend who is not your own best friend."

"Why doesn’t anyone ask if a MAN can have it all? It’s actually a no- brainer. No one ever has it all; all resources, power, money. The laws of physics, economics and time-space dynamics make it impossible."

"Men were more suited to this physical work and it fell to the women, who without a doubt are the primary nurturers of children, to take care of the children."

"I need to clarify that my definition of work in this context is a woman pursuing her passion, and deploying her innate gifts and talents in the service of humanity for financial profit."

"May I be bold enough to ask that women who are now in positions of influence should make life easier for those coming behind. You know what you suffered, instead of ensuring others coming behind have as rough a ride as you did, why not be a mother and not a rival?"

"Discretion is necessary in leaders. I practise a simple principle if I have not been instructed specifically by someone to tell another person specifically mentioned by name the information they just divulged to me, I automatically assume I am not to tell any living being. Have you ever been betrayed by someone you trusted and confided in?"

"African entrepreneurs must be the alternative government and take up the task of human capacity development....We must see our staff, not just as resources for the business, but as human beings whose potentials we are to discover, develop, and deploy."

"God is not a waster of talents or resources. It would be a waste for God to say to me, do not practice architecture after the years I’ve spent honing and perfecting my craft."

"I really don’t think in terms of challenges. Whatever I went through then exercised and developed my faith."

"The size of a project or the budget is not what challenges me. The subject matter intrigues me. The real challenge is delivering world class buildings and spaces in our environment."

"I get annoyed when I see purposeless living, weak leadership and when people lie. Although I am mature enough to overlook blatant liars, it is just too irritant to me. I can’t also stand weak leadership as it results in inequity and injustice at the family and national levels. It agitates me to see things being done without purpose, that is, when people do things without asking the right questions."

"Finally, I believe you can’t give what you don’t have – an unfulfilled mother cannot raise fulfilled children. She can’t raise balanced and well-rounded children who are able to take our continent out of the morass and the vacuum of leadership it is in."

"Marry right; if you must marry, marry someone who believes in YOU. Your gifts and talents, your vision and your future. Don’t marry because the guy has a fine car or is rich or whatever other ephemeral reason people choose spouses for these days."

"Marry someone who respects your intrinsic worth! Be prepared for marriage it’s not by force, girls don’t marry boys, mature men marry mature women."

"Be very careful to follow your passion do what you love because it’s hard work."

"Don’t roll away the ladder after you have climbed it, please Big Sis – let others climb up."

"Running your own business may be a viable option for some women with children, flexible hours are key and this option, while challenging and not risk-free, does offer some latitude in structuring your time. I must warn ahead… there are no closing hours."

"If you find help where you expect or not, Sisters, determine to be all you can be. Pursue your dreams, you owe it to yourself. You owe it to your children, you owe it to your country and you owe it your creator."

"Heterosexual men don’t marry men; don’t be a man, it’s not a competition. We are different but EQUAL, stay feminine, stay different."

"I also believe that in an ideal situation, the woman should be able to choose when to work – according to the seasons of her life."

"There is no point losing your marriage if you have married a man who has made it a deal breaker in your marriage."