Why Learning How to Tell Your Story Can Help You Align Your Purpose and Your Paycheck

Over the last year of remote work, Zoom school, and simply trying to stay healthy, many of us have been wondering about our careers, and about whether our current job allows us to be the best version of ourselves – for ourselves, for our families, and for our communities.  Some of us have lost the jobs and titles that seemed to define us and are reflecting on career issues as a matter of necessity.  But the solitude and isolation that we all experienced has brought up, even for many whose careers seemingly remain on track, questions like “What is my purpose?” and “Could I earn a paycheck in a way that enables me to fulfill that purpose?”

I have been in the position of asking similar questions at various stages of my life.  In my first job after undergrad, as a Marketing Specialist at Digital Equipment Corporation, I saw colleagues with 20+ years of experience caught up in a mass layoff through no fault of their own.  Several years later, the apparently solid and stable consulting firm that employed me was completely shuttered owing to its association with a major corporate scandal.  During the 2009 economic downturn, my own consulting business abruptly lost 60 percent of its client base.  Most recently, I found myself pondering these questions when I came to realize that my purpose had evolved beyond the executive role that I had held for four years with a particular nonprofit organization.

At each of those turning points, I took stock of my situation – seeking inspiration from a favorite author, guidance from a mentor, enrolling in a seminar, or working with a coach – and spent some time assessing my strengths and weaknesses, where I wanted to go and how I might get there.  I also thought through how to re-position myself for my desired career move: by refreshing my resume and LinkedIn profile, of course, but also by generating content to support my new positioning, by seeking out speaking opportunities to build visibility in the new conversations that I wanted to participate in, and by re-sharing older material that I had written or in which I had been quoted.

The last time I began such a process was in 2018.  At that time, I observed that many people had been seeking me out for career guidance and for assistance with their LinkedIn profiles and with matters related to their careers, businesses, or organizations.  Looking through the content that I had created over many years, I realized that everything I had done throughout my career – from working as a Marketing Specialist in the information technology industry to teaching nonprofit leaders about Digital Storytelling at New York University – had always been about helping others to tell their stories for maximum effect.  That realization led me to form two new businesses.  Through the first of these entities, called Liz Ngonzi Transforms, I work with leaders looking to clarify their purpose, develop their story and communicate it effectively to stakeholders such as clients, partners, investors and potential employers.  Through the second, called The International Social Impact Institute, I assemble teams of trusted collaborators to deliver training, consulting services and events that are meant to amplify the voices and impact of purpose-driven leaders from historically marginalized communities – enabling them to clarify, develop and share their stories with stakeholders such as prospective funders, partners, and employees.

I would like to inspire you to undertake a similar process of clarifying, developing and sharing your story with the goal of aligning your purpose and your paycheck.

Find out more here.

Learn About My Services

Coaching Speaking & Training

Mother’s Day Tribute: Avoid “Dream Killers”

10 years ago, I wrote a piece for Leading-Women.com (as part of its Personal Heros series), honoring my mom, Hilda Rwabazaire Paqui, an amazing Ugandan-born global citizen, who has been a mother, mentor, inspiration and advocate for many, during her lifetime.

I wrote the piece to share her story, because of how she is the embodiment of the African Woman of Distinction whom people seldom hear about and from whose wisdom many can potentially benefit. While the piece was written ten years ago, the timeless wisdom still applies and could be helpful to those who are seeking to improve their engagement with their stakeholders (e.g., clients, customers, students, employees), understand their purpose, and thereby increase their impact.

How to Align Your Purpose and Paycheck to Build a Career with Social Impact in 2021 and Beyond

As we close out what has been a challenging and in many respects, an eye-opening year, you may be wondering about how to align your desire to make a difference in our world, with your need to earn a living in 2021 and beyond.

Last week, I had the honor of speaking on the Cornell University alumni panel, Purpose and Paychecks: Building a Career with Social Impact on how to align one’s purpose and one’s paycheck with Lauren Braun, MScPH (founder of Alma Sana Inc.) and Dan Schiff (Assistant Director of Institutional Development at Martha’s Table), and moderated by Mike Bishop (Director for Student Leadership in the Cornell University Office of Engagement Services).

This Cornell Alumni News article, Finding Your North Star: Aligning Your Purpose and Your Paycheck, highlights what we shared about our individual journeys, as well as resources we provided to the 175 webinar attendees.

Below are quotes from each of us (also included in the article) that might be helpful as you think about your own journey:

  • My advice on the importance of proactively sharing your story – a key element of your personal brand that helps to facilitate your career pivots, “By not sharing your story with others, you’re actually depriving those who could potentially be inspired by, partner with, or hire you, of the opportunity to learn about what you uniquely bring into this world. The failure to share your accomplishments, though it may be inspired by humility, is actually an act of selfishness.”
  • Dan Schiff on how to pivot into a social sector career: “Find a way to volunteer, write a blog, or do whatever enables you to tell a new story about yourself that allows you to pivot”.
  • Lauren Braun’s advice for those considering a career pivot, “Don’t be afraid to challenge what you think you wanted and what you think it says about you and your values. We want and need different things at different stages of our lives. It’s ok to change your mind—that’s how we evolve.”

As I also shared on the panel, one does not necessarily have to leave a corporate job to create social impact. Here are two of my presentation slides providing the spectrum of organizations and funders that provide opportunities to do so.

Finally, in this eCornell Keynote presentation, Your Personal Brand: Leveraging Your Unique Knowledge and Experience that I recorded earlier this year (LINK), I provide strategies and tactics to help you think through how to develop your own impact-driven journey, as well as develop your personal brand.

Finding Your North Star: Aligning Your Purpose and Your Paycheck

Elizabeth (Liz) Ngonzi MMH ’98 is founder and CEO of The International Social Impact Institute™, which is currently developing training programs and events to help non-governmental organizations in under-resourced communities in the U.S. and around the world rebound from the pandemic.

“Now is the right time for all of us to get involved and engaged,” she says. “What’s seemingly impossible is possible if you focus on what you want to do and why you’re doing it. You are able to create a lot of change.”

“You don’t necessarily need to leave your corporate job to have a social impact,” Liz says. “There is a spectrum of organizations you can get involved with.” She notes that these include existing non-profits, such as Cornell University, for-profit corporations with a social impact mission, such as Patagonia, and funders, such as foundations and venture philanthropy organizations.

How This iSchool Alum Uses Digital Skills For Social Impact

If there’s anything you should know about Liz Ngonzi (’92), it’s that she’s bold, she’s courageous, and she’s devoted her life to strengthening the social impact ecosystem around the globe.

But her path to a career as a social entrepreneur, educator, and international speaker didn’t take the direction you might expect.

It’s true that Liz has always been a bit of an entrepreneur. By the time she was 14 years old, she had created a babysitting service and scaled to at least six different client families. It was a “baby empire,” as she describes it.

When she came to Syracuse University in 1988, however, she didn’t major in business. Instead, she started out in visual and performing arts. About mid-way through her freshman year, a mentor introduced her to the iSchool. She was hooked and decided to transfer in the following semester.

“I barely knew how to type!” Liz said, “[But] I loved the fact that you could solve problems with technology and information.”

In 1992, the year Liz graduated, the country was in the midst of a recession. While many of her peers took jobs waiting tables just to get by, she graduated with five job offers in hand. She started receiving some of them as early as the fall of her senior year and credits the real-world skills learned in her major with making her stand out in a struggling economy.

Liz ended up taking a job in marketing with Digital Equipment Corporation, the legendary computer company founded by Ken Olson and Harlan Anderson. They had recruited her as one of 16 people nationwide for their exclusive Marketing Development Program, a rotational program which exposed her to areas such as aerospace marketing, corporate communications and sales. Following that, she worked in B2B sales for MICROS Systems Inc., the leading provider of hospitality Point of Sales Systems in the world, where she learned about the hospitality industry through her clients, ranging from independent restaurants to amusement parks.

Program Empowers Aspiring Black Entrepreneurs

Startup founders who are black receive less than 1% of venture capital funding annually, according to research from Crunchbase, Kauffman Institute and CB Insights.

Cornell’s Black Entrepreneurs in Training (BET) – founded in the spring of 2018 as a student club to inspire and inform black student entrepreneurs – is aiming to change that through the establishment of workshops, guest speakers and entrepreneurial mentorship.

BET, which runs from October to April, aims to increase the participation of students of color in Cornell’s entrepreneurship ecosystem and generate an active and visible group of black alumni who’ve founded successful companies. Each fall, the program accepts students of color who are passionate about entrepreneurship, and offers networking events and workshops.

“Connecting our BET participants with successful alumni is an invaluable learning experience, and enables them to envision their future as startup leaders,” BET co-founder Jehron Petty ’20 said.

Petty – with co-founders Ansumana Bangura ’20 and Julia Reeves ’20 – reached out to Andrea Ippolito ’06, M.Eng. ’07, lecturer in Cornell’s Engineering Management Program and program director of W.E. Cornell to establish a partnership with the Center for Regional Economic Advancement, which would allow the program to grow after the founders graduate.

What I learned Chimp Trekking in Uganda—Everything is Teachable!

Indeed it is, as stated by the t-shirt I fortuitously chose to wear that morning after Thanksgiving!

I came, I was conquered by nature, I retreated and regrouped, and then I conquered my fears!

As part of my Thanksgiving trip to Uganda, I had the great fortune of visiting Queen Elizabeth National Park in the Western part of the country where my family originates.

During this awe-inspiring trip through which we saw lots of elephants, a leopard and several other mammals and birds during a game drive and boat ride, the most memorable activity of all was the 3+ hours we spent chimp trekking in Kalinzu Forest Reserve.

What started out as an adventure to accompany my partner on his bucket list experience to observe chimps in their natural habitat, turned into a series of teachable moments!

The trekking experience definitely taught me a great deal about myself and reminded me about the importance of trust, perseverance, humility, humor, bravery, positive thinking, the power of setting short-term goals in order to accomplish big ones, and asking for and accepting support.

Teaching Why Storytelling, “Tribes”​ and Diversification Are Critical to Entrepreneurs!

I had the honor of returning to my alma mater, Cornell University, to address and advise the first official cohort of Cornell Black Entrepreneurs in Training. This was one of several events planned by the organizers to “stimulate creative ideation and problem solving,” as part of a program whose ultimate vision includes preparing black entrepreneurs to found startups focused on some of “today’s most pertinent problems.”

I was there to teach the participants about self-awareness, finding purpose and founder-opportunity fit, defining and developing one’s story, finding one’s “tribe”, and navigating the business (nonprofit to for-profit) and funding (donations to equity investments) model spectrum and the plethora of programs (e.g. incubators, accelerators and fellowships) through which one might develop a new venture.

The members range from undergrads to professional and graduate students, and the majority are studying engineering, with a few in business and science majors.

What became evident to me after spending time with these extraordinary students — both while leading the workshop and while meeting with them one on one during office hours — is that we all need the occasional reminder of our own greatness and a framework for sharing our visions and stories in a manner that honors our unique gifts and identities.

They are working on some awesome venture ideas that address real gaps in the market.

I can’t wait to see what’s to come next semester when they begin working on their Minimum Viable Products (#MVP).

No matter which professions the cohort participants ultimately choose, having an entrepreneurial mindset and approach to problem solving is critical to achieving success in any area. And even if they do not choose to pursue their startup ventures on a full-time basis, the participants might reasonably continue working on those ventures as supplementary/alternative revenue sources. As I’ve learned repeatedly over the years from various contributors to Black Enterprise Magazine, it is wise to lay the groundwork for a diversity of revenue streams, including at least one “side-hustle” that can be developed into its own full-time business.

Learn more about Cornell Black Entrepreneurs in Training: https://crea.cornell.edu/project/black-entrepreneurs-in-training/

Elizabeth Ngonzi Leads Discussion about “The African Female Executive”

As part of the Wharton Africa Student Association’s WASA Wednesdays series, Elizabeth Ngonzi, former CEO of Afrika Tikkun USA, led a discussion titled “The African Female Executive.” The event, a collaboration between WASA and WWIB, was organized to learn about the experience of a woman of color in business and discuss strategies for career advancement. The 90-minute interactive session delved into various themes including, expanding your network and building relationships, cultivating varied interests, and establishing your personal brand from the perspective of a woman in business, especially from a woman of color. At the start of the program, as students listened over their plates of jollof and plantain, Ms. Ngonzi quickly turned the event into an interactive discussion. After sharing an anecdote about an exchange with a boss at a prior job, she said to the room, I’d like to hear about your experiences. Students quickly raised their hands, keen to share their individual stories as women and men of color in business. Various questions were raised about maintaining your identity at work, assertiveness without being labeled “pushy”, and relating to coworkers in predominantly male industries.

7th Annual African Diaspora Awards

Applause Africa presented the seventh annual African Diaspora Awards ceremony at Florence Gould Hall in New York City. These awards recognize significant achievements in social justice, entrepreneurism, arts and humanities by Africans living in diaspora. The event both celebrates the diversity of this inherently multinational gathering, and also the unity that is possible among Africans, regardless of origin and background. As impressive as the individual honorees were—and they were truly impressive—it was equally powerful to see movers and shakers from Nigeria, Ghana, Congo, Kenya, Senegal, Zimbabwe and beyond celebrating one another in a spirit of unity and camaraderie. Indeed, the theme of the 2017 gathering was “Building Unity,” suggesting that for all the unity this unique process has nurtured, the work continues.

This was a glamorous affair, with a nearly packed house of beautifully turned-out attendees, a red carpet reception before hand, and a fast paced stage ceremony that featured introductory speakers for each award, a DJ, two hosts and four live music performances—not to mention the actual honorees, each of whom spoke briefly and movingly.

Smartphones Make it Easier to Give to Charity, But There are Drawbacks

Charitable donations have hit an all time high, with Americans giving more than $358 billion dollars in 2014. This is partially due to the surge in online donations from smart phones and tablets. It is easier than ever to donate; rounding up change at the end of checkout, Kickstarter and GoFundMe accounts, and sharable links on social media. Commenting on the way that non-profit fundraising is changing is Liz Ngonzi, an adjunct faculty member at New York University’s Heyman Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising, who teaches a course called “Donor Engagement: Online and Mobile Tools.” Non-profits need to change the way that they fundraise to focus on how the most people are donating. Mailing lists may be a thing of the past but email lists are becoming more popular daily.

iSchool Helps Create Another Information Studies School in Uganda

Members of Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies are playing a part in bringing information studies to all corners of the globe. Now, this effort has landed in Uganda.

Through meeting with Ugandan officials, Syracuse University was able to help establish an iSchool at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda.

Liz Ngonzi, an SU alumna from Uganda, caught word of the project and wanted to assist in making it happen.  Ngonzi had connections with prominent Ugandan citizens who could sponser and help fund the project. Liz Ngonzi is a CEO and Founder of multiple organizations such as Liz Ngonzi Transforms, Africka Tukkun USA, and The International Social Impact Institute.

Newsroom: African Women’s Leadership Summit

It is the 21st century and most countries allow freedom and opportunity for all races and sexes to achieve any goal they set out for themselves. We see this as women have taken up senior roles within large corporations. But we still have a long way to go, And one Summit that has shed some light on How we can IS: the African Women’s Leadership Summit that took place in Kenya.

Joining us in studio today is international speaker, Elizabeth Ngonzi, who spoke at the summit. Ngonzi is also the CEO of a non-profit organization Afrika Tikkun USA. This organization invests in the development of disadvantaged children from early infancy through young adulthood and into the world of work.

South Africa – Invitation to Roundtable Discussion on Women and Business/Entrepreneurship

We would like to invite you to a Roundtable Discussion on: Women and Business /Entrepreneurship and Advocacy Challenge on fewer women leadership roles.

The discussion will include various women entrepreneurs and part of the panel will be Elizabeth Ngonzi, the CEO of Afrika Tikkun USA which is the US affiliate of local NGO Afrika Tikkun, which has been going strong for 20 years.

Ngonzi is in the country to meet with various stakeholders both in the public and private sector.

She will be part of the panel discussing how despite the growing number of initiatives and resources made available to develop women’s entrepreneurship in developing countries, women still own and manage fewer businesses than men, they earn less money with their businesses that grow slower, are more likely to fail and women tend to be more necessity entrepreneurs.

Some of the questions she will be assisting in answering is:

1. What are best practices and instruments of private sector development programs that are effective for women entrepreneurs globally that can be adopted with our context.

2. What works in terms of collaboration and market-driven practices for women’s entrepreneurship promotion?

3. How do we measure women empowerment impact, and what is the return on investment in women entrepreneurs?

4. How can entrepreneurial ecosystems support startup, growth, and sustainability of women’s entrepreneurship?

GIBS Business School South Africa Event Announcement:

GIBS welcomes Ms. Elizabeth Ngonzi, CEO of Afrika Tikkun, USA, lecturer in fundraising at New York City’s Heyman Centre for Philanthropy and Fundraising, and Entrepreneur in Residence at Cornell University, for a limited-seat breakfast event that aims to unpack the mysterious art of Fundraising: exploring international trends and new ways of doing things.

Fundraising is a mysterious profession – is it charisma and personal networks that brings money to an organization? Or is it a series of complex processes that govern proposal writing, event and donation management? South Africa’s recent status as a Upper Middle Income Country shows confidence that the country can fund its civil society. But service delivery non-profits are at best subsidized by governments, and our individual and corporate donor base remains small and driven by compliance.

The session will explore:

  • What is happening globally in the world of fundraising?
  • How are these changes going to impact South Africa (if at all?)
  • Introducing technology and fundraising – creating a global base of supporters for your local project
  • What do you need to change? If anything at all?
  • What are your responsibilities to your donors? And your
    stakeholders?
  • Do we really suffer from a lack of money, or it is a lack of ideas to deliver new approaches to social change?
  • Why is social entrepreneurship touted as a new way for sustainability?

West Philly celebrates Nelson Mandela Day with youth sports

In recognition of Nelson Mandela International Day, July 18, a collective of area sports coaches and others organized an-all day sports clinic titled, A Celebration of Life, Youth Sports, Parks and Recreation.

Elizabeth Ngonzi, USA CEO of South African based nonprofit Afrika Tikkun, posted on Facebook that she “had the honor of spending the day in West Philadelphia with a group of committed coaches who provided kids with a fun day of sports, as a means to build their self confidence, teach them team work & prepare them for leadership … very much in-line with what we do in South Africa with our young leaders at Afrika Tikkun.