#1 – Living in Nigeria with Vincent Ewudo

The Think Alpha Project - Empowering Minority Millennials to Break Barriers

Even though they’re twins, Vincent Ewudo entered the world just a little before Valentine. That makes him the firstborn which holds a lot of weight for a man in Nigerian culture. 29 years of age today, Vince has made it through school and is now a Nurse Practitioner at St. John’s Well Child and Family Center. Today most people only see a dynamic, self-motivated, successful young black man. But the journey included feeling inadequate in comparison to his own brother and almost giving up, well before growing into the natural born leader he is today. He walks us through his story with great insight and vulnerability, surprising Val by sharing thoughts and emotions he’s never spoken on before, while cementing the theory that Alpha represents that ounce of greatness that lives inside all of us.

WHAT WE TOUCHED ON

Success through failure

• Planned to go to nursing school and didn’t get in while Val did, severing the connection between them as brothers temporarily
• Creating the story of “I am a failure” and becoming disabled by his own mindset
• Taking a leap of faith and applying again through mom’s pushing for it
• Getting a job at Cedar’s, one of the best hospitals in the country, “the fog cleared up”

Living in Nigeria

• Asking their mother to extend the boys’ (Val and Vince’s) vacation indefinitely and actually live in Nigeria, not fully realizing the impact of that
• Ended up spending 4 years at a boarding school
• Learning about life, having to ask for handouts after spilling water they’d walked miles to retrieve
• Thinking for yourself as a man and becoming adept at problem-solving
• Extremely grateful for that period in his life and how it shaped him

The resilience and biological makeup of us as human beings

• The number one key message is to believe in yourself
• People will always tell you you can’t do something off of their own fears, find the strength to ignore that
• Human beings are made to adapt and to create, move into that in all aspects of your life
• Faking confidence until it becomes real, practice it in speech even though you still have doubts and fears
• Always having new goals, the next step for Vince being real estate investment

Key Quotes

On cancelling out the noise of other people’s negativity:

“I’m the captain of my ship. I’m the master of my faith. So you can’t tell me what I can and cannot do”.

On taking failure as a lesson and moving back toward success:

“When something traumatizes you, and you have another chance at it, you become this super hero”.

On how the time in Nigeria gave him perspective:

“Every problem that I face, I’ve been through worse. I can do this.”

On understanding that everything you need in order to make it is already with you:

“Whatever is inside of you is far greater than anything that’s out there to be faced.”

Thanks for Listening!

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His Instagram: @izunna & @izunnaworld