Black History Month 2022: Zoe Onyegwara
Zoe is a Digital Marketing apprentice at Visible based in the US.
Hi All, My name is Zoe Prisca Onyegwara, I prefer to be known as Zoe. I graduated from Monroe College with a Masters's in Public Health, and I am a Certified Health education specialist (CHES). Before I started my apprenticeship journey, I worked as a public health advisor and health coach.
I am also the founder and CEO of the Excellent Health for Africa Initiative (Exhela Initiative). This is a non-profit organization that focuses on bridging gaps in the health sector in rural parts of Africa through health awareness campaigns and providing free health services.
As a Nigerian, and more specifically of the Igbo tribe, the concept of an apprenticeship is not new to me as we have a similar system in my home country. The only difference is that when you tell an Igbo person that you are an apprentice, you are looked at differently. This is because of the belief that an apprenticeship is for people from poor households who either cannot afford a formal education or are unable to cope with it.
Currently, I am a digital marketing apprentice with Multiverse working at Visible, an American all-digital wireless carrier owned by Verizon. I started my apprenticeship with Multiverse in November 2021 and so far, this experience has cleared my Igbo belief about apprenticeships and doubts about needing to go to a traditional university to learn digital marketing skills. I have been exposed to so many technical and durable skills that I need to excel as a digital marketer through our boot camps and the hands-on experience with my team at Visible. One of the things that I love about this program is having a digital marketing coach who guides me and mentors me to succeed. Also, the networking opportunities that are available here are top-notch.
In December 2021, while on leave in Nigeria, I organized a two-day, free medical outreach in a community in Enugu state. The aim of this initiative was to ensure quality health and wellbeing during the Christmas holiday to people who cannot afford healthcare services due to limited accessibility and poverty. During the program, we taught classes to create awareness on lifestyles and habits that put us at risk for certain diseases and provided free medical consultations, medical exams, diagnostic services, and medications at zero cost to participants. In total, 632 people benefited from the program.
After experiencing so much success with this project, I plan to raise funds through my non-profit organization in order to continue doing this in different parts of rural Africa.
This February is Black History Month and as a Black woman who is also a health and wellness coach, this year's theme of “Black Health and Wellness” means a lot to me. When learning about most chronic diseases, you find out that being Black or African American is a risk factor in addition to age and other factors combined. This means one needs to be intentional about their health, and even work harder than their non-black counterparts.
This Black History Month is an opportunity to raise awareness and to educate people on the importance of preventive health services. Therefore, this involves regular wellness checkups, being physically active, eating a healthy diet, reducing stress levels, and much more in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
As a digital marketing apprentice, I work hard to ensure that I am learning and applying my technical and durable skills to help achieve my company’s goals. However, I also want to use my digital marketing skills to create a system and platform where preventive health tips and services can be digitally accessible. As I do this, I promise to carry my Multiverse family along, because I will be needing everyone’s help to achieve this goal.
Zoe is a chair for our Multicultural Network, join today!