If you happen to suffer from fear of public speaking, maybe you should brace yourself and gather some confident and hope, because a lot of achieving people suffer this too…

One of such to alley your fears is, Uche Ofodile, wife of Captain Planet, member of Hiplife group 4X4. Uche was the Chief Marketing Officer of Vodafone but resigned for another job offer. When she was with Vodafone, she read and or gave speeches at most entertainment oriented events she attended. Honestly, I wondered why she always spoke with a strict face, no non-verbal aids, and as stiff as though she had been starched together.

What we didn’t know was that, she had a phobia for public speaking. Taking to her Facebook wall, Uche Ofodile disclosed her long-lived-with edginess for public speaking. “I have a confession to make. I have a fear of flying and a fear of public speaking.  Up until a couple of years ago, I would almost feel physically sick before speaking to large crowds. On a plane, well I would jump at every sound and look at the air hostess’ face for clues of our demise”.

However, she discovered herself and decided to cause a change in her life. She continued that “I soon realized that my fears were holding me back from doing the things I really love.  I really enjoy sharing my experiences with others, enjoy visiting different places and if I was going to continue to grow professionally, business travel was a must”.

“I had to master my fears.  In the last month I’ve flown to 7 countries! I’m looking forward to my next speaking opportunity and feel fulfilled both personally and professionally.” Ending, she encouraged others that “don’t let your fears hold you back from reaching your potential. Embrace them and leap forward.”

Indeed, Uche is amongst a number of some well known celebrities and historical figures that have admitted fears of speaking in public and have also struggled with stuttering.  They include but not limited to:  Bruce Willis, Winston Churchill, Aristotle, Sir Isaac Newton, Tiger Woods, Julia Roberts, Mel Tillis, Anthony Quinn, Jimmy Stewart, Nicholas Brendon, Eric Roberts, Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean), Sam Neill, and Samuel L. Jackson.

Uche Ofodile is a highly influential business leader with extensive experience in accelerating business growth and profitability in African markets. With a strong record of inspirational leadership to cross-cultural teams, Uche has driven profitability, strong company image and long-term top line growth, while developing and implementing both long term and tactical, creative and channel solutions that create brand differentiation and improve competitive advantage.

Uche Ofodile who has spent over 20 years working across a number of industries held the position of Chief Marketing Officer for Vodafone Ghana where she delivered over 20 percent YoY revenue growth propelling the business to the number 2 position in the market from number four in less than 3 years.

Prior to that Uche spent some time in Nigeria working for Econet Wireless (now Airtel) and Nutricima, a joint venture between PZ Cussons, plc. (UK) and Glanbia (Ireland) serving Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya. Uche believes in a leadership style that empowers people to be the best they can be, driving innovation and finding creative solutions to problems.

I will also use this opportunity to expose myself – I suffered same too when I was young. I recall being booed off in front of my class (when I was in JHS) for failing to recite my poem – with the entire school staring on. I quivered! I felt ashamed! I felt sad and I declared myself a failure!

Indeed I was so brilliant that I would have been voted by the students when I was in JSS 3 to become the school prefect but the teachers asked me not to even file for nomination because I wouldn’t have been able to speak in public to convince the students to vote for me. I saw it as my greatest weakness – so growing up, it was my challenge to fight it.

I read books on public speaking. I practiced speaking in my room (when there was nobody in the house). I listened a lot to those who speak in public. I attended events and paid strict attention to those who gave speeches and addresses.

Over time, I surmounted my fears and went on to become a leader of associations and groups that required public speaking – which I delivered with the precision of an engineer. If you also have this problem, I assure you that you can overcome it. It’s your fear, confront it and win. Until then…MOTWUM!!