Nollywood actress Monalisa Chinyere Chinda has debunked the myth that women who are in positions of power ‘slept their way’ to the top.
Monalisa said this while delivering an empowering speech at the Young African Women Congress (YAWC) Network event in Abuja, Nigeria where she addressed common misconceptions about women’s success in the workplace.
According to her, hard work, dedication, and respect are the true keys to success.
“People think that for a woman to rise to the top, they must sleep their way through. It’s such a myth. I want us, every other lady here, and even the ones who are listening to us on social media.
“You don’t need to sleep your way. And this belief is one of the most damaging assumptions about women in the workplace. It minimises our hard work, our dedication and our talent. It tries to make it seem like our achievements aren’t earned,” she said.
Monalisa shared her personal journey, highlighting her transition from acting to publishing with the launch of Mona Lisa magazine.
She encouraged women to learn and develop skills in unfamiliar fields, stressing that they should adopt the habit of continuous self-improvement.
“As women, we don’t need shortcuts. We don’t need to play by someone else’s rules. Lay down your own rules. That is what we need, to find when we find ourselves in jobs that we don’t know anything about. Let’s learn in that job. Let’s work on ourselves, let’s develop our skills. It’s so critical,” she added.
The actress credited her success to discipline, hard work, and a strong sense of purpose while urging young women to dream big, and remain persistent in the face of rejection.
The Young African Women Congress (YAWC) Network is a fraternity of young women of African descent living in Africa and in the diaspora who seek to be empowered and be themselves, change-makers for leadership and development on the continent.
At the heart of its mandate is the mobilisation of women from the grassroots level for leadership and development through advocacy, training and projects.
This year’s edition was held under the theme: “Enhancing Women’s Economic Empowerment through Innovation and Technology.” It was held from October 27 to 31, 2024.
