Adinkra Symbols Series. Featured CEO: Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond

Drawing Business Values from Ghanaian Adinkra Symbols
Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond

What is your favorite Adinkra Symbol?
My favorite Adinkra Symbol is Boa Me Na Me Mmoa Wo – Help me and let me help you.

It is not the most photogenic of the symbols, which is as it should be because helping people, or being in need of help, is rarely cute or convenient. It means getting in the trenches with someone, and sharing precious time, contacts, sometimes money to help someone rise from a negative or less advantageous situation. In many cases this can feel like depletion and can erode your advantage. It also means making yourself vulnerable, exposing your own need, and admitting you cannot do it all on your own.

I love helping people when I can, partly because it means I have achieved some level of success that enables me to share my resources, but I struggle with asking for help. I fear that needing someone makes me look weak, or puts me in their debt, or proves that I have failed in some way. I also find it easier to part with things that reflect my abundance, but feel tested when the need encroaches on my time, for example.

But I’m learning that, to succeed in life and in business, we cannot be islands. In fact, I don’t believe God made us to be islands. In most situations, we are in community whether we’re talking about family, friend circles, or work. We progress collectively and individually when we learn to work with and depend on one another. Making meaningful connections is so important. It’s like the old African proverb says: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.’

How have values from this Adinkra impacted your business?
In 2010, Simon and Schuster released my first novel Powder Necklace. I was catatonic with excitement. My dream had come true! But I quickly realized that I had invested all of my time and resources into learning how to get published, without a clue as to what to do when I was actually published.

In that “now what?” moment, at the literary caf� of an African American culture festival, I met a woman I call my literary angel. She had recently self-published her first novel and began to ask me questions about percentages and marketing that I did not know how to answer. She generously shared her insights with me, and later introduced me to her friend who was producing a three-city literary festival. This friend invited me to attend the festival as a featured author and panelist, and subsequently awarded me a residency to write with and learn from Brazilian and American writers and educators in Salvador da Bahia.

Separately, after my book came out, a woman who has become a mentor and friend initiated a meeting with me and proceeded to spend hours dropping wisdom on how to make it as an author. Another author I didn’t know made key introductions that have resulted in opportunities that have benefited my career up to today. Likewise, editor friends have shared intel about the business that most writers are not privy to. These were all people who stood to gain nothing from me, yet helped me anyway.

Their generosity motivated me to move past my giddiness as an artist and approach my “dream” like a boss. I sent myself on a book tour, began building strategic relationships with industry players, and started educating myself about the business of writing. Through it all, I have been committed to sharing my resources with other writers.

In 2012, I started the blog People Who Write as a space to share the information I’ve acquired along the way and the new insights I pick up. I also use the blog to reflect on how new developments in publishing specifically impact writers as a way to stimulate community.

Writing necessitates solitude, but we don’t have to go it alone.

What is the best career advice you ever received?
I’ve received so much good career advice throughout the years that I can’t think of one piece that was the best right now. Perhaps, the most critical lesson I’ve learned recently is the necessity of pursuing and maintaining balance.

This lesson is related to “Help me and let me help you” because trying to do everything on your own or hoarding resources for yourself perpetuates imbalance and can be harmful in so many ways. In November 2013, I learned the importance of balance when, after years of taking pride in overworking and scrimping on sleep to accomplish my goals, I fainted. The doctor told me I was suffering from exhaustion. Since then, I make sure to get enough sleep and take a more balanced approach to getting my work done. I try not to beat myself up for not doing it all in a day and just express thanks when I wake up the next morning that I can continue where I left off.

What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs?
i. Educate yourself about your industry thoroughly, and stay current on new developments.
ii. Create opportunities where none exist.
iii. Seek out likeminded people you can partner with professionally and/or share your personal journey with.