DEFINING YOUR OWN IDEA OF SUCCESS: AN INTERVIEW WITH INDEED’S BLACK INCLUSION GROUP CO-CHAIR

For the readers who don’t know you, can you introduce yourself?

My name is Lilian Oke, and I am a field marketer and the Black Inclusion Group Co-chair here at Indeed. I have been at Indeed for close to five years now. My role is to not only help all people get jobs but also shed light on important D&I topics through my Co-Chair role. I am originally Nigerian, but I was born in London and lived in Ireland for the better half of my childhood – twelve years, to be exact.

I have been in the tech space for close to nine years now (wow, it’s crazy reading nine years back! Time flies!); I have learned so much and enjoyed every second of it. I initially studied to be a doctor, starting out with Applied Bioscience but thought damn cultural expectations. So, I dropped out of university and became the black sheep in my household because I refused to follow the path expected of me. I went on to study what I was passionate about, which was Media Communications and Journalism at the University of Buckingham.

You run an uplifting social media page outside of your 9-5. What made you start, and what is the mission?

It started with me just wanting to show other people that you can actually live a good life and set your own ideas of success. So many people around me at the time that I started working had limited beliefs about finding jobs, a work/life balance and what that meant, the industries that would accept you, and so much more. I wanted better! I did not want to subscribe to the belief that I could only be in certain roles and that everyone that went into a 9-5 role had to live, work and then die or stay in roles for ten years plus.

I wanted to travel; I wanted to enjoy the work I did; I wanted to prove a point to my family. It’s hard for others to believe your vision when everyone around you is doing the same thing or there is a lack of representation where you are trying to go. I remember applying for 150 jobs a day before landing my first amazing role after ten months post-graduation – funny because I was using Indeed at the time, and now I work for them!

With this in mind, I wanted to document the journey on social media. It is still crazy to me just how many people found the content interesting enough to follow. A few years later, I can count 42,000 followers and two viral videos (11 million views on TikTok and 2.5 million views on Instagram) across two platforms. I am still going, still trying to inspire and motivate the masses while achieving my idea of success. I encourage people, especially women, to work on defining their own idea of success and figuring out what it truly means to live in an authentic way for themselves.

How do you manage your time?

Honestly, I can’t lie and say I always get it right. But with time I have learned how to prioritise certain things and strive for balance in my career as well as in my outside projects. I try to forward plan as much as possible and find time for things that matter most to me; I try to pour into as many buckets as possible now (health, family, friends, love life, self-love, finance and spirit, amongst other things), rather than pouring it all into my career bucket. Previously, I was too focused on the outcomes of professional matters, and it didn’t serve me the way I needed it to. Balance is everything!

Why are diversity and inclusion projects important to you?

Diversity and inclusion are so important to me because when I first started working about eight or nine years ago, I literally wanted to get into certain industries (media, marketing and tech) because it wasn’t the norm. I wanted to prove a point to everyone around me that I could be different, that I could go into a space where I didn’t see a lot of people that looked like me currently. The majority of the people around me had parents all in similar industries with similar belief systems and just overall disbelief that we could break past a certain ceiling that was keeping people that looked like me out.

What is your advice to those looking to start or change their career? Anything you wish you would have known earlier?

Don’t let anyone else’s idea of success make you question yours, and don’t let people that aren’t where you want to be tell you how to get places.

The theme of our print issue is ‘Confessions’. Any career confessions?

In my earlier career, I faked it till I made it, so to speak, and was thrown in at the deep end when it came to a lot of roles and projects. Such an approach taught me what it truly meant to sink or swim. Never be afraid to try and fail – but always be afraid to never even attempt something.

For more articles and event recordings on the topics discussed, visit the Indeed website.