Hi, I'm Uchechi! I'm a multi-creative artist and creative business coach. I help creative people find their voice, understand its power and use it to amplify their story and grow their creative careers. I do this via creative business coaching, public speaking, and web design and digital strategy. My experience includes over 20 years combined as a poet, UX web designer, creative business coach, and public speaker.
Sample Talks & Workshops
Keynote #1
How To Create A Change Making Career
Focus on your impact instead of your job.
Uchechi's lecture focuses on this question: How do you create a change-making career that is emotionally and financially sustainable? She will share her story and her journey from poet to web designer, and how trusting her journey and focusing on the impact she wanted to make allowed her to build the life she wanted.
TAKEAWAYS:
- Understanding your impact is essential to knowing how to move forward when you feel uninspired in your creative career.
- The job you are looking for might not exist yet.
- A multidisciplinary approach to your career gives you an advantage.
That speech was so moving and I am so thankful that you shared your knowledge with me. I carry your words with me to this day.
-Allie F
www.uchechikalu.com
Keynote #2
Some Narratives Must Die: Finding Your Voice + Aligning Your Vision
If you can change the narrative, you can change your destiny.
Most of us have a list of things we really want to do in our lives. When we think about self-improvement, we often start with a list. We make lists of the things we want to achieve. Sometimes our goals are simple and personal: Maybe you want to be a better parent? Maybe you want to find your dream job? Sometimes, our goals come from a deep desire and fulfillment: Maybe you want to let go of fear and go after whatever it is you want.
What if going for the life we really want has very little to do with lists, and everything to do with what we believe is possible?
Takeaways:
- Narratives shape our perspectives and influence how we express ourselves to the world.
- Changing the narrative changes our perspective and improves how we interact in our personal and professional lives.
- Resistance to improvement does not mean that you are incapable of changing. It usually shows that your stories need to change.
- Practical tips to practice letting certain narratives “die” each time you face resistance.
Me encantó el taller! Yes - soul work, and collective generational shifting of narratives. -April M.
www.uchechikalu.com
Keynote #3
The Power Of Nuance: How Embracing Nuance Can Create More Empowered Cultures
What if we could all embrace our nuance and celebrate our personal and professional diversity?
As a multi-creative Nigerian with global connections, Uchechi has learned the value of bringing nuance to our professional and personal lives. She believes that part of the problem we face is about our society's inability to bring "nuance" into the conversation about creating a more inclusive and divisive world. It becomes so easy to put people into certain contexts and demographics without insisting on the complexity of who they are and can be. She insists that embracing complexity is both vital for creating a better world and a more creative and empowered culture of entrepreneurs, creatives and innovators.
Takeaways:
- When you show up more nuance, you bring value to all of your personal and professional experiences.
- Nuance allows for complexity, which makes space for us to ask questions instead of assume answers.
This was my favorite TEDx Talk of the day. -Rodrigo R.
Creative Business Coaching
Uchechi's counsel allowed me to think differently about how I position myself in the world as an artist and entrepreneur. I've struggled with the messiness of not feeling that my brand could fit neatly in a template. I feel a level of clarity as a creative professional that I didn't before.
Dania Frink, Owner at penandfrink.com
Featured In
Uchechi Kalu definitely succeeds in exemplifying the famous Sufi poet Hafiz definition of a poet as "one who can pour light into a spoon, and raise it to nourish our beautiful parched mouths.
Busboys + Poets Bookstore
Let's Connect
Uchechi Kalu is a multi-disciplinary artist and creative career coach. She began her creative work as a poet and transitioned to web design and coaching. She helps creative people find their voice, and use it to amplify their story and grow their business. You can find her on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. She also writes the Dear Creative blog via her website, a resource to help creative people become more resilient and find the careers they want.
Credits:
Photo credit: Chris Wojdak Photography