Adaobi K. Oniwinde, a seasoned communications expert, retired from Shell in October 2022 and subsequently founded Syntax Ink, a US-based consulting firm. Syntax Ink specializes in strategic communications, content creation and advocacy, harnessing the power of storytelling to bolster brand reputation.
Adaobi’s remarkable career spans over 25 years, beginning at the Clinton White House. As a Press Office intern, she contributed to speeches for then-First Lady Hillary Clinton, and assigned special projects that required West Wing Office access and full U.S. Secret Service clearance. This early experience laid the foundation for her extensive expertise in strategic communications and reputation management.
Adaobi’s career includes stints with various prestigious organisations. Before her 15-year stint at Shell, she worked in Public Relations at Rogers & Cowan in Los Angeles, editorial services at Foreign Policy Magazine, The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, AARP headquarters in Washington DC, and Internal Communications at The World Bank. These experiences have enriched her international network across non-profits, government, media, entertainment, oil & gas, and renewable energy sectors.
A true global citizen, Adaobi has lived, worked, or visited all seven continents. Her adventurous spirit has seen her summit Mount Kilimanjaro and embark on an expedition to Antarctica. She is deeply committed to social impact and advocacy, particularly on issues concerning women and children in Africa, and consistently integrates these values into her professional endeavours.
In this Woman of the Month interview, Adaobi K. Oniwinde lets us into her world, diving deep into her career, passion for social impact, diverse experiences and more.
Can you share what initially drew you to a career in communications and your early experiences at the Clinton White House?
I wasn’t really “drawn” to communications. I was meant to study law. I graduated with a BA in Journalism because in the US, unlike other higher educational systems, one attends law school after first obtaining a bachelor’s degree, usually in the Arts. Journalism made sense as a course of study for me because I loved writing and figured if I didn’t make it to law school, journalism was a respectable enough profession.
I had an amazing professor, who was a retired editor at The Washington Post. He liked me because I was the student who volunteered for everything. He would sign me up for opportunities even before asking me because I always said YES.
The encounter that led me to the White House was a mix of luck, serendipity and a professor’s confidence. It landed me the volunteer gig of a lifetime, working with then-First Lady, Hillary Clinton.
Mrs. Clinton chaired the task force that devised the Clinton Healthcare Reform Plan of 1993. They held events on my campus at the George Washington University…I volunteered for a press event…I can’t remember what exactly I signed up to do, but I remember spending a day with Mrs. Clinton and members of her media team.
I also remember that I must have done whatever I was tasked with well because they asked if I would volunteer for Bill Clinton’s inauguration concert. Needless to say, that gig opened a massive door to a White House internship at The First Lady’s Press Office.
My story didn’t end as planned, however. I never made it to law school. Instead, I got a master’s degree in broadcast journalism and international affairs.
The opportunity that was sparked by a reputation for volunteerism opened many more doors that have made it possible for me to combine my passions throughout my career: service, people, storytelling, and social impact.
Reflecting on your time at Shell, what were some of the most challenging and rewarding aspects of managing communications strategies and stakeholder engagements?
I moved to Nigeria in 2007 with three young children (our fourth was conceived after the relocation—go figure) to work for easily the most controversial oil company with a reputation I was told then could kill any chances of returning to the US non-profit sector. The decision in itself was a challenge. Add to that, they recruited a journalist with no oil & gas experience and most significantly, I didn’t have “local sense”.
Coming from the non-profit world, the main plus to this job was a good compensation package and fulfilling a desperate desire to work in Nigeria. I can now admit that I saw Shell as a short-term means to my dream job—one that afforded me the double blessing of doing impactful work in Nigeria. In my mind, it was a 2/3-year stint. Max.
Reflecting now after a 15-year stint, one thing stood out very early in my career with Shell: The company suffered from the danger of a single-story with reputation issues oftentimes unfairly based on narratives that weren’t accurate or balanced. Shell was a company that I felt genuinely wanted to do the right thing and had the evidence to prove it…Challenge 2: Communicating a more balanced narrative in an authentic way to stakeholders who mostly viewed me as a paid mouthpiece.
It was also a time when the company’s reputation was so far south that the only way out was up. I was blessed with bosses who took chances on me and gave me opportunities to think out of the box. During my tenure as Head of Editorial Services for Shell Companies in Nigeria, for the first time the editorial department took control of speechwriting and crafting leadership messages, a departure from the old practice of paying consultants in London and The Hague to craft Nigeria-specific messages.
Despite a strong aversion to social media from leadership at Group and Nigeria, under my leadership as Head of Internal Communications, Shell Nigeria’s social media platforms were launched. This was in the early days of corporate social media accounts when Shell Group suspended all Nigeria-related content on Group platforms as an (over)reaction to trolling by hostile activists. We made a proposal, worked directly with HQ representatives at (then) Facebook and Twitter, and launched a geo-targeted platform for Shell Nigeria.
As Nigeria Reputation Manager in The Hague, I was given the freedom to take calculated risks, growing and nurturing non-traditional stakeholder relationships that morphed into third-party endorsements from groups in the diaspora who would later defend Shell publicly—a first.
One such stakeholder group was TEDx Euston, co-founded by the current Assistant Director of the World Health Organization, Chikwe Ihekweazu. The Talks featured conversations by African thinkers and leaders—such as writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, journalist Zain Asher, and #BringBackOurGirls movement co-founder, Oby Ezekwesili—positive about our continent and confident in their ability to shape its future.
You’ve demonstrated a strong commitment to social impact initiatives. What drives this passion, and how do you integrate it into your professional endeavours?
I was raised by civil rights advocates. My late father, Ambassador Vincent Okobi was a Civil Rights Activist in the mid-60s, as President of the African Students’ Union in Washington DC. My mother is a social worker and retired Judge of the National Industrial Court who fought for the rights of women, children, and workers throughout her career.
So, my passion for social concerns was ingrained from childhood. It was also embedded in my psyche that to whom much is given, much is expected.
Moving back to Nigeria greatly appealed to me because the potential for my kind of social impact—the type you can see and feel immediately—is massive. I mean, just pick a cause. This is a place where you can wake up in the morning with an idea, flip a switch and transform lives by lunchtime—without waiting for corporate or government funding. I’ve been fortunate to have held roles that made it possible to marry my personal and professional interests without ever compromising business ethics and compliance rules.
The work enabled by my role at All On, Shell’s impact investing firm with a mandate to accelerate the closing of the access to energy gap in Nigeria is by far the proudest accomplishment in my 15 years at Shell. The Shell All On Social Solar Initiative was born out of a personal endeavour whereby I self-funded the installation of the first set of solar panels in Makoko to power both the only school and maternity clinic in the community on the Lagos Lagoon.
The success of that personal project led to the opportunity to design and roll out the Shell-financed All On Social Solar Program, the organisation’s first CSR initiative whereby staff charitable contributions are matched to deliver solar electrification projects in needy communities. This personal labour of passion carried out at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic directly led to the organisation’s first CSR budget.
Your career has taken you around the world, living and working on all seven continents. How have these global experiences influenced your professional approach and personal growth?
Fifteen years in the oil & gas industry notwithstanding, I have remained a storyteller by passion. Thankfully, the jobs I have held, and my love of travel have allowed me to experience humanity on all seven continents, exposing me to various cultures, traditions and ways of life, thinking and working.
These experiences have undoubtedly influenced my personal and professional outlook in that they have equipped me with skills that enable me to easily interact with people of all backgrounds, navigate life from every stratum of human interaction, adapt to change, build strong, global networks, and tell compelling stories that resonate across diverse audiences.
I have learned from interactions that span the gamut of conversations with kids on the streets of Lagos, to furniture makers in remote villages in Indonesia, to observing penguins in Antarctica, that every human interaction is a potential inspirational story worth telling—through these experiences, I have also learned to connect emotionally and heighten my empathy which is a characteristic of my storytelling style.
Since my retirement from Shell in 2022, I’ve returned to my storytelling roots, teaching creative writing skills via Syntax Ink, a US-based consulting firm specialising in strategic communications, content creation and advocacy that leverages the power of storytelling to enhance brand reputation.
The firm was founded based on my belief that every brand has a story to tell and everyone who represents a brand ought to be able to communicate the brand’s stories regardless of function in an organisation.
What are some key lessons you’ve learned from working in diverse sectors such as government, media, entertainment, oil & gas, and renewable energy?
Although I’ve been in communications over a 25+ year career that started with a detour in print journalism en route law, I have had the privilege of gaining knowledge and expertise from diverse sectors in different countries. Yet, I would say that many of the skills I developed are applicable across sectors, such as crisis management which was the bulk of my role as External Affairs Adviser and Nigeria Reputation Manager at Shell headquarters (then) in The Hague. We oftentimes learned the (very) hard way about the importance of quicker responses and maintaining public trust during crises.
One of the most valuable lessons I took away from my roles in the energy sector is the importance of ethical considerations and intentional, value-adding corporate social responsibility. The organisations I represented demonstrated that balancing profit, environmental responsibility, and social impact are not mutually exclusive.
I learned that in the final analysis, the most fundamental success factor in change communication is the ability to reach people in an authentic way. To meet stakeholders where they are, be they hostile or friendly. Making a human connection and gaining (some) trust from which any kind of dialogue is possible.
As an avid adventurer, what motivated you to summit Mount Kilimanjaro and embark on an expedition to Antarctica?
I’m a lover of nature and the outdoors. I’m most comfortable in nature. I’m also a thrill seeker with an insatiable adventurous spirit. Most significantly, I’m a sucker for a good cause.
I ran the Great Wall of China Marathon and raised over $3,200 for Doctors Without Borders in support of their medical outreach to women and girls in Internally Displaced Peoples’ camps in Northern Nigeria. I wish I had a sexy reason for summitting Kilimanjaro. I don’t. I simply did (and survived) it for the thrill.
Antarctica was my seventh continent and a bucket list item I had wanted to tick off by my 50th birthday, but COVID derailed those plans by two years. More importantly, I wanted to use the expedition to raise awareness of global warming by experiencing firsthand and showing the effects of climate change which is causing the ice in Antarctica to melt. The high-level consequences of ice melting include rising sea levels, coastal erosion, more intense hurricane and typhoon seasons, the destabilisation of global food systems and the loss of wildlife. DO. Believe. The. Hype.
Throughout your 25+ year career, what leadership qualities have you found most crucial for driving innovation and achieving success in communications?
This has evolved over the course of my career. I’d like to believe that I’ve always been a compassionate leader. However, earlier on my leadership journey, I strove to be a decisive, resilient leader with the ability to think out of the box (as long as ethics rules were never compromised), to deliver on the bottom line. While I know these leadership qualities remain crucial in today’s business environment, I believe the post-COVID operating environment calls for more compassion in leadership. This has led me to be more of an inspirational leader who drives people from a place of empathy as a foundation for collaboration that allows innovation and creativity to thrive.
Truth be told, I got practical lessons on compassionate leadership during the COVID lockdown when leadership involved balancing acts between managing colleagues remotely, managing my adult, teenage and preteen children, in addition to managing the logistics of caring for a dying parent—usually all in a day’s work.
What advice would you give to young professionals aspiring to build a career in strategic communications and advocacy?
What I tell my mentees and my children applies to communications and advocacy, but really most career paths today:
Develop strong writing and communication skills. As I mentioned earlier, every brand has a story to tell, therefore everyone who represents a brand ought to be able to articulate the brand’s narratives in a positively impactful way. Focus on storytelling that is engaging and personal.
Embrace social media and digital tools (responsibly)—it is no longer cool in the twenty-first century to admit an aversion to social media.
Networking and building relationships are oxygen to your career. Introverts: You must learn to work the events. Finally, as I tell my children: Find your passion. Be great at it. Continue learning. The financial rewards will come. If your focus is the money, that’s ok too, but don’t follow the money. Follow where the money is going!
What do you take pride in?
I don’t believe we can have it all. In the same way, I don’t believe we can do it all. But I do celebrate the things I have accomplished. The places I’ve been. The ways in which I have impacted lives and communities. I am grateful for the opportunities I’ve had to have left a small patch a little better than I found it.
I am also proud of the four remarkable, good-hearted humans I am blessed to call my children, who feel a responsibility to care for the less fortunate, community, family, and the planet.