Chief Elizabeth Ifeyinwa Jibunoh is the Chief Executive and a Wellness Coach at Ridgewood Wellness Sanctuary which advocates best practices in lifestyle choices. She is also the Vice President of the League of Anambra Professionals, a position she assumed after successfully chairing the Women’s Committee. Through the League, Chief Jibunoh advocates for women’s issues and the refocus and rebalance of professionals within the south-east region of Nigeria.
She has a master’s in museums and gallery management from City University London, and with this knowledge co-founded and maintains Didi Museum, the first private museum in Nigeria. She also has a certificate in professional floral design from Holland’s Boerma Instituut, and notes that this passion has provided her with a great deal of calm, serenity and stability in life.
In this Woman of the Month interview with Pride Magazine Nigeria, Chief Jibunoh speaks on wellness, professionalism, and the arts in Nigeria.
What prompted the start of the Ridgewood Wellness Sanctuary? What are the common challenges or issues you encounter from people coming to the sanctuary for help?
As an extremely boisterous and sporty young woman who participated actively in all sports, I fell in love with the gym and trained as if I was preparing for the Olympics. Such intensity on my body resulted in an early diagnosis of degeneration and eventually, an innocuous bunion surgery put me in a wheelchair – these changed my approach to my health and the birth of RIDGEWOOD Wellness Sanctuary.
I offer an approach to wellness that focuses on the root causes of health challenges rather than a symptomatic approach that provides a curative answer that may not totally eliminate the challenge. In my own case opting not to have a double knee replacement surgery for my arthritic knees and a hip replacement but finding the use of curative vegetables and fruits as well as powerful herbs and superfoods have changed and redirected my approach to a new wellness pathway and this is what I offer at my sanctuary.
My challenge lies in getting people to make a mind shift and try out this new approach that is so different from the traditional ways of practising medicine. Also as a non-medical expert, I offer my aid based only on my experiences and will always advise that your personal doctor’s opinion be corroborated. Sometimes it is countered.
Based on your successful tenure chairing the Women’s Committee of League of Anambra Professionals, what would you say are the main challenges and opportunities for the female professional in Nigeria?
I joined the League of Anambra Professionals because I wanted a closer relationship with my people having married at a very early age to my husband who is not from my state. I had also lived and operated in Lagos and always felt like a fish out of water anytime I was in Anambra. My interests and activities on women’s issues at the time led to my being nominated to chair the Women’s Committee. At the time women professionals were still playing second fiddle to men in the workplace but I must say that in the last seven years or so there has been a major worldwide shift with more women in leadership positions and at top managerial levels in the corporate world. So I believe the opportunities for success for the woman professional have been escalated in her favour and the challenges diminished provided the woman is ready to embrace work ethics that can put her in front.
Examining the country’s arts sector, particularly gallery and museum management, what are the major opportunities for young people, especially women?
The arts sector remains largely a selective sector. A lot of people consider it even elitist. Most people will not even acknowledge it as a sector to consider in the choice of a profession. Young people especially women have a wide berth to choose from in this sector and talents can be developed if not intrinsically genetic. Also, the administrative/management sector remains very vibrant with a lot of success stories in the sector. Opportunities abound if you opt to research into the area and put in the work after a carefully curated training course.
What lessons have you learned from the highs and lows of your career so far?
My career has actually been an amazing journey. I have been privileged to work in sectors that I never envisaged growing up as well as leave footprints in the sands of time in my own chosen profession THE ARTS IN NIGERIA. I have constantly drawn strength and lessons from both the highs and lows of my career and that has moulded me into becoming the woman I am today.
Looking back, what advice would you give to your younger self?
I will say to the young Elizabeth…. be more attentive to what can potentially derail you. Do not shy away from your strengths. Be more determined in reaching the highest level of your career much earlier in life. Otherwise remain like me – the strong determined woman the older Elizabeth is today.
What do you take pride in?
I take pride in the fact that I have remained the strong, resolute, and extremely determined woman I was born as. Despite all my challenges, and there have been quite a few, I remain resolute in my determination to continue to TAP INTO THE INNER STRENGTH OF A WOMAN.