Anze Mofor: Master Your Feminine Energy
Bringing a new perspective into the realm of women empowerment and personal development, Anze Mofor is the founder of High Value Women, Inc. Focusing on healthy relationships, leadership and self-worth, Anze provides a unique approach to finding a balance in today’s fast-paced work and lifestyle. Branching from women’s growth, the serial entrepreneur also founded INDUX Global, Inc., A management and consulting firm for Industrial and technology infrastructural development companies, with BELLA Masters a 501(c)(3) as it’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CPR) where she supports young visionaries in low-income communities providing them with funding and education and leadership tools to succeed.
I’ve been the outlier in the room, but that never deterred me in my ambition and focus because I had to learn to be centred in who I am, not what I look like.
You’re a serial entrepreneur and business owner focusing on women’s empowerment and growth for enterprise development. Can you share the beginning of your journey as a female entrepreneur and what inspired you to build your own businesses?
Growing up, I was always trying to be “the good girl” for all the wrong reasons. The girl that always did what was expected, but never what she desired because of social constructs that I would say are necessary in some ways and designed to shape and guide our growth process but can be an unhealthy conditioning that is hard to come back from. It made me repress my ability to think critically, to express myself, and to think caring for myself or dreaming big is selfish. In a nutshell, I was put in a box/functioning category where stepping outside of that box would seem like an abomination instead of a celebration. I was met with a great deal of resistance when I tried to be creative or innovative.
Being put in that box, I became co-dependent and conformed to emulating the male strength and power (which was the dominant ideal then) from so many standpoints, such as suppressing my feminine energy, which I came to find out, is a superpower depending on how I use it.
It was hard to be comfortable in my own skin. I had to revisit these memories and sort them out one by one to fully find myself again and I started to pursue the things I have always desired. I realised that with a false sense of virtue, I was not in a conscious place to do so while being “The good girl” that everybody wanted me to be. I had to be Anze, who likes to take care of herself and find lasting solutions to critical problems in relationships and the local economy.
Research from the US shows that women of colour are among the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs. When you started your venture into the business world, how did you navigate the industry and make your mark as a Black woman in business?
Brown skin is part of my identity, but I believe that being efficient, effective and great at what I do is more important. I have had my share of challenges as a human, a woman, and a woman of colour, but I learned that the more I focus on my work and delivery, the better it gets, and I also found out that I needed to understand to be understood.
Having said all that, when I meet those challenges based on skin colour, I measure the value of my time to challenge them. Sometimes, I will address it in a gentle but assertive way and keep it moving. Sometimes, I just overlook it and teach a lesson with my results. I try to find out where the disconnect is coming from and bridge the gap for other women of colour who might find it difficult to navigate such circumstances. Sometimes, that helps to de-escalate tension by educating and loving.
I am not oblivious to the fact that many women of colour face challenges beyond what I have faced in business worldwide. In many ways, I’ve been the outlier in the room, but that never deterred me in my ambition and focus because I had to learn to be centred in who I am, not what I look like. I took it as a challenge to build my strength and harness my emotional growth through patience and understanding. Travelling around the world and meeting new people of different cultures and backgrounds has helped me understand cultural differences and how people think. Being a woman and black is about using your cultural differences to build relationships. How you connect and deal with situations you’re given in life, taught me how to speak my mind lovingly, connect with people on an emotional level, and understand their challenges as well to learn and grow together.
What does it mean for you to be an empowered woman with self-worth and confidence? Was this something you ever struggled with in the past? If so, how did you overcome it?
I’m sure everyone has struggled with their self-worth at some point. So did I, both professionally and personally. No one has it easy, some work through it, and some live with it.
I was very co-dependent, insecure and uncertain. I faked confidence and felt very alone for a long time until I started learning personal development from a Jim Rohn CD a friend gave me on my birthday. It completely changed my perspective on life and shifted my mindset to where I started enjoying my time alone with myself. These precious solitary moments became an incubator to build my self-worth and confidence. I lacked focus and discipline, but I had so much passion. I started looking for more personal development lessons and audios on YouTube. I read books and autobiographies from authors like Eckhart Tolle, Oprah, Dale Carnegie, Malcolm Gladwell etc. As I took more chances and stopped caring about what people thought of me, I found my self-worth and confidence. I even hired a coach to guide me through it all. Still learning but this has allowed me to relate to other women on their journey, through my strength with empathy and our common experiences.
To emulate not to emasculate, to empower not overpower, to create a peaceful flow, not a storm. That is when we can be open to receiving.
Your coaching and consultancy firm, High Value Women, focuses on providing healthy relationships and leadership strategies for women through feminine influence. How important was it for you to cater your services to women and assist them to revive their sense of self-worth?
Before women’s suffrage, emancipation, equality and all the amazing things women have fought for, everything in business was designed for men. We lived in a predominantly autocratic world. It still happens in some parts of the world today. It is amazing how we have the first female Vice President in the history of men in 2020. Leadership, entertainment, sports, and even specific jobs like being a pilot, an engineer, a doctor and so forth were known as a man’s job.
Women had to conform to what existed and just now adapt to new standards. However, you can tell some women leaders still emulate men in their form of leadership, which is subconsciously what they have known over time by seeing men lead. So, a woman leading like a man subconsciously projects and reinforces her masculine energy. In doing so over time, she masters that and then does the same at home, which clashes with her partner’s masculine energy (if she is heterosexual). I believe it is the reason we see a lot of divorces and breakups today and that should be not the case. A woman can lead effectively and can still influence her partner’s authority in her home by mastering how to effectively use her feminine and masculine energy.
This inspired my decision to cater my services for women. Men essentially DO NOT want to compete with women, nor do they even think of themselves as equal. There are exceptions of course. Our fight for equality is mainly applicable in social and political structures. It’s different with personal relationships.
When a woman doesn’t know her worth, she gives it away unknowingly or feels threatened. We all need to find our leader within and that means different skills for different women. Leadership is about influence, not authority, and women understand influence better than anyone. Michelle Obama is a perfect example of this. She is intelligent, beautiful, confident, and self-aware which is what keeps her grounded. Through this, her emotional stability and sense of value are even more amplified in her relationships and connections with others. Hence, she is the influence of her husband’s authority, and they polarize each other very well. Not without challenges, of course. She is the ultimate High Value woman. Every woman has this, and I’m all about helping them find their power within so they can radiate it to the world and enjoy the best of both.
Can you explain what feminine influence is and how women can start incorporating it into their work and personal life alike?
Feminine influence is like water underneath a boat. Without water, the boat will look cute but can’t be very useful. With enough wind, it can sail to a distance. When at peace the boat rocks, when it feels a storm, it can flip that boat upside down or rip it apart.
A woman has the power to do all that. Knowing how to use that power is what we have not been taught as young girls growing up. We are mostly taught to obey, be submissive and be nice…whatever that means. Then when the storm rages within, we don’t know what to do with it. As a woman, you are a leader through your influence on others and using that energy to nurture and communicate with others allows that power to shine inside and out. Having deep consciousness of who you are and how you act with others is how you have a big impact on your relationships.
It’s called emotional vulnerability – it is a critical place where your intimacy is desired. Where your partner or a man who loves and respects you can connect with you to form a bond. You can channel it by honestly expressing how you “FEEL” without blaming or playing the victim. For example, ‘I feel comfortable or uncomfortable”, not “I’m okay” when you know you are not and expect someone to read your mind and fix it. Most women think it’s a weakness to be vulnerable and open, but it’s our greatest strength and superpower, or they guard it because of past pain – putting up walls to protect themselves from more pain can actually be keeping out what they want and need. So taking care of yourself and making time to laugh, dance and breathe will help you relax and understand how to manage and balance being a lady, woman, wife, mother, President or CEO, engineer, doctor, pilot or whatever she wants to be, and still enjoy being feminine. That is what makes a woman noble and of high value. The Queen of England, with whom I happen to share the same birthday on April 21st, is all of that. When she is not queening for her people, she is still a queen within – so are you.
To emulate not to emasculate, to empower not overpower, to create a peaceful flow, not a storm. That is when we can be open to receiving. Men are wired to protect that in us. Only then do we feel safe to submit and influence his authority to lead. Be it in an office environment or in a romantic situation.
Your latest business venture INDUX Global, Inc., is providing opportunities in technology infrastructure development and renewable energy for Africa’s emerging markets is creating jobs and business. What was the main inspiration behind this venture and how is it going to transform the people and communities in Africa?
Being from Cameroon and understanding the reality, value, and potential, I ache for better leadership, development and infrastructure in Africa. I’m passionate about improving the economic abilities, as well as the mindset of the people. When I saw the opportunity to partner with local and international contractors as well as local governments to build factories within Africa that will create products and services by Africans for Africans, I jumped on it. INDUX Global, Inc. was born. Through INDUX, the goal is to make the continent more stable with an economy that is supported by local labour versus expat labour. Through these relationships, we build educational and training opportunities for the locals that will eventually create new leaders
for Africa with a better mindset. Currently, many of the natural resources that Africa has been shipped out for processing due to the lack of skilled labour. When it comes back into the continent the rates are highly increased. Bridging the gap starts with giving opportunities to the locals to develop the skills to work with these international companies for better results that will benefit both sides.
What advice would you give to women starting in business and entrepreneurship?
The advice I have for women is to master their feminine energy – it’s the best way to master yourself. Spend quality time alone. Listen to your inner thoughts, and don’t be afraid of them. They are communicating critical information to you that can be your key to resolving many life’s challenges. If you are in business, delegate tasks to free up time for yourself. Be open to correction without defence. The I-can-do-it-all is not always healthy or beneficial. Rest and have a mind that is open to everything but attached to nothing. These will help you to harness your superpowers of vulnerability, gratitude and humour. Allow yourself to feel and receive, make time to have fun and genuinely connect with others. You are a Woman of High Value. Your worth is priceless. You don’t have to act like a man to be respected and successful.
