Exclusive Interview With Ife Thomas – Mental Health & Wellbeing Advocate

”Don’t settle for what you think you can have.”

Ife Thomas is one of the UK’s leading speakers on self-esteem and confidence. Her insight has helped thousands of people to unleash their true potential, by using her tips and tricks to invest in their emotional wellbeing.

As someone passionate about wellbeing and mental health, Ife Thomas is the ideal motivational speaker for your corporate event. She can inspire an entire workforce, leading to improved workplace performance in your employees.

In this exclusive Q&A, Ife discusses the project that sprang to life during the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as how she has been helped others improve their self-esteem.

Q: If you could give yourself one piece of advice at the start of your career, what would it be?

“The bit of advice I’d give myself is to ask for what you want.

“Ask for the top level. So, I’d been doing some radio work for the BBC, and they were interviewing me. I said to the guy, ‘do you know what I’d really want?’ He asked me what I wanted, and I said ‘I’d really want my own TV show. I’d want to be on Good morning Britain. I’d want to motivate the nation.’ He said, ‘is that what you want?’ I said yes and he said, ‘let me see what I can do’.

“He then came back to me and said ‘I’ve put out your stuff to some people I know. But in the meantime, would you like to have a slot of Monday Morning Motivation on BBC radio?’ I said yes, but that’s because I asked for what I wanted.

“So, I think the advice I’d give to myself is to ask for what you really want. Don’t settle for what you think you can have.”

Q: You mentioned that you have fantastic self-esteem, which is really refreshing & inspirational. What advice can you give to other people who want to build their own self-esteem?

“Your self-esteem is at the core of everything you do, it basically powers your personality. I would say it definitely starts with the words you say to yourself.

“From now on, never, ever say something that would hurt you, if it came from someone else – something like ‘oh, I’m so stupid’. These things aren’t helpful to your self-esteem because your self-esteem is how much you respect yourself, how much you value yourself.

“Once you can look in the mirror and say, ‘I like myself’ or ‘I love me’, then you’ll start to build your self-esteem. You’ll care less about what other people think and you’ll care more about what you think. Every time you catch yourself saying something horrible to yourself, tell yourself ‘no, I am a good person’. If you don’t like yourself, it’s very hard for anyone else to like you.”

Q: What advice have you been giving to people who are struggling in this current climate?

“I try hard to get people to express what they’re feeling and get them to jump on top of the fear. So, if the fear of going out is that someone’s going to give you Covid-19, then say to yourself ‘what do I want to go out for?’

“Think about what you really want, visualize what you want. What do you want the result to be? Why are you going out?

“My specialty is human behavior. Once you understand how humans behave, you can then adapt to the way you behave to communicate with them. It’s also about having the confidence to say, ‘I’m afraid and I need help’, and people usually help.”

Q: Tell me a bit about Lockdown Motivation: Powerlift Your Life – what was the aim and outcome?

“So, when they told us we were going into lockdown, my first thought was ‘I like a routine’. If I’m just stuck inside, I’m going to need to create a routine for the children. I’m going to need to create a routine for me. I’m going to end up running up the wall. I then realised that everyone’s going to feel uncertain and anxious; they’ll need to feel good about themselves.

“That’s what I do. I do it already. So, I thought ‘I’m going to create a Facebook group, and I’m going to call it Lockdown Motivation’. I created a group and added lots of people, who already followed my stuff. Every single day for a long time, I was up live on the group, motivating. And I went through the chapters in my book. So, my book’s called Powerlift Your Career. We started with the first chapter, and every week we focused on one chapter.

“It makes me so upset when I meet somebody brilliant and talented, and has this dream – for example, being a photographer – and then they just don’t do it. I think to myself ‘you have the ability to take the most beautiful photographs that could change people’s worlds’. You have this gift, but you don’t use it because you’re afraid. So, I basically shake it out of them by cheering for them – ‘you can do it!’”

Book Ife Thomas

Contact The Mental Health Speakers Agency to provisionally enquire about Ife Thomas for your event today. Simply call a booking agent on 0203 9816 296 or email us at agent@mentalhealthspeakers.co.uk for more information.