Black Valley — Through My Eyes
My BV journey started on a very random day. I was scrolling through the streets of Linkedin where I saw a lot of my connections make posts about how they had not been accepted into the black valley program. As a matter of fact, I saw only one congratulatory post about the same program out of many and I was like “okay at least someone got in” — *roll eyes*.
I immediately went to their LinkedIn page and noticed that the application for the cohort was still on and I decided to try my luck. Moments after, I was done and completely forgot about it and went on with my business. A few days later I get an email from the team and I was in disbelief. I mean the content of the email got me shook (see image below — I mean a staggering 370 applications for just one cohort!)
About a week later, I got another email invite asking me for a suitable time to schedule an interview. I could not believe my eyes! Mama I made did! I went on and did the happy dance. A lot of questions ran through my mind — How did I get an interview among 370 applicants? Was my application that great? What did I do differently?
Fast forward to a week after my interview, I get another email congratulating me for getting into the program. This was surreal. How did this happen? Me? With my last-minute application? No way this was happening I said. I read the handbook and followed every single instruction carefully.
Our accelerator launch event took place a week later and that was the beginning of the best career experience of my life. I knew that I belonged there and it was perfect. We were paired with a mentor each, worked on our goals, worked on my personal product, and had random coffee dates. As the weeks progressed, I was paired with a tech founder to actively work alongside him on his live product. We also had the famous best-selling author and leadership coach Errol Lawson, speak to us on different occasions among other great speakers.
Speaking of my mentor, her name is Evelyn Ebo. Here’s her LinkedIn — Of course, I’m happy to share her with you all because everyone deserves an Evelyn in their lives. I can’t for the life of me think of how lucky I was that the universe aligned us on such a journey. From day 1, she didn’t let me fall or even attempt to stumble both in my personal and career life and that’s just one of the many ways she looked after me. It was like she was specially hand-picked for me! My continuous journey as a product manager became better with her.
We were treated like royalty. You could see that the people in the community honestly had your utmost interest at heart. I met with the best people, developed lifelong friendships, and became my mentor’s baby *shhh don’t tell her*. I even got to write an article for the black valley blog here.
Everyone needs to experience Black Valley as a community. The work they do there is phenomenal! Every single one of the BV staff and mentors was always so warm, happy, and welcoming. A huge shout out to Leke Sholuade, founder at Black Valley for the amazing community he had the vision for. I’m not sure he knows how wide the impact of that community is because it doesn’t get better than this. Best part? You get to belong to the family forever.
Here’s a special shout-out to Nadav Raviv, Kanika Selvan, Sam Faulkner, and the others that played a huge role in my success at BV. Thank you so much for taking the time to have those sessions with me.
And so, my watch as a mentee is over and I graduated with 2 active products (mine and that of a founder) in the bag. A standing ovation? Yes, please! Congratulations are in order! 🎉
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