Ngozi Onwuchekwa is a dynamic voice in the world of business transformation, known for her work across digital strategy, inclusive leadership, and employee wellbeing. With years of experience advising global firms on how to create more empowering and inclusive environments, she has become one of the UK’s top mental health speakers.
In 2024, Ngozi brought her message of personal resilience to Brighton—taking on the Brighton Marathon and using the experience to champion mental and physical wellbeing. Her commitment to personal growth echoes in her work with businesses, as she helps teams unlock potential through mindset shifts, storytelling, and purposeful leadership.
In this exclusive interview with The Champions Speakers Agency, Ngozi explores what it means to lead with empathy, build high-performing teams, and cultivate resilience from within.
Q: You’ve spoken openly about overcoming adversity—how has that shaped your understanding of resilience, and how can local leaders apply those lessons in the workplace?
Ngozi Onwuchekwa: “That’s a really good question. Um, overcoming adversity has taught me that resilience is about adaptability and perseverance. Each challenge faced has forced me to realise that setbacks or drawbacks are really opportunities for growth.
“And companies can use this mindset in a variety of ways. One of them is to encourage risk-taking—I mean, obviously measured risk-taking—and for people to learn from their failures, right?
“To culture an environment where that’s possible, as well as culturing an environment that their team can also have a safe space whereby they can talk about their challenges, their motivations, their needs, and their wants in a very supportive environment.”
Q: In a fast-paced working world, what are some realistic ways businesses can balance high performance with genuine wellbeing support?
Ngozi Onwuchekwa: “That is another really good question. Regards to that, I mean the strategies that I recommend are, for instance, set clear goals, take breaks, foster an environment of open communication.
“And, you know, companies should really think about investing in wellness resources. So, setting clear goals, for instance, what that does is that when you establish an environment—a culture—of setting achievable and measurable goals, it just focuses that team or that individual and stops them from feeling overwhelmed.
“Regards to investing and providing wellness resources, there are so many companies that are still not doing that, or they’re not doing that enough, and that is very important.
“And it can be anything from having, you know, a therapist—or “shrink” if you’re American—that comes into the office every month, or just providing resources where people feel as though, yes, we can go here or we can go there. We know what to do if we’re feeling overwhelmed or stressed or if we just need somebody to check up on us, or if we just need to check in.”
Q: How important is physical activity to mental health, and what role can employers play in encouraging it?
Ngozi Onwuchekwa: “Right, okay. I mean, physical fitness is really important and I really feel as though it’s critical for having better resilience. It reduces stress, it improves your mood, it makes your thinking a lot better, and to be honest, we’re really talking about doing something that releases a natural high—endorphins. So it’s all plus-pluses as far as I’m concerned.
“And what bosses can do is that, you know, whether you’re manager or director or CEO, is really investing in physical activities or programs. You know, some companies actually already do this, whereby their employees or their staff can get a certain percentage off gym memberships around.
“And also again, it’s really taking wellness resources and mental health resources—taking that really seriously and investing in that, because that’s important.”
This exclusive interview with Ngozi Onwuchekwa was conducted by Sophia Hayes of The Motivational Speakers Agency.
