Hidden Gems: Meet Tokunbo Okulaja of Tokunbo the Leader

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tokunbo Okulaja.

Hi Tokunbo, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am from Prince George’s County, and I’m a first-generation American. I attended the University of Maryland, College Park and received a degree in government and politics with a minor in rhetoric.

I started teaching middle school English and language arts in Mississippi as a 2013 Teach For America corps member. I served as a middle school educator for seven years before launching my business.

I always knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur, but I did not know how that was going to happen or what that would look like for me. During the pandemic, I published my first book. Also, I hosted online webinars for emerging leaders to develop their interpersonal skills, but I still did not know exactly how I was going to establish a business.

I finally got my real business idea after I hosted a class that was designed for leaders and writers. I am passionate about helping emerging leaders find their voice, identity, and purpose. I combined my favorite topics: leadership, healing, and writing into one course. The class I hosted was called, “Leaders Write: Healing Through Writing.” I was not prepared for the testimonies that students gave about confronting their painful past and how much writing helped them process their pain.

After hosting that class for eight sessions, students asked me to teach them how to write books. Writing has always been something that I have been passionate about; therefore, it was easy for me to see myself as a writing coach. I launched my first online coaching program called, Write Your Book Academy. This is a 90-day program designed to help emerging leaders learn how to write, publish, and sell their books.

As that program evolved, my students started to ask me to publish their books. In addition, I created more online courses that are designed to help emerging women leaders with writing, publishing, and interpersonal skills. Establishing courses online and workshops for multitalented, women leaders and partnering with other creators throughout the years has helped me define the people that I serve today.

Even though I started as a writing coach, I am an educator who creates courses and content for multitalented, women leaders to dominate wherever they are called. I provide women of faith with practical leadership tools for them to prosper wherever they are planted.

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Entrepreneurship has not been a smooth road. I experienced so much doubt, disappointment, hardships, and challenges along the way. The biggest challenge was trying to evolve and expand, but not knowing if my audience would accept the changes that I implemented.

Most of my audience was introduced to me as a writing and publishing coach, but I knew that there was so much more that I wanted to offer emerging leaders. It was difficult to add more leadership development topics because it felt like I had to start over to reach a different audience.

There have been many times when I feel like I am starting over because of obstacles. Even though I know what works for my business model, there are seasons when times change because people change their habits online.

I have learned the power of pacing myself and making sure that I am consistent, even when I do not feel like I am making progress. I also had to learn how to celebrate small victories and not be hard on myself when I did not see the greater outcome that I was hoping for.

We’ve been impressed with Tokunbo the Leader LLC, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Tokunbo the Leader LLC creates educational content for emerging leaders to write, speak, and lead with confidence. We empower women of faith to dominate wherever they are called to lead by providing them with practical tools.

I am most proud of the fact that many of the women leaders we coach share that they feel confident and equipped to handle the complexities that come with their destiny. I am a coach who has been teaching writers for the past 12+ years. I have helped numerous leaders write and publish their books in less than one year. People come to me when they want to accelerate their process.

In addition, I am obsessed with leadership. I have studied leadership for the past 15+ years. I have a master’s degree in Public School Building Leadership from Teachers College Columbia University in New York.

I have experience in Church leadership and training from universities. I combine what I have learned from the Church, university, and personal experience so that people can have the spiritual and practical side of growing as a leaders.

We offer an online course throughout the year called Write Your Book Academy. This is a 4-month program that teaches leaders how to write, self-publish, and market their books. I provide leaders with my special secret sauce on how to write well-organized and creative books in 90 days or less. This is the secret sauce that has helped me write 20 manuscripts and publish 8 of my books.

In semester two, our students decide to move on to Author School to become published authors. We publish books through our publishing company called, TTL Publishing.

Semester three is for leaders who want to learn the business side of being an author in our Authorpreneur School. This is for authors who want to learn how to turn their one-book idea into multiple products and define their brand.

We also host various leadership workshops throughout the year. Lastly, I am an 8x author, speaker, and podcaster.

Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Seeing people come to Jesus and discovering who they were created to be inside of Him. I also LOVE making people laugh in any way that I can.

Pricing:

• Write Your Book Academy- starts at $749 for the semester.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://tokunbotheleader.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tokunbotheleader/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tokunbotheleader/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSB8AcYgNCniOkYKlL3dEWA/featured
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4lBosdkG6PStfN4QSfgcML
• Other: https://tokunbotheleader.com/booking