{"id":5683,"date":"2018-11-30T21:07:04","date_gmt":"2018-11-30T21:07:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mogulmagazine.co.uk\/?p=5683"},"modified":"2020-12-16T21:28:14","modified_gmt":"2020-12-16T21:28:14","slug":"mena-fombo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mogulmagazine.co.uk\/index.php\/2018\/11\/30\/mena-fombo\/","title":{"rendered":"Mena Fombo Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mogul Magazine catches up with activist, consultant, mentor, and American football player Mena Fombo to discuss her upcoming event the Black Girls Convention <\/span>& more!<\/p>\n

1. What is The Black Girl Convention?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Black Girl Convention is an all-day event dedicated to women and girls of African and Caribbean heritage.\u00a0Our theme this year is Love & Power.\u00a0The day is packed with inspirational talks, break out workshops, an afro hair and beauty expo including live demos and opportunities to browse and buy from some amazing black-owned businesses in the marketplace.\u00a0I wanted to create a space that specifically was focussed on individuals being able to celebrate, connect and share experiences as we navigate the world as women of colour.<\/p>\n

*Woman = self-identifying.<\/p>\n

2. Who are your inspirational influences?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

My birth mum and my foster mum.<\/p>\n

Oprah Winfrey<\/p>\n

Serena Williams<\/p>\n

Angela Bassett<\/p>\n

Eternal still to this day, loved what this group did for black British girls in the 90s!<\/p>\n

3.if you could collaborate with one female entrepreneur to create an all-female event who would it be and why?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

OMG \u2013 hands down it would be Oprah Winfrey! But I think I\u2019d be so star struck I wouldn\u2019t be able to do anything, she\u2019d probably think I was an awful business partner!<\/p>\n

4. What has been the biggest challenge you had to overcome?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

My foster family pretty much all emigrated when I was in my early twenties. I went from being the youngest of seven with a strong family network to being alone and broke! I have amazing friends,<\/p>\n

friends who are now my family \u2013 who carried me through, and I guess I kept my faith, I\u2019m very driven and so I found a way to keep going in the face of adversity.<\/p>\n

5. What do you think are the advantages of being a female in the entrepreneur in the business industry today?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Honestly, I don\u2019t think there are any advantages, other than if you want to do work specifically targeted at other women. on the assumption, you know your market better than anyone else. Otherwise, the world is systemically unequal and favors men \u2013 sad, but true, I think women have to work harder for every gain, and if you are a woman of colour it only increases.<\/p>\n

6. Outside of your career, what are your hobbies?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

I play American Football with the Birmingham Lions. I play Defensive Line, usually Nose tackle, or 3tech for anyone out there who understands the game.<\/p>\n

7. We hear that you are a maverick on the sports field, what made you start playing American Football?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

I\u2019d always wanted to play American Football, but back in the day it wasn\u2019t around in the UK for women to play, so I ended up playing rugby for about 11 years, and then switched to American Football about three years ago. Proud to say I made it into the Great Britain practice team by the end of my first season, never got selected to play a game, but at least I tried!<\/p>\n

8.Any advice for upcoming entrepreneurs?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Working every hour God sends isn\u2019t the be all and end all of success.<\/p>\n

Be strategic, invest your time well, surround yourself with people who support your vision, and share your personal values, but most importantly take breaks and have holidays! I definitely burnt myself out last year and ended up having almost 2 months out of action whilst I sorted myself out. I\u2019ve been very conscious since that time just enjoy the ride as much as chasing the dream, I\u2019m not saying I\u2019m perfect at doing it, but I keep working on it. Health and wellbeing is everything, and without it, you\u2019re no use to anyone including yourself!<\/p>\n

9. What are your thoughts on the black hair movement in the UK?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0I\u2019ve always had natural hair! Bar two incidents! My birth mum tried to put a relaxer on me when I was 11! The pain was horrific, I remember the burning sensation, I cried and protested and it was washed off pretty quick after that! I tried again at 17, hated it and have never looked back! Like many black women I\u2019ve had many many styles, but I went fully natural wearing my fro about 5 years ago – one word – Liberation!!! Having the confidence to do that took about 6months of youtube videos, mental preparation and lots of experimenting, but I got there! I LOVE my hair, it\u2019s like my best friend and my worst enemy combined! I love my hair so much I plan many parts of my life around it! I go back to braids or cane row now and then just as protective styles or when I\u2019m playing a sport. I think the natural hair movement is beautiful, I would love for us to take back full ownership of the industry at the same pace that we take back full ownership of our bodies, including how we wear our hair!<\/p>\n

10. What can we expect from Mena over the next year?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Two highlights for 2019 include:<\/p>\n

Black Girl Convention hosting a range of smaller talks and workshops over the year \u2013 keep an eye on the website, we\u2019ve got some surprise planned!<\/p>\n

You can also find me delivering the monthly coaching programme for the BAME home students on EQUITY ran by UWE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can also get in touch for bookings throughout the year via my website<\/p>\n

11. Where can people follow you online?<\/b><\/p>\n

Menafombo.com<\/a><\/p>\n

@menafombo<\/a> (twitter)<\/p>\n

Blackgirlconvention.com<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

@blackgirlcon_ (fb \/ twitter \/ insta)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mogul Magazine catches up with activist, consultant, mentor, and American football player Mena Fombo to discuss her upcoming event the Black Girls Convention & more! 1. What is The Black Girl Convention?\u00a0 Black Girl Convention is an all-day event dedicated to women and girls of African and Caribbean heritage.\u00a0Our theme this year is Love & […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"two_page_speed":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1857,1989],"tags":[2353,597,2351],"class_list":["post-5683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive-interview","category-lifestyle-culture","tag-black-girl-convention","tag-bristol","tag-mena-fombo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mogulmagazine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mogulmagazine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mogulmagazine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mogulmagazine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mogulmagazine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5683"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mogulmagazine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5693,"href":"https:\/\/mogulmagazine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5683\/revisions\/5693"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mogulmagazine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mogulmagazine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mogulmagazine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mogulmagazine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}