I love working with women - Theresa Ayoade

Chief Executive of Charter House Productions, Theresa Ayoade, has revealed she prefers employing and working with females because they “work with their hearts” and “are very passionate when they want to do something.”

“I think women have the advantage and are very passionate when we want to do something. If we have a single minded purpose, we are able to dream it and go for it. I like working with women because I have found out that they really come to work with their hearts,” Mrs Ayoade told Claudia Lumor in an interview she granted Glitz Africa magazine, ‘The Relationship Issue.’

Theresa Ayoade, in the exclusive interview, opened up on how she met her husband, Iyiola Ayoade, and also gave interesting revelations on her career.

Talking about some of the challenges she has encountered as a professional working woman, Theresa Ayoade said though many people have had problems working with her as a woman, she has never expected to be treated differently.

“I dealt with everything as I had to. Of course, from your male colleagues, you will get a lot of resistance and a lot of talking behind you, but that should not stop you from pursuing what you want to achieve. You can’t always please anybody,” she noted.

Mrs Ayoade noted further that as a working woman, “the real challenge is when you get married and have kids. I see the challenge from the home front. I was in Legon (University) as a married woman, a worker at Joy Fm and a mother with a young kid. So I was combining everything and working full time. I was a full time student, working full time and attending lectures and still being a wife. I had to come home and cook, take care of the babies and work; so it was a tough period.

“It is really tough as a woman. You will marry and move into a man’s house, wake up and prepare breakfast for your husband, he has to be at work by eight o’clock, and you also have to be at work by eight o’clock, but see what you went through that morning before going to work.

“At the same time, you have to compete with these men for promotion. And even while you are there, there is PTA meeting, shopping, etc. And men come home to meet dinner. Sometimes you may not be 100% all round and it is ok as a woman to accept that. I think what puts pressure on us is feeling that we have to do everything 100%. Do what you can when you can,” Mrs Ayoade stated.

She had this advice for tertiary students:

“When I go to Legon campus and I see these young girls, I tell myself these girls can do so much more because they have so much time; because as a student, there is so much time in between. There are days you don’t even have lectures so if there is a company you have a loose arrangement with, you can gain some experience with them. By the time you come out of school, you have experience all piled up.

“But they don’t do that. They just enjoy being students and come out to join everybody struggling to build their careers. That is one thing that I feel if I had a chance, I would encourage people in school to find something else to do because there is too much time in between.”

HOW I MET IYIOLA

“I got married at the age of 26 or so. I met him (Iyiola) on the job. I was working at Joy Fm and a colleague said to me, ‘there is this Nigerian company that wants to do a car show, so come with me and let’s go break a deal and I will give you a commission.’

“So we went, and he was the person we had to deal with. And it so happened that he lived at Achimota, which was not too far away from my house. He would come pick me up and take me home. He was so patient. And that’s how our relationship started.

“When I met him, he had nothing. I believed in his mind and his capacity to grow. Most of these young girls want already made men.”