Health, Wellness and Bleachers - Marie T. Djeugo

Welcome to SpeakUP! International with Rita Burke and Elton Brown!

People usually refer to our guest today as a very active and energetic woman. The woman I'm going to be speaking with today is none other than Marie Teresa Djeugo. She's always striving to improve herself personally and professionally, she's always ready for a new learning opportunity as well. Marie Teresa currently holds a project management position with a financial institution where she has been an employee for nearly 25 years. Marie Teresa is also owns an online company that deals with health and wellness. She's the mom of three growing children and loves to shout on the bleaches to support them. To our listeners, we introduce Marie Teresa Djeugo!

It's spring outside. It feels so great to start shutting off all these clothes. I see you on a hot summer's day sitting in the bleachers, cheering your children on. I believe children need all the support they can get from their parents. Are you a soccer mom or a football mom? Tell us about the sports your kids are into that has you in the bleachers screaming. Tell us about the life of a bleacher screamer!

Thank you. First of all, I want to thank you and Elton and Rita for having me here with you today. So I'm very happy to share my stories with you. So I'm a mom of three. I'm a football mom and a basketball mom, so that has a main sport that my kids play. So my son now is playing at the university level, so I'm very proud of him. To have stay in the sport all those year, years started playing since primary school. So we can say that is, what about, what is football? Okay. And those sport and as a mom, football mom, we travel when we, when he plays and I like to shout out and sometime oh mom. Stop. But no, I'm so happy and I'm so proud of them. So I continue. Shout shout. Also, they are my this is for my son. I have two other kids, girls, they play basketball also, high school or civil or in school, and I have one now who's still playing basketball, they did other sports, swimming, other things but those are the main things that they keep, that keep us traveling. Being with dad with them. So that, that are the two sports that my kids play, the football and basketball.

I'll have you know that my son played football at the university level as well Marie Teresa and I did attend his games, but I did not understand the game, and so guess what I did. And now I'm embarrassed to say that I read a book when I was at his games. And I know that's not a good thing to say, but I did not understand the game. So you are a good mom. You probably understand the game, and so you root for your children. Congrats! Congrats!

Thank you. Thank you. I can say to you, I don't understand everything so I ask parent around me, what's happening? I saw that something happened. What is it? But. I know when they're going, when they're winning. So I know that!

You're wiser than I was way back then. So I have another question that I want to ask you. You've been with your current company for nearly 25 years, so what is so rewarding about working for that company? Tell us.

Oh yes. When I say that I'm working almost 25 years, yes. That people are like, what? And yes, I will be a 25 years old employee in October for this. I'm working for a bank and what is rewarding is that when you working for a big company, you have the possibility to do, to try different departments. You can go to the legal, you can go to the accounting, the insurance, name it. You have many things that you can do, a variety of function that you can do, and in my case, that was the case because I'm always striving to learn new things to improve myself I took those opportunities when they became to try new things and recently not far than one month, I had to change to, so I'm now in a new department, a new things that I didn't know. I have to learn the new way to work and so that's why I. For the last 20, almost 25 years, I travel a lot in the same company, learning new things and also that's good because you develop also your network because you met different people and also you increase your employability because you are, you show that you can adapt quickly, you can learn quickly. All those skills help you in every time that you in face of new things that you didn't know. So in my case, that was a good thing. Although I can say 25 years with the same employer, but inside the 25 years, there's a lot of learning, lot of experiences, variable experiences that I own all those years.

It is so important to continue to grow your network and being able to adapt within a company, and I think that in itself, those two attributes allow you to grow and remain in a company for a long time, such as yourself for 25 years. The global wellness economy stands at around 4 trillion. This was in 2020. This was amidst the chaos and destruct and disruptions caused by Covid 19. There are so many facets that make up the global wellness economy. There is wellness, estate, wealth, mental wellness, public health prevention. Personalized medicine, traditional and complimentary medicine, and the list goes on and on. You are the owner of an online company in the health and wellness industry, so what is your niche and how did you get started?

Okay. I can say to you that the wellness is almost part of my life. Why? Starting in my childhood, my parent, my father especially suffer from diabetes for almost least with diabetes, almost four years. So as I was growing up, I can see how he has to struggle with that disease. As these disease also have many complication as heart, high blood pressure and many other, the eyes, the hearing, anything. So he went through all that, all his years. So when I was a child, my mom used to be very careful of what we were eating. So sugar, oil, salt. Things that we were using very light in our household also my mom was an active woman as well, so I learned very in the young age to do exercise. I remember when I was teenager, I was going for jogging with her, doing exercise pushups and et cetera. So that was something that. I grew up in a certain time in adult way. I met the colleague who talk about this good product that she had, and she knew she was so excited about. And the policy, the ingredient policy, attract me, intrigued me. So that's, I could easily link it off all the things that I learned from my childhood and Asking for man niche is any person who want to improve his wellness, his health by having a healthier life using product that have less toxin. And what good for your body, for your environment, for your health. So that's why I joined that company and having. I, that's for almost nine years now, online business. So that's something that goes with me because I kept that active life, as I said, yes, my kids are very active. They do sport, but I do it also and never stop. Even when they were young, when they would have their activity, when sometimes they have trainings, what I do, I will leave them with the coaches and I will go for a job or walk around. I'll go to the gym who's near, and after that I came back after the practice and take them back. So I say I won't lose myself while they're keeping in health. So that's why I, this company is really linked to my value that I have. For what I use because what we eat is as important as what we put in our skin. So I learned that also in the way I'm continue improving myself, learning on the wellness and how I can use things that I can also do in my household daily. So that's why busy mom like me, even people who have young children, they don't know how to stay active. I went through that so I can help people, showing them how to do also with the product that I promote.

Marie Teresa, it sounds to me as if you're really passionate about this health and wellness thing, and it also sounds to me as if you had quite an inspiration because of your dad's health to become involved with health and wellness. Thank you for responding to that question for us. Now, as you are aware, SpeakUP! International aims to inspire, to educate and to inform, and there's no question that you're helping us to meet those goals right now. So here's my other question to you. I met you through Toastmasters. If you remember, that's where I met you through Toastmaster. Nice. So when I met you as well, you were in the process of starting up another club and I saw you as a driven, passionate Toastmaster and that drive and that passion only becomes because you saw or recognized value in being a member of Toastmaster. Speak to us about how you benefited.

Okay, so for a, for, first of all, I want to explain what is Toastmaster in case that people who will listen to us don't know what is Toastmasters. Toastmaster is a international nonprofit organization who is particularly working for improvement of the speaking and leadership skills. So you can have it corporate or you can have it in community club. In that case, when I met you, Rita, cause we were in the process to create and corporate club. In my organization where I work, why did I start that process? And this one was the second club that I was creating in the organization. Why? Because Toastmasters, for me, is the best thing that anyone can have in his life. Why? Because every time we are asked to do presentation, we go to interview, at least once in our life, we have to do presentation at school. Even kids start at primary school and we have to answer Imprompt question. Can be in our office, can be at home from the kids, can be a no, someone a stranger asking question. So Toastmasters help people to improve their communication skills. They help to build leadership skills too. They have to have the, to develop the art of rhetoric. And also I saw that those must help people to develop self-confidence also because when you know how to express yourself to use the right word, and you know that in any question any situation. You, you will be able to answer to any kind of question, even though you don't know the answer. It's good for the people to have that self-confidence. Do you know that people are more afraid to speak than to die? So the sec, the first reason people are afraid was it's public speaking and the second one is to die. So it's something that. Is existing in our society and many people have it. So my my, my will was to develop that and create that in for my colleagues because I, now, I know that in, in the society now in the public situation now where people have to speak, presentation, present themself, negotiate, those are the skills that we need. Daily. So that was the purpose that I wanted to pray that club for all the benefits that people can have in the job environment. And I can say to you that the two clubs that we having now is I, when you see the development of people is like you are impressed from the day one, when they start six months, one when one year later or more. We can see people improving and in their career too. I know that those kids are part of their success also, because the way you speak, the way you, you ask question at job in the meetings is different and people start noticing you differently. So that's all the benefits that we have. And think anyone. Any individual should go to a Toastmaster, at least in his life once. That's what I think

Marie Teresa, how did you benefit from Toastmasters? I know you talked about confidence building and public speaking and leadership. How did you, how did Marie Teresa benefit from Toastmaster?

I'm a Toastmaster member for more than 20 years. When I start Toastmaster. The position that I held at the office at that time was a financial advisor, so I had to speak to customer, but I didn't have necessary presentation to do also. And so what I gained for myself is, was to be time oriented when I speak. Because I had usually one hour meeting for with each customer, so I need to arrange depending of the subject the customer was coming from for, to do anything to explain, to answer to the question, to fill all the paper. And so I started to know naturally when I was taking too much time. This is one thing. Time management. Other thing for me, it was to have to speak in a structural way when you are asking a question or when you want to intervene in a conversation to speak in a structural way. Simple so that you grab attention of people. And the other thing, in Toastmaster, what we do is to practice impromptu speeches. Also to be easy to answer to a question quickly with that, with a very little preparation. So for me, that's the gain that I got from Toastmaster. The other side is the leadership. A certain point in Toastmaster is communication and leadership. A certain point I say, okay, now I want to give back what I receive because Toastmaster is also based on mentorship. So when you join the club, you are linked with a mentor who will help you know how. Master works, how to help you choose your pathway because we have many pathway that people choose depending on what they want to develop. And I starting giving back. And when I starting giving back, that's when I got the most. Of those masters because when you give, you receive also. And since sometime I'm always in the process to helping club mentoring people. Helping an organization for conf anyway. I'm helping. So for me, the best part is the leadership that wonderful.

Is a philosophy that says, it's a philosophy that

says when you teach, you learn. And that's what I hear from you. Yes, exactly.

Wonderful. You, we talked about leadership and being able to present your thoughts. So what kind of projects have you overseen in your capacity as a project manager and using your leadership and presentation skills? Can you give us an example of how you use those tools? While respecting confidentiality,

yes. When you're a project manager, so you have to lead a team to conduct a project because you have something to deliver at the end. So you have to conduct meetings and those master skills help me to conduct those meetings. Each meeting has a purpose and you want that at the end of the meeting. The purpose is We attend the purpose that we have for the meetings. So you have also to deal with your stakeholders and stakeholders. You cannot be, have some difficult situation. When we work with people, sometimes difficult situation happens. And also Toastmaster skill help you because Toastmaster, we also practice feedbacks. In a positive way. So that help you to see, to analyze and know how to talk to people in that, in those situation, difficult situation. Also, when you are a project manager, you have to plan and follow your plan. So the time management that we develop in Toastmaster also help because when you know that attacks should be done for this frame of time. To make sure that you have a anything to do that. So those are all the skills that we develop in Toastmaster that can apply, that I can apply in my job as a project manager, especially a project manager. I.

Excuse me. I usually refer to them. I usually refer to them as portable skills. You can put them in a suitcase and walk from the department to the department and apply them. Thank you so much for that. That's exactly, yes. Now, what would you say is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?

As a Toastmaster, I develop an ability to always seeking for feedbacks. I remember one of my former boss manager told me that because in our job, I think is in a mini organization too. At certain point to know that if you have done your work, especially when you held a position where you work with different people in different department, so then you go back to, to receive a feedback for your evaluation at the end of the year. So the advice that he gave me was that don't wait until the end. So in the process, go to seek for feedbacks and adjust sometimes just a discussion with someone. Reduce what he was waiting for you and maybe understand your situation or you will understand better his situation. So this is an advice that I keep with me. So when I work with people, I will ask question, I'm not sure that I understand what you want. Is it really what you want? And I can ask someone else, do you know as now I'm a new in a new, in this new team? So now we go back to other people around to say I heard that new thing that is a good thing. Is it the same thing? Is it the right thing? What do you think about that? How do you see that? So with that, you adjust yourself and you don't go like assuming and waiting at the end to ask the feedback. So the person can say, oh, when we ask you this thing you did, this is not really what I wanted. So say, oh, I didn't know. So maybe if you stick a step further and then you go back to ask the question, don't you have the answer? So that is the piece of advice that I keep always with me. And I apply it other areas of my life.

So what do you see as the biggest challenge in managing projects within a financial institution, such as the one you're in, and how do you address them?

Oh, the challenge, the challenges are many, I think. I don't think it's specific to a financial institution. Any project manager, the main challenge I think is to, how can I say that? To manage the people, stakeholders. This is the main function of a project manager. So manage people, the stakeholders. And and the best thing is to be always to, to have active listening. This is very important to have an active listening, to be willing to learn. Not afraid to do some mistakes. Okay. But, and be very open, clear, open so that people feel that they can trust you. They can come back to you to give advice or to give you feedback. I think that is the challenge, is to manage the stakeholder. But we can, but the way we act we talk with people, we can. What can I say? We can find a way to fix that that challenge. I can say. I don't know if it's clear what I said.

It is very clear. It is very clear. So you cheerleader your children. You work very hard. You have an online business, so help our audience understand. What brings you joy apart from these things?

Okay, so what make me joy in my life is to all those activity make give me joys. No. If I think that I'm a kind of person. If I have nothing to do, I will refund something to do. So when I have many things, I like energy, I am happy. And also taking the present moment is also is as I'm aging. I'm not old, so old, but as I'm aging, I think that just the present moment taking time is really important and I like to do exercise. And I can walk, I do bicycle. During the, so the winter I do cross country skiing, so I like to exercise. So almost daily I do something. Even it's only working. This is something that make me, give me joy, joy, exercise. And I think with all those things that I have to do, Doing exercise also is good for me because when I do it, I, my head is like nothing is empty. I'm taking that time for me, even though it's only 30 minutes, is the 30 minutes that I have going outside and I like to walk outside feeling the fresh air. Seeing people and now that the weather is is good, it's going better and better. We as we going for the, we're going for the summer, it's so good, but I'm outside every day, even in winter and I like that. I think doing exercise is something that I have in my life. Very often it's a center. Everything I do have exercise. Even when I vacation, I'll be find time to go exercise. And as a

person who is passionate about health and wellness, I'm sure that you know that exercising releases those endorphines that brings joy. Exactly. So thanks a lot for mentioning that you live in

Montreal and it's absolutely beautiful. I've been there several times. Couple times in the winter, which I found to be brutal, winter is winter, right? So yes, you live in you, you live there. And so tell us a little bit about Montreal and what you do outside of exercise.

Oh, we have a beautiful bicycle path here in the area. Those are very beautiful. I work in Montreal. I left a, I lived here very many years now I'm living in the suburban, just a little bit on the north, the city level, but not far from Montreal. I love a lot, the whole part of Montreal. That is a place that I can go working. Along the side and I love it. There are many things that we can do. Museum, also a Montreal Parks that we have here. Very interesting things that we can that people can do here in Montreal.

Do you find interesting food that you enjoy in Montreal? Is it, like the food of what Montreal individuals eat versus. Food from maybe your hometown or do you like a combination of both? I'm interested in finding out what people like to eat. That's the first thing I wanna do when I go to a new country is I wanna find out what people eat. So tell us a little bit about what you eat in Montreal.

Montreal is a melt pot. Someone will always, as I said, careers, I have to learn, I have to discover things. So when I don't have specific cuisine that I love. I eat everything. I'm from African roots from Cameroon, so I will eat Cameroonian food Asian food, Italian name it, Indian. I eat everything. And when I found a recipe that I like and I can do and we can eat home. We just adopted and that we go into our recipes. So for Montreal, I don't have something specific. We have any kind of cuisine that we will like French in ancient Greeks Italian African from the Caribbeans. We have everything that we, someone is curious. We have the possibility to find something in Montreal.

I am hearing you say that one has to have an open heart and open mind, and one will learn and one will enjoy and one will thrive. And so I thank you so much, Marie. Theres for joining us today on Speak Up International and I know for certain that you have helped us to meet our objectives, so thank you so very much.

Thank you for having me too.

Thank you for listening to SpeakUP! International! To contact our guests, Marie T Djeugo and request her wellness services she offers to the community, please submit your request to info@speakuppodcasts.ca. If you would like to be interviewed by us, SpeakUP! International, please drop us a message containing your name, company, name, the service you provide to your community and email address to info@speakuppodcasts.ca. You can reach us using Facebook. Instagram Twitter, and LinkedIn. To connect to our podcasts, use Spotify or your favorite podcast platform and search for SpeakUP! International. You can also find our podcasts using our web address. www.speakuppodcast.ca. Our logo has the woman with her finger pointing up mouth open speaking UP! At SpeakUP! International, we aim to inspire, to inform, and to educate.