From Getting Fired by Text Message to Starting a Business at 23: Mary Njoki’s Story

Well, for Mary NjokiShe pulled herself together and, at the age of 23, founded her own PR firm.

Twelve years later he passes it on and teaches a whole new group of people how beginning own startups.

She Means Business from Citizen Digital spoke with Mary about her journey, the ups and downs, and how to turn negative experiences into your advantage.

Mary says, “The one thing you need to have before you start a business is conviction. Once you are convinced that the idea is what you should be doing, you will be willing to do whatever it takes to make sure the dream comes true.”

As Mary transitions from working from a full-time job to entrepreneurship, she says she has been able to overcome many of the challenges life has thrown at her and come out stronger.

“For me, every challenge usually creates an opportunity. It sounds cliché, but I’ve been there… I got laid off from an IT company, but three days later I started my journey in the public relations (PR) industry,” she says.

“Even when the guy fired me, I remember saying to myself, ‘I didn’t quit. You fired me.’ I felt like there was so much inside me that I wanted to express, and I wasn’t in the right place.”

Mary, who has a degree in IT, was working for an IT company at the time but felt her passion lay in the PR industry.

Mary said, “I thought, what’s my purpose? What am I supposed to do? I felt like I was in an IT company, but I wasn’t fully committed to it and I wasn’t enjoying it…. I used to enjoy what I did as a volunteer on the weekends more than I did the work I was paid to do.”

She continued, “Even a guy fired me because I wasn’t doing very well. I wasn’t doing as well as he expected because he got me from another company and I was the best employee in the world. Then I came here and I was inconsistent, but that was because of what was going on inside me. I wasn’t satisfied.”

Mary advises those planning a career change to first gain practical skills in their chosen field and then look for opportunities.

Watch the full episode of She Means Business here.