Miss. Rhoda Harriet Khataba
Miss. Rhoda Harriet Khataba is a Business Consultant and Coach, Chief executive director, keynote speaker, author, talk show host, Editor, producer, philanthropist, and influencer. Ms. Khataba is the founder of the Her Story Matters organization, in London, U K, where she has dedicated more than ten years to the advocacy of social psychology. She is devoting her life to mentorship and female leadership to help bring women’s equality throughout the world.
What were your initial years of growing up like? Tell us about your life before starting your corporate journey/venture/initiative.
I was born in Nairobi Kenya to an amazing family. My father worked in the media and my mother worked in a bank. I had 5 siblings, 2 brothers and 3 sisters, lost my brother years ago but he is still in our hearts. It was fun growing up. I am the 5th child and this had its challenges, because my siblings have such strong personalities, I had to be strong from an early age. I learnt to be myself early in life. As the youngest I would get teased all the time and as such developed a strong personality and sense of self. I am told I was a challenging child and I was strong willed too.
My eldest brother William introduced me to comic books when he noticed my interest in reading them. He would give me comic books and eventually literature books. He is the one who introduced me to Shakespeare. I loved art and theater and often imagined myself playing different roles etc.
I went to schools in Nairobi. In high school I was very active and joined almost every extra curricular activity to get me out of school because it was a boarding school and we rarely got to leave school. I was part of Drama, music and even the cheering squad for our women’s basketball team that was one of the best at the time. High school was tough in the sense that traditional education methods now when I look back didn’t suit me hence the challenge and there was a lot of bullying from students and teachers. Learning seemed boring and exams were tough with so much pressure to be the top student. Shame tactics were used on us to embarrass students who didn’t perform well in exams. Punishments were brutal so things like weeding the gardens, moving rocks around just to mention a few
As someone with mercury in Gemini you can only imagine that my mouth got me in trouble all the time and it’s hardly surprising I was in the noise makers list all the time, this meant punishments often and considered a naughty student. I didn’t particularly enjoy the learning process but loved the friendships at the time and school outings. I was what is considered an average student based on the education system, my learning style is not traditional so I struggled education wise. I remember my mother asking me often what profession I wanted to go into and this would change often from pediatrician, to lawyer to marine biologist etc. But when it came down to it what I really wanted was to own a business and be my own boss I just didn’t know how it looked like or articulate it
I loved school holidays because then I would spend time with family and friends and attend parties
I was very social and outgoing. When I finished school I was in a bad car accident and broke my femur until this time I had never been hospitalized. I ended up having an operation and have pins to this day. I was told I will never be able to run but proved the doctors wrong by running 2 marathons and I still run and keep fit to this day. I eventually came to London initially as a student studying Business and Finance and ended up staying. When I finished studying I started working in a bank and hated it. I quickly realized it’s not what I wanted to do and left. I left with no plan on what I was going to do. I worked in restaurant and retail trying to figure out my next move.
At the time I was taking dance classes for fitness and Remember the instructor saying to me that I could actually make money by teaching dance, I was amazed because I never thought I could do that or what it entailed. She recommended an agency which I signed up with and went through different training and routines that they taught and got started. At this time I was working in retail and teaching dance part time which I loved. This took me to different cities and it was so much fun. I decided to start working for myself when I started getting interest from clients to start teaching contemporary routines. I started my own agency and taught dance and this was my first business. It was tough. Studying business and doing business are 2 different things!
I got sick and had to stay away from work for sometime. This was a huge blow to my business because I had not trained anyone or created systems to keep the business going in case of any eventualities. This was my first lesson in business. I had to take time off and recover
I was thinking what could I do that was not exerting effort and non contact. It didn’t take long and I was introduced to someone who had started a business and was running a beauty pageant
I worked on this project and through this work was introduced to entertainment industry
It was fun and exciting for me and I loved it!
As part of promoting the work we were doing, we were invited to speak about the event on a lifestyle program and the producer of the program called me for months asking me to work with them.
I eventually agreed and decided to give it a go and this is how I got into the media.
Once in the media I was exposed to so much that I realized I was very naive. I didn’t have much awareness of what was going on and I was starting to mature as a woman
Every industry that is now a large-scale, top-notch business once started as a small idea in the minds of entrepreneurs. What was that idea or motivation that made you start your business /initiative? What motivated you within to say YES, go for it!”
My idea didn’t really come from a yes go for it as one would imagine.
I had gone through a traumatic experience before joining media and entertainment. I had been raped and didn’t tell anyone other than a friend of mine at the time.
This experience affected me more than I realized I was slowly getting depressed and eventually became suicidal. There was a lot going on in my life pressures of life and the trauma and I wanted to end my life
On the day I had decided to end my life I heard a voice tell me …there is someone out there who is going through what you are. How about starting something that will help women who feel as you are right now?
I always joke and say it was one of my spiritual awakening but it really was My perspective and mindset changed that day and that’s how Her Story Matters was born.
When I started it, many people didn’t understand why I was doing this, many people thought that other big organisations such as the UN should be doing it. I had so much backlash and was misunderstood until I shared this vision and mission with a woman Princess Moradeun Adedoyin-Solarin she looked at me and said “Harriet you are a visionary, born long before your time and because of this, the vision you hold can only unfold over time, be patient“.
This for me was the yes I was on the right path, someone saw me and the vision her words are in my heart till this day and power me up when I am frustrated.
The Consultancy was a natural transition for me coming from a background of Business and having consulted and worked in Executive positions in chambers of commerce and supporting businesses in strategy and innovation. I wanted to continue this aspect of work that I enjoy very much in a Consultancy capacity rather than employment
Tell us something about your initiative or current role. What is it about, and what impact are you trying to make?
My current roles are:
- CEO of Her Story Matters and the goal for the next 10 years is to share women’s stories and amplify women’s voices and support women to become financially independent.
- Taking the advocacy side of things up a notch by participating in conversations and consultancy with policy makers and leaders who can bring change.
- Her Story Matters magazine focuses on sharing women’s stories in the hope of helping women overcome challenges but also celebrate women who might never be celebrated by mainstream media for the work and impact they are making in the world
- Harriet Khataba Consultancy supports organizations in areas of media / marketing / branding/ public relations and leadership to make greater impact
My role as business consultant and coach is to support leaders and Business owners in growing sustainable profitable businesses and transforming themselves.
We need more leaders and business owners who are human centered and want to lead from an authentic place. Everything I want to achieve has an Empowered aspect to it.
Your journey and your vision are very inspiring, but are there any achievements or accomplishments you would like to mention?
Her Story Achievements have been many but the ones that I am proud of the most are:
Running a powerful and impactful campaign that reached over 70,000 women during our early years. Receiving awards for the impact Her Story Matters is making.
11 years running HSM, this has been no small feat most businesses close within the first 3 years so being here for us is an achievement.
Being part of the historic moments where UK govt decided that it was illegal to perform FGM to girls and it was a punishable offence, we were part of the campaign and policy making process.
Supporting women to access finance and grow their businesses but most importantly
Having women and men from all over the world reach out to us and tell us how much impact our work has made to them and their lives still gets me to this day.
My personal achievements would be becoming the leader I am today, I am still growing and learning but am proud of who I am today, from the young girl born in Nairobi… I would have never dreamt to achieve all I have.
Would you like to share with our young budding women entrepreneurs the change you would like to see in the world if given an opportunity?
The change I would love to see in the world is more collaboration between the genders.
It’s remarkable what women are achieving and bringing forth and it would be more impactful if the genders worked together towards a more peaceful world.
Seeing more women presidents and leaders would be something I would love to see and humans taking better care of the planet.
I believe when women and men get together and collaborate, wars and hunger will reduce because finally we will be focusing on something that truly matters- humanity.
Women are a growing force in the workplaces worldwide, standing shoulder to shoulder with their male counterparts. There are cracks in glass ceilings everywhere, with many women breaking through to carve out a space right at the top of the pyramid. What are your thoughts about women leadership today?
My thoughts about women leadership today is that we have always had women in positions of leadership, remarkable women at that, we have rarely seen them presented in the public arena as much as they are now. The numbers have increased which is a great thing, though not at the rate we would like to see.
I would like to see more women in positions of decision making, not just leadership, in positions where their vote counts and decision making cannot be done without them. This is the next level of leadership that I personally aspire to and would love to see more women at, it’s at this point that we will see accelerated change.
We also have to work with the men on this because as much as we want to have more women it’s not at the detriment of the other gender but for the betterment of society. A Lot of men are supporting women into leadership positions. My biggest career breaks have been through men supporting me.
What would you want to say to our young women leaders/audience reading this?
To the young women leaders reading this I would say it all begins with self belief and self Trust
When you learn to trust yourself, decision making and taking action becomes easier. Self belief and self trust is one of the basic ingredients for success
Let no one tell you you can’t win or achieve your dreams. And never give up when things don’t go the way you envision them. Take time and plan and get yourself a coach or mentor who has walked the path you are on. You are limitless.