Catherine Kapyanga - Environmental health technician,founder and vision carrier of BE YOUR OWN MODEL BRAND a brand that helps you unleash your inner potential and God given purpose. Director of NEAVAH BUSINESS SOLUTIONS a marketing agency. Founder of BRIDGING THE GAP CAMPAIGN a campaign designed to prepare school leavers for life after high school and a mum.

Facebook

Welcome to 12 Minute Converse with Jesus Believers.

God chose first to have a conversation with us, His creation.

Our prayer is that this listening space brings growth and transforms your life forever.

I praise God for you Catherine, it's a great pleasure to connect with you.

What part of the world are you in today?

Zambia, thank you so much for having me.

Is the food influenced by the neighboring countries?

Too much.

The food is influenced by neighboring countries but we do have our signature dish which is very, very African called Nshima.

Tell me about what you do from the perspective of understanding who you are and modeling brands.

My name is Catherine and I run three things basically.

I'm one of the directors of a marketing agency here in Zambia.

We have done quite some amazing work and we are expanding to other countries around and I run a brand called Be Your Own Model which helps me and you unleash our inner potential and God-given purpose.

So it's been running for seven years now.

This year marks exactly seven years and we have done a lot of great works around it.

We have hosted quite a number of events and there are so many testimonies around the people that we've impacted positively and a number of them are working in their purpose and they're doing so great for themselves as they are serving God as well.

What pushed you to do the work that you're doing today?

I grew up in two homes.

I lost my mom at a very early age.

I lost my mom when I was in grade five which I was 12 years by then, 11 years by then and I had to go stay with my mom's sister.

So having switched environments and limited screen time, there was this particular person I used to follow online.

By then we didn't really have the gadgets like we have now.

So what really inspired or pushed me to come up with this brand is I was a very reserved child growing up but one thing I knew is that I was going to be great and I was going to do great not only for me but for others as well.

So I am 100% self-motivated.

So it was about me, self almost all the time and I was like many other times we have role models, right?

People that we look up to, people that inspire us to do certain things, people that push us or trigger us to do certain things.

But what if we looked up to ourselves?

How much greatness can we do?

So instead of how because what happens if you're looking up to somebody and that person is no longer in line with what you are looking up to, already that causes redirection in your life.

It's like your mirror is no longer there.

So even you as an individual you get mixed or mixed up in everything.

So be your own model was established on grounds of looking up to yourself because one thing I strongly believe is that you can't fail yourself as a human being and instead of having role models, why not be your own model?

So that's where it drives from.

How do you ensure that you're in the right place when you're showing up when it comes to being in a relationship with Christ?

Dealing with self and seeing to it that I am well aligned, well grounded and well invested in God that helps me show up the way I do in different spaces of life including the brand.

What is the biggest challenge in getting the message out?

We have received some backlash before and also there are quite a number of Christian communities that are coming up and quite right we do have different objectives and different area of interests and sometimes getting the message around is mostly with the receivers, how they receive the message and how they perceive it and interpret the message.

I feel the receiving part mostly is somehow kind of a challenge because some people don't just receive the word or the message the way it should be received and perceived and acted upon because of maybe too many different voices that echo different things in the environment and there's always that.

What is the message you want them to get clearly?

How would you say that?

The message that I would want people to get so clear is unleashing their inner potential

because I strongly believe that God has put so much in each and everybody of us like each and

every one of us and the challenge is there's a lot of self-doubt, self-comparison, a lot of

holding back because you don't know how the world is going to receive what you're about to unleash

and for me that is a trigger because I hate seeing potential being wasted.

So if there's something I would want people to get so clear is to understand that God has put so much in each and every one of us and if we all walked in purpose, we all walked in our full potential surely the world would be a better place and a better space for generations to come.

You spoke about your auntie which was your mother's sister that took care of you.

Please tell me how did she impact your life?

Okay so most of the times when people talk about their mothers for me I have her in mind and not my biological mom because she never at any point doubted my vision and what I really wanted because I remember very well when I first had this conversation about this brand with her she was the first person to give me money and print out shirts written be your own model.

For me that spoke a lot and she's somebody that strongly believed in me and if there are words that I remember her for I should always say Catherine you can do anything that you put your mind to.

So sometimes she would give me very hard assignments to do around the house sometimes even to run around errands that sometimes I feel I can't really do this but should always say Catherine you can do anything you put your mind to and that for me was a push to get things done and just those words were instilled in me and most of the times up to now I live on I can do anything I put my mind to.

You told me about three things you said the marketing agency was one be your own model brand was the other is being an environmental health technician the third thing.

Okay so I did environmental health though currently I'm not doing anything in line with that.

The third thing that I do is I'm also a vision carrier for a brand a campaign rather

called bridging the gap campaign which is an exercise that is supposed to be or is conducted

in high schools and have meaningful conversations with grade 11 and 12 those people that are about

to be ushered into society because growing up myself no one told me what to expect when I'm

done with school because here in Zambia we have grades from grade one up to grade 12 right then

after grade 12 you write your final exams then those exams are what are going to determine the

next stage of your life and what program what course you'd want to study and do so there's a

gap between finishing school and getting into university immediately and most people in Zambia

sometimes have to stay home for maybe one to two or three years before they transition into school

so that gap is a gap where many people lose it and others make it.

If you are listening to this conversation five years from today what would you leave as a message for future you listening to this?

The sky is not a limit and you can do anything that you put your mind to do and constantly remind yourself that God has put so much.

In closing is there anything else you'd like to share with our amazing audience?

Our life is centered around God and anything that we do out of him is barely sustained.

It takes what is best in a certain environment for it to be sustained.

So whatever is best in Christ, whatever is best through prayer, it takes prayer and Christ to sustain.

So keep praying and keep believing because God can still be trusted.

Catherine, this is a pleasure that I treasure.

Thank you for being on What Is Inspired.

I'd like to have my converse.