Beauty and Brains with Ijeoma Kola

November 01, 2017 EDEN BodyWorks 1 comment

Hi EDEN family! It’s Ijeoma here - creator of the blog and YouTube channel, Klassy Kinks. After several years of sharing content designed to change perceptions of kinky textured hair around the world, I recently changed my motto to “thriving at the intersection of beauty and brains”.

Photo credit: Jeff Brooks

You see, in addition to being a full time beauty and lifestyle blogger - based on the number of hours I spend building my brand each week - I’m also a full time PhD student. I’m in my sixth year (hopefully of seven!) of a public health program at Columbia University, writing on the history of asthma in black urban America. I often get questions about how I balance my school and my blog. Being in a PhD program actually created the perfect environment for me to become a blogger. Many doctoral programs are individually paced - you create your own course schedule, decide when you’re ready to take exams, and do your research on your own. So I had the flexibility to start and grow a blog in a way that I might not have been able to do if I had a traditional career. The self-starter traits that are necessary for navigating higher education are the same ones needed to be a successful blogger, so the two roles mesh well together.

Still, I spend a lot of time jumping back and forth between school and blog commitments. Though beauty and fashion blogging is more fun than researching and writing, I am equally passionate about my academic work and the community I’ve created through my online presence. To help keep on top of it all, I have a support system that keeps me accountable with my schoolwork. I also have a network of bloggers who share resources, hacks, and opportunities to help one another flourish. On my computer, I have two different logins for academic work and blog work, and I use the Productivity Planner and the pomodoro method when I have really tight weeks with several time-sensitive deadlines.

In addition to being a PhD student and a blogger, I’ve also recently added on the job title of wife. Planning a large, intercultural wedding gave me tons of new and beautiful content to share with my readers, and by taking them along my process, I was able to connect with people on a more personal level. Even though I’d been sharing a bit of non-hair related content before the wedding, people really now understand that I’m not just a hair blogger.

Photo credit: Alakija Studios

Besides God, my husband is my biggest help in keeping my life together. He helps take my pictures when I don’t have time to shoot with a photographer, he suggests new content ideas, and every once in a while, he indulges me with a selfie or a video despite being camera shy and social media averse. I have absolutely loved every second of marriage - I describe it to my friends as having a personal hype man every day!

I hope my story can encourage you to pursue ALL the dreams that have been laid on your heart. I firmly believe that God does not give you ideas unless he wants you to act on them, so go forth and thrive in whatever you are meant to do!