Us People Podcast

Life Can Be Political - Sheun David Onamusi - Founder of StillDapper UK and Imole Digital Wellbeing Ltd - Season 5 - #224

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In this episode of the 'Us People' podcast, host Savia Rocks talks with Sheun David Onamusi, the founder of StillDapper UK and Imole Digital Wellbeing Ltd. They discuss Sheun's inspiring journey from Nigeria to the UK, the impact of his upbringing, his spiritual beliefs, and his views on leadership, discipline, and mental health. Sheun shares his thoughts on the global potential of Africa, diversity and inclusion in organizations, and his vision for making a positive impact in the world.

 00:00 Welcome to Season Five!

00:05 Empowering Through Diversity

00:59 Thank You for Five Years

01:36 Introducing Today's Guest: David

02:07 David's Early Life and Influences

05:31 Defining Identity and Personal Growth

10:25 Visionary Leaders and Inspirations

12:34 Spiritual Connections and Influences

16:42 Leadership Qualities and Challenges

18:57 Political Leadership and Global Impact

26:39 Diversity and Inclusion in Organizations

30:53 A Question Never Asked

31:54 Exploring Life's Meaning

32:19 The Value of Meeting People

32:40 Dealing with Ignorance

34:26 Mental Health Awareness

36:30 Men and Mental Health

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheunonamusi/?originalSubdomain=uk

"Life is a symphony of ideologies, where each individual's actions compose the melody of politics." - Savia Rocks

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Savia Rocks:

Hey guys, we made it to season five of the Ask People podcast. I'm your host Savvyrocks. And in this season, we aim to empower and embrace creativity through diversity as we dive into the fascinating stories and experiences of a diverse range of individuals. Highlighting their unique perspectives and creative endeavors from artists and entrepreneurs to innovators and activists, we celebrate the power of diversity in driving creativity and fostering positive change. Join us as we engage in thought provoking conversations like

Tony Dada:

I made myself intentionally homeless in pursuit of my purpose.

Jay Harris:

We're aware that. A lot of people want to present and they, and they were in my position and what's worse, they weren't a white male, which is a joke. That's even still a thing. I

Mel:

think my family never, ever say you can't do something. So full of support, full of support for whatever dream. If I said tomorrow when I fly to the moon, they'll probably say, I wish you all the best Mel.

Savia Rocks:

So guys, I just want to say thank you for supporting the Us People podcast for the past five years. I really look forward to sharing another new theme song. With you, let's go to overcome a lot of obstacles just to get here, embrace your inner self. Hey guys, welcome to another episode of the US people show. I'm your host, Samurocks. And today I am humbled to have David here with me. David is an international speaker, entrepreneur, and local UK government campaigner. David, I want to thank you so much for coming on the US people show. How are you?

Sheun David:

I'm very well. Thank you very much for having me. It's such a pleasure. for having me. Yeah.

Savia Rocks:

It definitely is. And even we've been speaking previously before, not realizing the show was about to start, which is a beautiful way to start the show. So David, I would love for everyone to know more about you, about where you came from and how you grew up. So could you tell me about where you grew up, but also how that influenced you to be the person who you are today?

Sheun David:

Oh, wow. Diving right deep in. Okay. Okay. Well, so I was born in Nigeria in the western part of Nigeria called Ogun State and spent my first three years in Ogun State before moving to Lagos. And then after my Lagos experience till I was 18, I had primary up until secondary school, then I moved to the UK. Now I'm British by birth, but born in Nigeria. So I lived 18 years in Nigeria, moved to the UK, did college and then did university and then migrated back to Nigeria for another three and a half years. That's where I opened up a franchise store for TM Lewin at the time. But to your question on how my upbringing has influenced me. A lot of it, or a lot of my personal values as I've gotten older, has been informed by those lessons that I was taught. So I was raised by my grand aunt and my grand aunt, I don't know if you can see the picture behind me, but somewhere right behind me my grand aunt raised me at the time. And one of the things that she infused in me at a very early age, At about nine years of nine years of age was to go to the market. So I will go to the market and grind dough for chin chin. And so it's pastry. So I'll just go to that pastry factory and it will flatten it and and then I would, they will cut it as well because they had the industrial cutters and then I'll take it back home. This was at the age of nine. Unsupervised. Now, I know that sounds very harsh, you know, and Western was like, a nine year old, how can you do that? But in Nigeria, it happens. Now, I do, I'm, I'm, I'm lucky that not, nothing bad happened to me. But I, appreciated that early stage hard work, that early stage training to negotiation and speaking to people at the age of nine. So I, I, I probably started my public speaking back then at the age of nine. Yeah, so that's, that's it. And living in Nigeria, of course if you know anyone that's ever lived and survived in Nigeria, they would tell you if you can survive in Lagos, you can survive anywhere in the world.

Savia Rocks:

Wow, I'm going to have to try and go over there to see if I survive. I think I actually could, I think I actually could survive over there, depending. But I think I actually could, I love that. I think you can. No, I think so. I definitely think so. I think one of the things Because I was brought up by my grandmother, one of the things that I always say is that my grandmother always taught me to do things from a very, very young age or so that installs in you what hard work is and achieving hard work so that when you grow up in your life, you know, what hard work really is and you know, when you're going to go for something in your life with purpose, you know, to strive for it. So that's definitely something I agree with. My next one is most probably one of my. Hardest questions that I love to ask guests who come on the show. So is, can you define who you are as a person, but also who do you see when you look in the mirror? But on the reverse of that question, has there ever been a time where you have looked in a mirror and not recognize the person staring back at you? How did you manage to go from a person that you, I see it. How did you manage to go from a person that you didn't potentially feel? Was the person that you wanted to be, to becoming the positive inspirational person inside your soul that you wanted to achieve and be now.

Sheun David:

That is such a multi layered question, but I'll try and answer it. Right. Are there times that I've looked at myself in the mirror and not recognize the person I see? Absolutely. Times without number. And I've come to evolve over time. I started off, you know, for those who know me in secondary school in Nigeria, they would call me the social prefect. You know, I was the party boy, you know, I snuck in the alcohol into school. Type of thing, right? And I was, you know, in the cultural dance and that was all good for those who knew me in Surrey, Larry Lagos. They knew me as this, you know, well dressed swagged up street dancer, right. And I was doing body popping and winning competitions from Lagos, the Lagos Island. That's, you know, some people know me as that. And then some people would know me in the corporate. sides. And some people don't mean the spiritual side, but the point is I've evolved over time and through that evolution, there've been times where I've questioned myself. And I've had to say, you know, who am I becoming? Who is this person in front of me? And I'll be honest, that journey remains a a journey. You know, as it is in a word, it remains a journey. But what is different now is that when I look back, I can see my patterns. I can recognize my patterns and I can use those patterns to define my habits and my choices. When I use that to define my habits and my choices, I have a better chance of predicting my future. Because what I've done is I've got the data that shows that this happened to you when you were a teenager. This happened to you when you were going from 18 to 21. This happened to you when you were going 21 to 30. This happened to you when you had your first child. All of those things are patterns. They're, they're patterns in our lives and we just need to be able to locate them. Use them to decide our habits and our choices. So, and then there's a part of that question about, you know, who am I or describing myself? Again, that answer, the answer to that question is multi layered, right? If you met me, maybe about, Three years ago, I probably would have given you a very standard question. You know, I am I am this person called to train, develop and inspire people. Right. And I would make it very clear or I'm able to, I am called to shaping destinies through words. You know, those were things I said publicly about myself. But now what I find is that all of those things were roles I needed to play to become who I am today and then who I am going to be in the future.

Savia Rocks:

Yes.

Sheun David:

So rather than defining myself based on things I've done, who am I becoming? So my answer to that question these days is very simple. I am an observer. Simple. I observe my life. I observe what God does with it. I observe what my hard work does with it. I observe what having good friends does with it. You know, I observe right now. I observe what have been enemies, you know, it does to it as well. It makes the whole thing interesting when you're an observer and you're not fighting too hard to be the controller because we can't control it.

Savia Rocks:

There are many things in life that you can't control. I always say to people only control the things that you can and the things that you can't control will soon become the things that you can control. That's how I see life. And if you, like I said before, before we even started the show, I said, if you just. Go with life the way it's meant to flow, everything else will fall into place eventually. And sometimes it's a test. Some, most of the time things in our life are placed in there to test you. Absolutely. Exactly. So I totally agree with that. So talk to me for an example about visionary leaders who you believe have transformed organization and industries who you feel have a positive impact in the world, who you feel would be a person that you would look up to. I'm always interested to hear people's, who they look up to as visionaries.

Sheun David:

Wow. Okay. So I have them in different layers. From marketing perspective, Seth Godden is my, you know, sort of, I look up to him and I just think, wow, that level of transformation. I studied marketing in university and, you know, Hearing him talk about and demystifying what it means to sell a product or even gain the trust of customers. That was really transformational for me. So I started doing a course at the time where I called the Trust Capital, building the Trust Capital and Seth Godin was a big influencer in that product that I had. At the time. So that's the marketing side from a business front, right? Or the corporate world or let me actually break it down from the intellectual corporate world and then the entrepreneurial corporate world. So intellectual one is Michael Porter, right? You cannot beat him. He has a way of modeling and simplifying transformation and everything that you think about when you talk about business, right? But from a CEO perspective, Steve Jobs, I know it sounds very cliche, but remains an idol. But when I also look back, I look at Sam Walton. And of Wal Mart and some Walton for me is like the Godfather and Steve Jobs is, you know, that Al Pacino type of you know a person that just is fluid, knows how to use his charm and charisma to navigate things. So that's the business front. And then I have them in other areas as well. Spiritual, financial and, and let's go. I

Savia Rocks:

would love to ask you on the spiritual level, spiritual level. This is something that I really connect with on the spiritual level. Who would you say you connect with spiritually when it comes to leaders as well? Because a lot more people are becoming spiritual, not just in their lives, but in their business techniques on how they communicate with people on how they transcend their energy from themselves to another person, which I think. Absolutely awesome. Who do you believe is someone spiritual that you connect with?

Sheun David:

Now, from a spiritual point, um, I'm a Christian, so from a Christian point of view, I connect with T. D. Jakes a lot. And one of the reasons why I connect with T. D. Jakes is that he breaks it down as it is, right? He makes you understand the humanity side of this spiritual journey, right? So it lets you know that if you cut me I'll bleed, right? And it lets you know that we're all acting crazy. Black people are acting crazy, white people are acting crazy, everyone's acting crazy. Now, that's such a strong statement to come from a spiritual leader, you know, but I like that because it's the reality. And then he uses spiritual principles to bring us back to solving those issues. So that's one of the things I like about him. But there's an unconventional person that I look up to these days and I have in some way looked up to him for a while. It's Tony Robbins. Okay. As a spiritual. person. I know it's kind of hard for people to think of him as a spiritual person. But I can tell that he speaks from his spirit. I can tell that when he, when he does what he does, it's coming from a place of depth and not just knowledge is a place of a deep desire to see people change. And there's no better definition of the spiritual world than that. Right? It's purity of intent. It's the motive to to seek healing and wellbeing and prosperity. That's the true essence of spirituality. It's not so that we hope and jump and speak in tongues and do all these gymnastics that we do. Those things are nice. They help our emotions, they, you know, help us get out of a, it's like a drug. It gives us a kick. And we, You know, shake off whatever we're going through, and then we repeat on Sunday, right? What spirituality really is about seeing purity, because the spiritual world, I say this, and some people don't agree with me, but God bless their heart. I say this, that the spiritual world is agnostic. It doesn't know good, evil. It's absolutely agnostic. The currency in there is motive. The higher you want to go in your spiritual journey, the purer your motive has to become, and that's across every religion you can think of. Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism. Stoicism, anything that you can think of, Africanism, all of it is boiled down that if you want to climb higher in the spiritual world, your motives and your purity of intent must be there.

Savia Rocks:

Has to be there.

Sheun David:

Now, it doesn't mean that you can't have power and cause avok at this level, but the higher you want to go, right, you have to be purer because there's a bigger intention to life. Right. There's, there's, there's, there's a need for peace. The life has to be sustained. Nature has to be protected. That's how life works. Right. And you can't win against nature. That's that's the fact.

Savia Rocks:

Well, nature is one of the most powerful things in the world. When you put, when you combine that with love, those two are most probably the most powerful things in the world. And without them, there, there is no unity. So I definitely say that what quality now, this is a question for your inner self, what quality and attribute attributes can you define truly are effective as a leader within yourself being a leader,

Sheun David:

discipline.

Savia Rocks:

I like that.

Sheun David:

Discipline. I think. Most of my leadership problems in the past, when I look back now, it wasn't an actual problem. It was a discipline problem. I either didn't discipline myself enough to get as much information that I needed to have had before making that decision, or I didn't discipline my my passion or my vision, or I didn't discipline direct myself based on my values. All of it is discipline, right? Because it's okay for you to set goals. It's okay for you to write have smart goals specific, measurable they're, you know, relatable, they're trackable. All of those words that you can think of. You can have a business canvas for, for your startup. You can, you can do all the customer profiling, but if you don't discipline yourself. to do the actions that came out of that activity, then you're not going to succeed as a leader, or at least your success will be short lived. So discipline is key. And I think that's number one. Number two that I'm learning this day would be To talk less and do more. I think we have too many talkers and that's creating this eco chambers at different fronts. People are using it as machinery for their politics and all sorts of things. Right. Because people talking too much do act. Get involved, do something right. Action is leadership. You cannot separate that. You, there's no way anyone can be recognized as a leader in business, in military or anywhere. That they've not taken an action.

Savia Rocks:

That is true. That is true. So if I was I've not seen

Sheun David:

anyone. If I was So physically in an action.

Savia Rocks:

If I was to turn around to you, David, and say, if you were to become a political leader tomorrow and you had all the power, strip away ego and pride, because those two things are on another level. We can talk about it. I know we could. Yeah. If I was to turn around to you and say, David, if you are in a powerful position to change the world. In your way. becoming a political leader, what do you believe would be one of the first things that you would change? In action, not in talking.

Sheun David:

In action.

Savia Rocks:

Not in talking.

Sheun David:

So is this UK based or is this globally?

Savia Rocks:

We, I'll tell you what we do. We'll do two. We'll do UK based and then we'll do internationally.

Sheun David:

Okay. I think the UK will be to really scrutinize policies. That further creates a wealth gap between one race to the other. I think if people can feel satisfied or they can, their hope can be built. on tangible policies that supports their dreams then, you know, we can solve a lot of social issues, knife crime, gun crime, all of those things. We can solve it because most of the reasons, most reasons why people do what they do is because they want to make it. some sort of money to take care of their family or themselves. It's not so much to post on social media. Social media is a new development, but you know, people always wanted to provide for themselves and their families. So if they have policies that gives them confidence that the country is looking out for you, and you are. The country, as much as you are a worker, an employee or data points in this economy, you are the country without you, there will be no country, right? So if we make that messaging really clear and look at those policies, I will be absolutely satisfied that that would be my dream. And, and I don't think it's difficult. It's just the political will. That needs to be done. And it will be a multi party conversation, right? It's not going to be labor, conservative, Lib Dems, none of those conversations. So it will be actually cross party. This is the states of the country, the UK getting out of the EU was a big mistake and that's. Causing and that's probably gonna even escalate further some of the issues. So we are going to go as a country. We're going to be a less of a power force as we think we are. We might be ceremonial power forces, but, you know, we might not really be making those key decisions on border reg registrate regulations and things like that. So I think. We need to make that messaging clear. Policies, cross party commitment. Globally, I have a very, I have an affinity towards the black race and the African race. I think Africa is going to be one of the largest economies by 2030. And it is one of the largest economies continent wise at the moment, we have a booming young force, we have a growing population in global global South that can be served from that continent as well. So human capacity. The resource is great. Now we've not even talked about the other natural resources that still remains a value on the continent. So you have human capacity. You have resources that would really make an impact. It can drive innovation when it comes to nuclear to reduce climate change or reducing or producing more foods because of food shortages across the world. All of those things can be sparked from that continent. And one of the reasons is because when you go to that continent, they're hungry. Africans are hungry in the West, you know, we're way bit too, you know, we're too satisfied, you know, it's like, you know, if this doesn't work out, I'll do this. We have so many options, you know, we have so many options in the UK and in the West, right? But in Africa they don't have. They have to be their government. They have to be their local government. They provide their own water. They provide their own electricity. They provide their own security. I mean, so this guy is hungry. That is, in my view, one of the most important things you need for creativity.

Savia Rocks:

Yes.

Sheun David:

Because when you give someone who has no option, but to find a way, they will find a way.

Savia Rocks:

That's true.

Sheun David:

Right. And they, they have nothing to lose. So on the global stage, what I would really love to do is from an African continent point of view, How can we foster that resource? How can we foster that human capacity development? How do we make it more accessible for remote working on the continent, right? So if a global organization like IBM is looking for developers can they go to Africa and look for it just like they currently do with Malaysia and other Asian countries? You know? And we do more of that, right? Because they have the human capacity to do that. And they don't have to migrate. I will tell you, as a second, a third generation migrant in this country, Even to the point of my grandmother's passing two years ago, this time, two years ago, right? She still desired to go back to Nigeria after 60 plus years. If most Africans had the choice to not leave the continent, they will not leave the continent. I tell you that.

Savia Rocks:

That is true.

Sheun David:

At least seven out of ten. Right. And that's me being me. I would say 9. 9 out of 10 because they have better son, right?

Savia Rocks:

My grandmother said exactly the same thing. She moved from St. Lucia to, to come to London and they worked and worked and worked and worked. And then they went back. And, and I said to her, why, why are you going back? Because you've got everything here now. And she said to me, I don't want to be in a cult. That, that was her first answer. That was her first answer. She said, I don't want to be in a cult. And then I put my hands up and I said, go back. So I do. Understand the concept and it's a slower life. That's what she also says. It's a slower life. You can actually observe and take everything in that you're doing in your life when you're back over there and you can be yourself. Her hair, it's fast. Everything is fast. She said it's too fast for her. So she wanted to go back home. Completely agree. Yeah. Definitely. So that's, that's definitely one of them. The next one, I believe will actually be an attribute to the answer that you've just given me is diversity and inclusion. And the reason why I'm going to say this question is because in organizations, I believe there is not enough. Yes, it's changing slowly, but I still don't believe there is enough diversity and inclusions in big organizations. How do you feel? We could change that narrative and how do you feel organizations can also change that as well

Sheun David:

put their money where their mouth is?

Savia Rocks:

Oh, they've got a lot of money.

Sheun David:

I I think that's it right and and I say that boldly because I have been part of initiatives that are very great, right? We put together Affinity groups to talk about specific issues around diversity and inclusion. And then, you know, we, we did a qualitative data gathering to understand the pay gap and the gender pay gap within the organization. We did all of those things and they're great, but in order to drive it to the sustainable level, we needed resources So a typical example is we need headcounts, permanent headcounts to deal with this diversity and inclusion, right? So if a company decides to do all of those fancy programs all the trainings, bias, unconscious bias training, and all of those nice things that we did during COVID, right? But they don't put their money towards the needed headcount to sustain that program, then he dies in the water. So it's, it's as simple as that. It's not, it's not coming up with, I think we've done a really great job during COVID with what to do, how do we address it?

Savia Rocks:

Yes.

Sheun David:

Now let's now put money behind addressing it.

Savia Rocks:

Do you see that changing within the next five years?

Sheun David:

Oh, yeah, I think so. Our culture has changed. The culture has changed dramatically, right? You, you just have to see a mentor of mine used to say that the future of black is not color skin, the future of black is a vibe. And you can see that Already, you can see that in music taste. You can see that in food taste. You can see that in fashion. You can see that in even in sports, right? All of those vibes have infiltrated. So gone were the days where Muhammad Ali had to correct a presenter on a particular viewpoint about Africa. Now you don't even have to do that. There's so many people on Instagram that will tell you here and school you. There's so many people on Twitter that will make clear that Africa is not a country.

Savia Rocks:

So

Sheun David:

So, so we, we've done a great job around that and it's in, it's inevitable that we would get there where we'll get to a point where the culture will define. what we do, you know, because the culture is now more acceptable towards what it means to be black. We have more we have more allies than we did back in the days, or at least they're more vocal about their allyship, you know, maybe not, maybe not as powerful, but at least they're more and being vocal is the first step. You don't know that there's something wrong until you've gotten a diagnosis and you can't get a clear diagnosis if you don't talk. That's true. The doctor will ask you, where does it hurt? How long has it been hurting? So that dialogue is important

Savia Rocks:

to know that I definitely agree with that. So let's, if there was one question, David, that you wished someone asked you, and nobody has ever asked you this question, what question would it be? And why?

Sheun David:

What would you do if you didn't feel the desire, the strong desire to do the things that you do today?

Savia Rocks:

answer?

Sheun David:

I don't know. I don't know. And, and the reason why I chose that answer is because of, I mean, the reason why I chose that question is because of the answer I give. I don't know. Because I'm so used to knowing a lot of things and it's, it's come from all the things I've been doing. So when somebody then throws it at me and says, okay, dude, let's just imagine you didn't have to do any of this. You didn't have to share your ideas. You didn't have to work. You didn't have to own a business. You didn't have to get involved in politics. You didn't have to do anything. You just had to sleep, wake up. What would you do the rest of your life? I don't know. Right? Because life is meaningful by doing the things that I do. If I don't do it, life will be meaningless. Right? And I always say that it's not so much the things I do, it's the people I meet. I've met some really fantastic people. I've met some really difficult people. I've met some really

Savia Rocks:

Yeah, I, I know that already. I know that also. Yeah, just also.

Sheun David:

Right? But all of that makes it interesting because guess what? I can now crack myself up when I sit down and I've got myself you know, a glass of red wine. And I could just go back memory lane and listen to some racist comments that an ex colleague said and I'm like, Oh, how dumb is that dude? Do

Savia Rocks:

you know, it's just, it's just the ignorance. And I would, do you know what people get really offended when you say the word ignorance for some reason, but when you look up the word ignorance, it actually just means lack of knowledge towards something. And that's literally what it is. So when someone says a comment, like you just said, like you just said about a colleague, it's just educating them. And the ignorance will come on whether or not they want to receive the education.

Sheun David:

Yeah.

Savia Rocks:

That's purely it. And if they do, they do then. You know, it's, it's a learning game. If they don't, you walk away and you enjoy your wine. That's, that's it. Listen, at the end of the day, I always say you give consent to what affects you. What affects you, you know, somebody says a comment, it's up to you to emotionally let it attach itself to you and you give consent to just let it go. Yeah. Let it go. And I've always lived life by that. And I find that living life in that way gives me more positivity, gives me more compassion and kindness and gives me more gratitude for everything that I live for in my life and the purpose that I strive to be within myself. And that. It's a lesson that I try to share everyone, whether they want to take it completely is completely up to them. So the next one I have for you is actually talking about mental health, men's mental health, because it's just as important for men and women to be able to understand what mental health is and how it contributes to their lives. How do you feel that men are now when it comes to mental health, whereas a lot of men, maybe yourself as well. I don't know. A lot of men when they were younger were told your emotions as a man, you have to be strong or you have to be whatever you need to be. How do you feel now you being a man and your importance of speaking out about your mental health and how it affects you?

Sheun David:

So maybe about three years ago, I was. unconsciously ignorant of mental health. Now I advocated for well being practices. I advocated for exercise. I advocated for writing. I advocated for the importance of reading and socializing. All of these things that help a good mental health. But I didn't know that mental health is in itself a health challenge. And it's a big health issue that we need to take a lot more seriously than we currently do. We need to treat it with the same level of urgency. As we treat some cancers, right? Because it is cancerous when somebody is mentally ill. One stage or one element of it could trigger something else, right? A simple anxiety could trigger psychosis. A simple anxiety could trigger schizophrenia and hallucinations. And it all started with someone just feeling anxious, and they can't explain why they're feeling anxious, right? So we need to take it seriously. Now, for men, I think it's even more important because we are more prone to be more violent than other genders, right? And that's because we Have learned by force to express ourselves growing up, right? The average man grew up on a performance based structure, right? He could get the girl in school. Yeah. Right. Or he could get good grades in school, or he could play basketball, or he could play football. Everything was performance based. A woman could potentially go through her life and not be judged based on her performance and just purely on her beauty. Now that's another problem. Or her emotional intelligence, right? But my point is as a man, you are performance driven and performance always has to have a winner and a loser, right? So we get into that mode when we deal with things that we cannot fully explain. We can't explain why we wake up feeling angry. We can't explain why we. we are irrational or erratic, right? But some of it is based on, you know, maybe undiagnosed ADHD.

Savia Rocks:

Yes, a lot of it actually is. And a lot of people don't find out until they're actually older.

Sheun David:

So you go all your life doing all of these things, right? And you don't know that it's your condition, which is manageable, which you can work with, you can live with. You know, you have Richard Branson that's been an advocate for it for years. He's been talking about his dyslexia and other mental health concerns that he's had, right? So, we just need to make that okay to talk and not say, you're being wimpy or you're being girlish or you're holding onto that too much. No, it's okay for the man to feel anger, for him to feel fear, for him to feel whatever feeling he feels, he needs to learn how to cope with that feeling and be a productive citizen. That's all he needs to learn. But the school doesn't teach you that.

Savia Rocks:

No, the school doesn't teach you many things and we can talk about that all day. Listen, David, me and you can sit down all day and talk about so many different subjects that should be in schools. One being. Black history, just throwing it out there. And so many other things that I think would be a beautiful attribute to, to people's minds, regardless of their cultural backgrounds. I would definitely say, what do you believe are your values in your life, but also how do those values tie in with your purpose of what you believe you're doing in your life?

Sheun David:

Okay. All right. So my values, I have. Altruism, excellence, family, love, faith, and curiosity. Those are my six values and those six values guide my life. They guide my my life. My appetite as well, right? Excellence. I want things to be done excellently and that also influences customer excellence. When I had a store, I ensured that customer excellence was our key differentiator factor. Right in that market. So excellence is one. Family is another one. Now, I have a very broad definition of family. Family is not just blood. Family is much broader than that. And there's a scripture that I live by, which is, you know, God has set his solitary in families. To, to say that, you know, God places a huge importance on family. So anything that wants to break families apart, we should be careful. And we shouldn't move by emotions on that. And then curiosity. I am curious. I've done some things that some people look at me and like, I can't place you. Are you a Christian? Are you not a Christian? Are you this? Are you that? Are you Nigerian? Are you British? Are you this? Are you American? I'm like. I don't know. I live by curiosity. I'm curious about the knowledge. I go after it. I read about it. I try and experience it. And that's helped with you know, wealth of knowledge. Now, love and faith are also critical, right? I try and guide my principles around love. Can I do this job? That do I love this job? I want to do. You know, that's a question I ask myself. Do I love or can I find love in this thing that I'm about to do? Right. If love is missing, if it's only going to make me hate myself every morning, if it's going to make me hate the world and hate people around me, I don't get involved in it. Right. So love is there. Faith is also a value that I live by. And that faith element is

Savia Rocks:

that

Sheun David:

I'm much bigger than myself,

Savia Rocks:

right?

Sheun David:

That there is a force out there that is committed to my success. It's not debating if we want to be successful. It's committed. Even if I'm not committed, there's a scripture that says even our faithlessness cannot stop God's faithfulness, right? So it's, it's, it's inevitable. So faith, I try and set goals around my faith on a regular basis, whether it's reading a Bible or reading other spiritual books outside the Bible, so that I can balance my thinking and balance my thoughts. Theology and my knowledge about something and then the last one is the altruism, right? I always look for an opportunity to give because when I wrote my first book, I try and study billionaires in the world and one critical principle they live by was the giving, right? Warren Buffet in the year that he chose to give out the most money he had ever given out was the year he became the richest man on earth.

Savia Rocks:

Yeah.

Sheun David:

Right. So this principle is that, right, whether you believe or not. Giving is very important. If you want happiness, give happiness. If you want joy, give joy. If you want compliments, give compliments. If you want trouble, give trouble.

Savia Rocks:

No, no, no, no. Don't give that one. David, don't make people give that one. If there was one quote that represented you as a person, what quote would you choose? And why would you choose that particular quote?

Sheun David:

Whoa. I have so many quotes. They come in, they're rushing down. But I think the, the main quote will be, and no one said this in this way, so I'm going to compile it.

Savia Rocks:

Okay.

Sheun David:

Don't you ever give up and just do it. Don't you ever give up and just do it. Whatever you are clear on your mind to do, just do it. I like that.

Savia Rocks:

It makes sense. You

Sheun David:

have to be clear. You have to be clear. It doesn't mean that there's no risk, but you have to be clear that you can live with the consequences.

Savia Rocks:

There's always, there's always risk in absolutely everything you do, even waking up in the morning, there is risk. You know, everything you do in your life is risk, but we take risks. To enhance ourself to evolve as people and that's with us spiritually and mentally. That's one of the things I always say, what do you believe you are most proud of that you stand for? As an individual,

Sheun David:

I think my heart,

Savia Rocks:

that's good enough. You don't even need to say anything else. Yeah,

Sheun David:

yeah, I think my heart,

Savia Rocks:

no, that's, that's good enough. That's good enough because we're going to go to that part where you talk about purity, you know, the level where you want to go up, the more pure you must be. There's your heart, your heart, like the Egyptians used to do, use your heart, so it makes sense. If you could work with one civil rights icon to help change the world, who would it be and why?

Sheun David:

Living or dead.

Savia Rocks:

Doesn't matter. It's just whatever's in your mind and heart.

Sheun David:

Dead, it will be Ilissa Larcy.

Savia Rocks:

Ooh.

Sheun David:

Yeah. He was such an intelligent

Savia Rocks:

man. He

Sheun David:

was a phenomenally intelligent man. And if he had the resources that we have today. Oh my God. He would have changed the world. Because he was both conning, he was smart, he was charismatic, he was quiet, he was violent, he was everything, right? He was not the one to be messed with, he was strategic, he was everything. So him just knowing that, you know, with a few codes, we can create this vision he has,

Savia Rocks:

right?

Sheun David:

And he can back it up with the money that he had. Bang, that's it, change. So that's dead. Living,

Savia Rocks:

I kind of feel

Sheun David:

like there's hardly a civil rights personality anymore. I think they're more celebrities, they're more civil rights celebrities than,

Savia Rocks:

or, or influencers.

Sheun David:

Yeah, or influencers. So it makes it really, really difficult. They're more influencers. You know, very few of them have a skin in the game. Very few. They're great at giving speeches and oratory stuff and stand ups and quick quotes, you know, they're really good at that. But very few of them have a skin in the game. Someone was saying to me yesterday, oh there's a friend of his that he flies around, no, she, that she flies around the world to talk about climate change. And he finds it as, it finds it ironical. that she's always flying, talking about green gas emissions, to go talk about it.

Savia Rocks:

Maybe we should put her on a boat instead.

Sheun David:

She could choose to be digital, fully, completely.

Savia Rocks:

That is, that is free as well. She could choose. That's free as well. She could. But this is, this is what I mean about influences. It's the backbone. I don't see many people with that backbone anymore. It's a hard one. The

Sheun David:

conviction is no longer there.

Savia Rocks:

Exactly, you see.

Sheun David:

It's more entertainment than anything else.

Savia Rocks:

We're entertaining

Sheun David:

ourselves and people around us.

Savia Rocks:

No, we don't need entertainment. That's one thing we don't need. We need change with the action, like you say, but we don't need entertainment. If I was to say to you, David, and you would like to share, what is the hardest decision that you have ever had to make that created change in who you are as a person?

Sheun David:

Letting go of somebody I love so much.

Savia Rocks:

It's always love.

Sheun David:

Yeah. I think that's the hardest decision.

Savia Rocks:

Yeah.

Sheun David:

Yeah.

Savia Rocks:

I think it's, I think it, I think when it comes to letting go of someone that you love, it will always linger in your heart. But if we choose to put it in a good place, this is what I always say. If we choose to put it in a good place, the reason why I say that is because we were the lucky ones to have that person in our lives in the first place. Regardless of how we lost them, there are millions of people out there in the world who will never ever get to feel that type of love that we felt. That's how I keep people in my heart. That's how I do it. And we always share that with everyone. No, that makes total sense. If I say to you to choose one song, I love this, to choose one song that represented you as a person, and that was the soundtrack of your life. What song would you choose and why? Summer rain. Oh, that's a good one.

Sheun David:

Summer rain. The video of it the biggest memory of my life, or one of the biggest memory was running and playing in the rain in Nigeria. I mean, it was so beautiful. You know, you just kind of slide through the floor. Play. Summer rain. Because I, I really hope that. It always rains in my life, you know, that, you know, summer comes, regardless of all the seasons, summer rain stays consistent.

Savia Rocks:

I like that. When was the last time that you felt totally at peace with yourself?

Sheun David:

Today? Yes! Today? Hey! It was a conscious decision, right? It was a conscious decision. Even right now, as I'm speaking to you, right I'm, I'm the kind of person that, you you know, as I'm talking, I'm listening to myself talk. So 90 percent of the time I'm talking to myself more than I'm talking to the person. It just, it just happens that what I say makes sense.

Savia Rocks:

And I'm sure that anybody who's, anybody who's listening now, all it is anytime there is an interview between two people, a person who is on Having a bird's eye view and, and listening, they'll take the pieces of the story that we're telling of your story and they'll resonate it into their life. That's what they do. And, and, and that's, and that's good enough. So. If I was to say to you, David, when you believe that you have done all of your purpose that you can do in your life, what would you like your legacy to be in this world? Oh.

Sheun David:

That he empowers people mentally, spiritually, and financially. Oh, that

Savia Rocks:

works. Yeah, that he empowered people

Sheun David:

mentally, financially. Um, because for me, it's about empowering people, it's, it's, I, I hope that people will say, I'm glad I met that Joker, right? I didn't quite like him all the time, but I'm glad I met him, right? He was, he just had a really positive vibe about it. He had a really nice aura, a nice energy around him, you know, and I didn't feel uncomfortable being around him. I think that's priceless. You know, that's, that's a memory you want to keep in your mind. Most of the people that you remember that passed away, it's those moments. It's, it's like, you know, that person was just easy to talk to. That person, you know, he gave the best advice. Or grandma always had the best quick word, you know, to snap you out of any you know, downtime and depressive moments. You know, she always had this phrase that she used, right? It's that memory that lingers on. It's not how tall they were. It was not how rich they were. It wasn't how popular they were. It was, it was more about those moments, right? If you look back at even meeting celebrities, the ones that change your life, when you, if your job is meeting celebrities on a regular basis will be one celebrity that gave you a hug a second longer than usual.

Savia Rocks:

Yes, true.

Sheun David:

And then you're like, man, Beyoncé is such a human being.

Savia Rocks:

You're a Beyoncé fan? Okay. Aww. So, David,

Sheun David:

you can cut that part out of this interview, I don't want to be thrown in the beehive.

Savia Rocks:

You will never be thrown in the beehive. Listen, at the end of the day, this is how I see it. Not everyone's going to like everyone's music and not everyone's going to like something. Everyone's going to have an opinion on something. So it's, it's totally fine.

Sheun David:

I've evolved over time, I must say. I've evolved drastically. Now I can listen to Beyonce and enjoy it. I admire her. I mean, from 1997 till date and she's still doing what she does. She's a great performer. Actually, she's got great energy about her and she's doing a great job raising her kids. I mean, so she's, she's a good, she's a good one. She's a good one. Right. I don't submit to everything she talks about, but she's a good one.

Savia Rocks:

That's yeah. That's literally what I mean in life. There are going to be people who say things that you resonate with and then you don't. And that's why this is the most beautiful thing about life is the fact that we have freewill. To create the choices that we want to, and everything in life is a choice. And even if you feel like you've made a mistake with the choice that you've made, you can counteract that choice with another one pushing you forward. So I always say that. So my final question for you is I would love for everyone to be able to find you. Where can they find you or see you or speak to you or find out what you do? David, please tell us.

Sheun David:

Sure. So my website is sd on a moosey. That's s d o n a m u s i dot CEO. So you can check me out on my website or on all social media and handles at s d o n a m u s i s d on a moosey. On all social media platforms. I would love to connect with you. You know, so do reach out.

Savia Rocks:

There you go. Guys, please do reach out to David. He's an awesome person and he made my job as an interviewer so easy. David, I want to thank you so much for coming on the Ask People show. You've been superb. You've lit. You know, you've been who you are. You've been humble. You've been kind, you've been honest, you know, and the confidence shines through. And I wish you every success in everything that you do moving forward. Thank you so much.

Sheun David:

Thank you very much. I really appreciate the time and thank you for the opportunity.

Savia Rocks:

No, you're more than welcome guys. I want to thank you so much for listening to the ask people show. And please remember. You can subscribe and leave us a review on Spotify, iTunes, Google play, and any other platform that you prefer listening to, please connect with us every Thursday at 8pm UK time. Also on Apple TV, YTV and Freeview channel 271. Guys, thank you so much for listening. Stay happy, stay positive, and as always, please, continue to be kind to one another. Take care. Through the darkness of the night, you'll be guided through the light.

Sheun David:

I either didn't discipline myself enough to get as much information that I needed to have had before making that decision, or I didn't discipline my my passion or my vision, or I didn't direct myself enough. Based on my values, all of it is discipline.

Savia Rocks:

Try redirect, you see? Yes. If you try a. Spread your wings and let the wind guide you high. Spread your wings and let the wind guide you high. We're just soaring through this journey. Leaving fear far behind. Our hearts are full of courage. You can win if you try. We got red payas to you. You'll see the power of our mess. If you try. How do you do?