Evolving Through Adversity: How to Overcome Obstacles, Discover Your Passion, and Honor Your True Self

by Seconde Nimenya

How can we evolve through adversity and change our lives? It is one of life's great questions. In Evolving Through How to Overcome Obstacles, Discover Your Passion, and Honor Your True Self, author Seconde Nimenya answers the above question and demonstrates that the best way to overcome adversity is to go through it. Through her own life story, Seconde explains how to apply this theory by what she calls the RRU (reflect, rectify, and unite) model. Her personal credo to evolve through all adversity and achieve any desired outcome is to take time to reflect on who you are, then assess your situation, rectify what you don't like, and reinforce or unite what you do like.

Seconde details her life story, from walking hundreds of miles to school across mountains to being struck by lightning and having to hide in the bushes when a civil war erupted in her native country. Then she underwent culture shock as she came to North America and realized how her cultural background both helped and hindered her in evolving into the woman she wanted to be.

Seconde's story serves as a source of reflection for listeners about their own lives. Listeners of this book will be inspired and empowered first to achieve their personal peace and then to help create peace in their communities and their world. They will learn how they can evolve past adversity; forgive themselves and others; and discover, love, and honor who they are.

Audible Audio

First published July 31, 2013

About the author

Seconde Nimenya is the author of five books and the founder and chief diversity trainer at Common Purpose Training Services®. She has spent more than a decade as a thought leader on diversity and inclusion in a world of differences. Through her leadership development programs, she advocates for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace, education, and communities. Seconde speaks at various conferences and seminars, inspiring and empowering her audiences to use their life experiences to better themselves and others. She works with business owners and organizational leaders who want to build inclusive workplaces and communities where everyone feels accepted for who they are and what they bring to the world to make it a better place for all.

With more than fifteen years of experience as a professional in the field of global diversity and empowerment, Seconde brings practical insights and perspectives into discussions of various cultural and ethnic groups that form the basis of our contemporary global society. In addition to her work on diversity, she provides specialized work in the areas of leadership resilience and character-building.

Seconde Nimenya immigrated to North America in the 1990s, starting out as an immigrant in Canada, where she lived more than ten years before moving to the United States. In the United States, she furthered her education and earned her MBA. She blends her varied educational and cultural backgrounds to create dynamic presentations, using a unique approach that is both inspiring and empowering.

Seconde is a TEDx speaker, and her talk on race and other identity constructs, “We Are Not All That Different,” has been hailed by many viewers as the most inspirational talk of our time. She has received recognition for her contributions to the work on diversity and inclusion leadership, including being the recipient of the 2017 Seeds of Hope Award and the 2019 Bold and Resilient Woman Award, both recognizing her work in bridging the gaps between diverse, multicultural communities, and inspiring people with her personal and professional insights.

Reviews

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book about growing up in Burundi in central Africa and ending up in the United States as a young mother. She explores the cultural differences between the two countries as she explores who she is as a wife, mother and a woman. Throughtful questions at the end of each chapter help you to explore your own life.