How To Reinvent Your 30s With Chika Uwazie

What if turning 30 wasn’t a crisis, but a chance to reinvent yourself? Entrepreneur and writer Chika Uwazie is challenging the narrative, helping women embrace their power, purpose, and pace. With viral takes on feminine energy, friendship, and grief, she’s redefining what it means to thrive in your 30s. In this interview, Chika opens up about burnout, love, and staying true to yourself through it all.

Her Agenda: Let’s get into who you are, your story, and how you came to be.

Chika Uwazie: I’m Nigerian American, and my story begins where most people first knew me, as a tech founder. After graduating from Georgetown, I left everything I knew, including my comfy HR consulting job, and moved to Nigeria. I was there for eight years, running an HR software company. I was raising capital, doing the whole thing, and I was convinced this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. About four years in, I became extremely burnt out. That’s when I started getting into feminine energy and learning about the importance of balance.

I began sharing what I was learning online and on Clubhouse, and it grew to 170,000 subscribers. Red Table Talk, Oprah’s team, and Netflix reached out because of the conversations I was hosting. About two years ago, I started writing again. I realized no one was talking about the transitions of all the different facets of life in your 30s. I started writing it on Threads, and it took on a life of its own. Now I’m writing a book about this pivotal decade and the language we need to navigate it.

Her Agenda: I’d love to hear your advice for women who are starting to explore their feminine energy or trying to understand what they need as they enter their 30s. What should they focus on or avoid?

Chika Uwazie: In your 20s, you’re just trying to figure yourself out. But in your 30s, you come into your voice. It’s when you start to own your autonomy as a woman. That’s why femininity is so important. If you weren’t taking care of yourself in your 20s — eating well, working out, feeding yourself nutritious meals — your body will say, “Hello, I’m awake.”

Your 30s are the time to slow down because time is moving quickly. You’re now a full-fledged adult, so it’s time to ask important questions: Am I happy with my current career? Do I need to evaluate friendships? The 30s are a great time to pivot.

Her Agenda: Through your entrepreneurship journey, what did that teach you about yourself? What advice from it would you give to women in their 30s?

Chika Uwazie: The entrepreneur I am today is because of the failures I had in my 20s. Right after college, I started a media brand called The Nigerian Eagle. It had early success, and then it crashed. I had no idea about finances or what it really takes. I’m fine with those public failures because now I’m able to take all those lessons into the business I’m building today. I’m much more resilient because of that. The overall lesson is: fail. You need to fail, fail fast, and learn the lesson now.

Her Agenda: What advice do you have for successful women in their 30s who want both career growth and a family, especially those who feel like they have to choose between the two?

Chika Uwazie: There are different layers. As a successful Black woman, I know the challenge of finding someone on your level. I do advocate for finding men in your tax bracket or close. But more important is finding emotionally intelligent men on their healing journeys. Choose someone who’s done the work. Black women should reflect on is not abandoning yourself in the process of finding love.