Mavis Pombili Braga Elias is a Co-Founder of Ehaveco Events, a Namibian based initiative focused on charity, woman empowerment and at helping people and businesses realize their full potential. She serves as Executive chairperson of the board.
She also works on a charity project called “Love is Charity” founded in 2014. In the year 2011, she joined Radio Energy whilst pursuing her studies at the Polytechnic of Namibia (now known as NUST) towards a Bachelors in Civil Engineering. With this all simultaneously at play, she also holds a part-time job at Denchi Consulting Engineers.
We wanted to know why and how she manages to keep so busy. This is what she had to say:
“The one thing our First lady said on her Masters of Success interview, was that “A high performance individual, ensures they lead a high performance lifestyle.” This is to say that if you want to be set apart in your journey and attain success, what are you doing every day to ensure you get the results?
Now, I hate mornings with every part of my soul. Every morning I need to fight myself out of bed, such that I sometimes have thoughts like, “do I really need this job?’ I have this theory that if life started at 10am I would be the hardest working citizen in this country. Nonetheless, it is during these times that I am reminded about what Madam Geingos said, “I am a high performance individual”.
I always have my vision in sight and I love looking forward. I have cast out my vision, written it on paper and every day I do bit by bit to get to my dreams. The lesson I learnt along the way is to enjoy every minute of it. There was a time I was so knee deep in work, I had no time for friends or family. I had a routine that literally comprised only of work, school and sleep. It resulted in a nervous breakdown during the worst time possible, the end of semester (exam time). I could not afford to be in bed resting, but my body was exhausted. It is from then on that I decided that success is not worth my health, and I will have fun to get to where I envision myself. I think that I worked as hard as I did, because I feared mediocrity. The thought scared me and in turn I worked myself to sheer exhaustion. It is important to strike a balance. It took that breakdown to fully understand and see that family is important, if anything it is more important than your dreams and ambitions.
If I am to give someone career advice, it would be the simply, ‘no condition in life is permanent.’ You always have the power to change any situation in your life. Knowing and understanding the power you have is essential, because fear of the unknown can sometimes cripple potential. The fear to; start that business, or quit that job that makes you unhappy, or go back to school. Life is too short to not see out your dreams. The beauty in it is that you can set small goals, that lead you to the bigger goal. This ensures that you feel like you are moving forward, because all too often we feel like we are pushing and working yet there are no results being yielded.
The one thing that my father told me in the year 2014 is that, ‘Do not be obsessed with success, but rather become obsessed with what will make you successful.” This quote has become what I live by, such that I make a conscious effort to forget about the perks that come with being successful and rather make an effort to enjoy the work that will lead me to the said success. It ensures that you enjoy what you are doing, without focusing on the rewards. I have come to realize that the more I simply enjoy the work, the more reward comes as a result. Far too often, we spend our time slaving away and not enjoying what we are doing, and wind up living miserably. Under the illusion that one day it will all be worth it. For the most part it is true, because you will most likely achieve the set out dream, but what happens when you don’t? All that labor, hard work and misery for nothing? The least you can do is enjoy the journey.
What I will be trying out this year, thanks to Afra Shimming-Chase is what they call a vision board. This is typically a board where you creatively lay out what you will achieve, whether long term or short term goals.
Why we love Mavis?
Style- I want to laugh so hard at this. My style is so basic, I am your Mr. Price girl. I literally live for the Stuttafords 25% sale. In truth though, I am currently working to revamp my wardrobe so that it goes in line with the image I am building. Growing up I had a love for skirts and anything short, as it was what I was most comfortable in. However, age doesn’t allow you to gallivant in town in shorts and a tank top. The greatest struggle is that I look so different on stage, to what I would look like on an ordinary day, almost as though I am selling dreams.
Passion – I love doing charity work. It gives me the greatest satisfaction in life. I cannot begin to express the feeling that comes with knowing that you helped make a difference in someone’s life. Reading, goes among my top passions. I read passionately. I recall back in school, I read so much my teachers would confiscate my novels before each class period. Unfortunately, I no longer have much time to lounge around with a novel all day. I recently read a trilogy I thoroughly enjoyed. Not to mention the books I recently got from Uncle Spikes book exchange – I read this particular trilogy called “The girl with the dragon tattoo” by Stieg Larsson in high school and just could never find the books. Until recently, I was so happy!
Activities – does sleep count? I rarely get to sleep. I believe that I can sleep a week straight. Wait, I need to stress how much I love sleep. Such a luxury and commodity that I cannot afford. Else, I am a religious church goer. Religious, because I ensure I do not miss a Sunday. It does something for my spirit that I simply always have to go back. This actually got me thinking, what do I do for fun? I can honestly say I do not know. I enjoy MCing, but that’s still work. Oh, family game nights! Epic fun! When I am home, game nights are simply too much fun. The beauty is that I do that with the people I love most.
Advice – The greatest piece of advice I ever got was from Daisry Matias. She said, ‘Your feet can not take you where your mind has never been.”
Learn a little bit more about Mavis with this quick quiz!
Catch up with Mavis on Twitter or Instagram @mavisbraga
Monochrome is a big fan of anyone who excels in their craft. Mavis may be known as a great presenter (NAMAs 2014 host etc) but she is also very involved in charity work and helping others realize their full potential. In 2014 she travelled to the United States with the US Embassy of Namibia on a research project for Gender Based violence. Having shared a stage with the First lady of Namibia at the Night of Inspiration in Oranjemund, Mavis adds “Motivation Speaker” under her belt too.
If you are doing something great, we be knowing.
We will find you and we will tell your story!
Love,
Monochrome
