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| Manka'a |
Igbokwe Manka'a Mercy Ulomachi Shu
aka DBG Manka’a is a Cameroonian by nationality, married to a Nigerian Metering
Engineer. Having set her sights on becoming a woman emancipator, Manka’a founded
Inspireme (while working with Crystal Valley modeling Agency in Buea-Cameroon
in 2011). Her guiding courage to: Innovate-Initiate-Inspire African youths with
a keen interest in women for community impact led to the creation of the
groundbreaking inspireme|Pageant that gave birth to Miss Diligent Africa
Pageant. Her desire to empower girls with great values took Miss Diligent
contest from the buds in Cameroon to Tanzania and Nigeria. She is currently based in Port Harcourt,
Nigeria, where she lives with her lovely family. She is a mother of an
adorable girl. Being creative and innovative is what defines her abilities to
make the different.
The news at hand is that her innovative exploit
as Fitness Model is a miracle
solution to women who stress everyday trying to get fit. Many of you might wonder
how she manages to handle being a mom with a little girl and also a fitness
model as well, you will understand better as she opens up to talk about her new
initiative as Fitness Model.
But
harping on her new exploit, Manka’a says getting “Marriage, raising a child and getting to explore a new world
(Nigeria) is shaping my perspective in a lot of ways. All the things I did in
the past are great and the future is pregnant with a lot of possibilities and
great prospects. Until then, I have decided to venture into modeling again,
this time as a fitness model”.
Excerpts
Could
you tell us why you decided to go into Fitness Modeling?
Many
people look at me and go, “please, tell me your secret”. “Please, help me I
need to work on my weight…” I have had people not just on social
media but also in real life come up to me asking me what I did to get back into
shape after child birth. To that effect, I created a whatsApp group call
FitLady. It’s a platform where we share fitness tips, recipes for weight loss,
pictures of our workouts and our fitness journey. This helps us to encourage
and motivate ourselves.
How many women are you actually
working with?
I got 6 ladies for a start. Five of them
are mothers; three are based in Cameroon, two in Nigeria and
Tell
us how you handled your pregnancy?
While I was a student and growing up I
had embraced fitness as a life style. I use to exercise before I was pregnant,
I exercised throughout my pregnancy and I took on exercise again 6weeks after
delivery (postnatal checkup) upon my doctor’s approval. With such a lifestyle
and organic feeding, I have managed in stay active and in shape. I eat lots of
fruits, vegetables and proteins while cutting down on sugar and carbohydrates.
Nevertheless, it isn’t an easy life style to take on. It’s quite challenging
but it pays off big time. Exercise will help you body recover after child birth
in amazing ways. It could also help prevent postnatal depression.
Madame,
what motivated you to venture into Fitness Modeling?
I believe that I can inspire, influence
and motivate people especially mothers to keep fit and stay healthy. The image
people have about mothers in Africa is quiet funny. They often think mothers
are overweight, with their bodies covered with stretch marks, they are not as
fabulous and good looking as they were before child birth or single ladies who
have all the time to take care of themselves and the likes. I want people to
think differently of women who have gone through child birth. I want mothers to
believe that they can still be fit, s*xy, and fabulous. I want to promote
Fitness| Health | Fabulousity. I want mothers to know that they don’t need to
be threatened by the fact that single ladies are going to get the attention of
their lovers and husbands because of the changes they have undergone after
marriage and child birth. Besides, the health benefits are enormous. Low impact
exercise is generally recommended for pregnant and nursing mothers. Start with
walking, gentle stretches, pelvic floor exercises, deep stomach exercises,
breathing exercises and the list goes on. As you gradually recover and get
stronger by the day, push your limits slowly and surely. You will get strong enough
to challenge yourself further into doing more intensive exercises. Before you
start exercises during or after pregnancy, get a doctor’s approval just to be
sure you are in good form health wise. You can also build activities into your
day. Use the stair case more, walk short and long distances instead of taking a
car. Generally, get active throughout the day.
Remember it’s a journey; you can’t get
there in a day. Just keep pressing on and enjoy the journey every step of the
way. Our wellbeing as women is paramount. A healthy and happy woman makes a
healthy and happy family which in turn plays positive on the wellbeing of our
communities. If a lady takes proper care of herself, she can take care of
others.
Finally,
how do you intend to reach out to all the women out there?
I plan to take on off and online campaigns
with a team I am putting together. Some campaigns slogans I plan i initial are:
#Operationfitmom #Warriorwoman #Awomanisawarrior #Stillinshape and many more.
My team will also be doing some work on getting Companies on board. Companies
with interest in fitness, health, fitness diets etc we will be looking forward
to getting some deals as brand ambassador. This will get me involve in
marketing fitness wears, equipments, health products and the likes using my
image.
Wow,
interesting indeed. How can someone get to you?
In fact, we are operating as a fitness
brand. However, we have a manager and media team.
Our contact
Email: honeydail@yahoo.com
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/dbgmanka
Tel: +2348107601636
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
I am grateful and humble. We look forward to greater things to come. God bless you!
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