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INTERVIEW
Oyinkansola Alabi
Giving Beauty for Ashes
Words by - Josephine Agbonkhese
Lead researcher and facilitator at Emotions City, Africa’s leading Centre for Emotional Intelligence,
Oyinkansola Alabi, popularly known as Emotions Doctor, is a productivity enhancement and life
validation strategist.
The Cornell University-trained Human Resource Executive who holds a Master’s in Psychology and a PhD
in Behavioural Psychology, specialises in helping individuals, achievers, and organisations increase
performance using emotional intelligence tools and proprietary methodologies.
A woman of many firsts, she is the first female founder of an Emotional Intelligence Academy in Africa, the
convener of Africa’s first Emotional Intelligence Week, and the first African to attend the Yale Centre for
Emotional Intelligence.
An associate member of the Women in Management, Business and Public Life, WIMBIZ; Forbes Business
Council; the American Psychological Association; the British Psychological Society and the International
Coaching Federation, the Six Seconds Network Licensed Emotional Intelligence Practitioner and Assessor is
a recipient of several prestigious awards.
In this interview with Allure, she speaks on her work, goals, style, and sheds light on her latest projects.
Why Emotional Intelligence and what led you
into this unusual career path?
Emotional Intelligence is the headquarters of all
intelligences— mental intelligence, spiritual
intelligence and financial intelligence. When your
emotions and your mental health break down, then
it would affect every other branch and intelligence
that resides under it and in it. So, this unusual
career path is very interesting because I am
consumed by the passion to help people be
emotionally stable, and to be emotionally stable in
an unstable world. I do this for everyone. I have a
client base in 30 countries and I am passionate
about Africans because Africans must save
Africans. That is the reason why I embarked on this
journey of emotional stability.
Was the title’Emotions Doctor’ self-acclaimed
or given?
The title ‘Emotions Doctor’ is a very interesting
one. Number one, I was awarded a PhD in
Behavioural Psychology. Number two, the
Emotions Doctor is the capacity that I work and
what my clients call me because of the results that I
have delivered to them. So, the title is very
personal, prophetic and intentional because to
whom much is given, much is expected.
What was the acceptance like when you first
came into practice?
Like every other thing, you move from a place of
suspicion to trust and people have a right to
suspect you because they want to know your
intentions. They want to know your solutions. They
want to know your depth. They want to know what
drives you and all of that. So yes, they have a right
to suspect you. But we are at the level of trust; we
are at the level where they now see me as an
Oracle, as a consultant, as the industry. So, I am
not the industry leader. I am the industry and I have
come to prove and to let them know by passion, by
compassion, by empathy, and by results, what
we’ve achieved, who we are, and what we intend to
do, more and more.
We live in Africa where counsellors are rarely
visited; on a scale of 1-10, how would you say
your professional service is being required
daily?
Mental health service is meant to be a part of
your life. But ironically, people will tell you they get
in trouble or into trouble before they seek a
therapist. No, you should actually have a therapist
the same way you probably have a spiritual leader,
pastor or a life coach. You should have a
therapist— somebody you can run to, somebody
you can vent to, somebody that can provide clarity,
help you understand your past, help you clarify your
present and also help you provide insight to your
future; somebody that can go through your timeline.
Your emotional timeline can show you the cause
and effect of your emotions, help you understand
your pattern so that you can break them. So,
mental health is needed daily. Emotional
intelligence is a daily requirement. It is not a
Sunday-Sunday medicine.
Currently, what’s a typical day like at the
Emotions City?
A typical day at Emotions City is about coaching,
therapy, consulting, training, just helping people
move from a place of meaninglessness to meaning,
dissatisfaction to satisfaction, unhappiness to
happiness, and to help you increase your personal
and professional influence. That is what consumes
us. That is what we live for. That is what we do on a
regular and on a daily basis.
Who needs an emotional intelligence specialist
and why?
Everyone does. Personal achievers,
organisational or worship centres otherwise known
as churches or mosque, or anywhere. You need the
emotional intelligence specialist to help you first of
4 / November 27, 2022