My Story
Toyin Okunuga
From adverse childhood experiences to healing, forgiveness, and purpose a journey of transformation and advocacy.
The Journey
Hush to Roar
Growing up, I allowed people to define who I was because of what I had gone through.
I got to a stage in my life when I could no longer live the way I was expected to live, and I knew I had it in me to push through all the obstacles in my life.
I began with the end in mind. Where did I want the trajectory of my life to lead me? Was I always going to eat myself silly and pile on the weight, and listen to people say "we love your 'owurubutu' [rounded figure], cuddly body?" I had debilitating aches and pains in my knees. I developed arthritis from the age of around 28 years old.
Today
My Life Now
I live in Essex with my husband and two teenage children. I love being around bubbly friends, and although I love to dance and socialise, I enjoy being at home, spending time with my family. Saying that though, the older my kids have gotten, I'm lucky if I get to spend 10 minutes a day with them. I'm quite happy cuddling up in bed to read my favourite non-fiction inspirational books, like The Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav.
Childhood
Before the trauma
To know my childhood story, get your free eBooks – parts 1 to 3. Copy the link above to see how we all expect our childhoods to be.
These are snippets of my life as a child. To understand my whole story and why I'm determined to help others and advocate for an end to childhood trauma, my debut book, "Hush to Roar" says it all.
Background
My Professional Journey
As an adult, I've worked in a variety of industries, ranging from the Retail Sector; to Charitable organisations; Government sector and currently in the Corporate sector.
I've always loved reading, even when nothing sunk in, due to my many adverse childhood experiences.
I've always loved helping others and sharing anything I've learned with others. As a child, I would stay hours on end with our elderly lady next door in Leicester, in the UK, and just enjoyed keeping her company.
When I had my kids, I'd have all my nieces and nephews over and teach them how to read, give them a paper to draw how they were feeling and to write short stories of how they were feeling.
My upcoming book, "Hush to Roar" goes in-depth as to why I have the urgency not just to bring adults through their inner child, but why I now want to be part of the march to reduce, and in some cases prevent adverse childhood experiences from occurring in the first place.