Eniola Mercy's Journey into Community and How She's Keeping Her Head High
"I haven’t at any point over the two and half years I've been in tech, felt like I'm on the wrong path. People are succeeding in this space and I need to just put in more..."
Behind every thriving community is a a human with emotions and things to deal with. Welcome to Community Musings: Conversations. — a series dedicated to navigating the mental and emotional rollercoaster of building a career in community.
Eniola Mercy joins me to talk about her journey into community management, job hunting, setting boundaries and so much more.
Eniola Mercy is a Law graduate and a Community Manager in the Web3 space doing amazing work with Web3 Afrika. She is also the Web3 Growth Marketing Lead at Layers Protocol.
Fun fact: Whenever I say “gm gm” anywhere, she comes top of my mind always because she says it a lot.
Here is her story!
I transitioned into tech with Community Management.
Eniola Mercy: When I got into tech, I was a 400L Law student who was into mini importation and making N10,000 in profit. Until I met someone who asked how much I made in a month and told me it was possible to make N100,000+ every month.
Me: What exactly will I be doing for the person?
“It's tech. Do you have a laptop?” [I didn’t at the time so we explored other things that wouldn’t require a laptop.]
“Can you write?”
Me: The only thing I can write is Law exams, nothing else.
And that’s how I was introduced to community moderation. Then (2 years ago), BNXN fka Buju, had an NFT “HeadsByBnxn” so I joined the community as a moderator and that was my first experience. 6 months into it, I joined Web3 Afrika as a Community Manager. When I was asked to show proof of my work, I just shared screenshots of my work in “HeadsByBnxn“ and when they asked for strategies for building a community, even though I knew nothing at that time, I did my research and my journey began.
I am still very much in the job-hunting sphere and it is not funny.
Eniola Mercy: I started my tech journey in 2022 and by September 2022 I was already job hunting. The role I got after being a moderator was and is still a volunteer role and so as time went on, I started looking for more jobs because I needed something that would pay me. I was just applying for community management roles, picking up skills, taking courses, and learning. Between August and September 2022, I had applied to over 100 jobs. Of course, I was getting interviews but also getting a lot of “Unfortunately we will not be moving forward with you…” and all that. I was moving from Web3 job listing websites to X to LinkedIn, until I found the growth marketing role that I'm currently handling at Layers Protocol. I went in as an intern then I got the role.
Being that I just finished University, I am still very much in the job-hunting sphere and it is not funny. More than that, I am focusing on the things I have at hand and improving - I am taking courses, I'm still managing a community, I'm showing up for events whether as the host or a speaker, and I am putting myself out there. I believe that nobody wants to hear how many years you've been in tech, they want to see the value you can bring. So even while you apply for jobs and it's not forthcoming, keep building yourself, and keep adding value because value comes first before money, especially in this tech space.
Mindset matters a lot!
Eniola Mercy: I always say this; the picture might not be clear but the path you are in is what really matters. I haven’t at any point over the two and half years I've been in tech, felt like I'm on the wrong path. People are succeeding in this space and I need to just put in more to be a better version of myself. It's normal to feel sad when you get lots of “Unfortunately…”, but right now I don't even feel sad about it anymore, I just go again. Positivity is very important! Tell yourself that you will make it in this space no matter the negativity or anything that comes.
I'm very diligent to work on Mondays to Fridays but my darling once I shut down my laptop on Friday evening, I put it back on by Monday.
Eniola Mercy: This the only boundary I know I have. I put in a lot of work on weekdays with no rest, like 4 hours of sleep daily, so I must have my Saturdays and Sundays to myself. Even if my boss asks me to come get my salary on a Saturday, I won't be there because I won't even open the Slack message by mistake.
Although for Web3 Afrika we usually have games night on Saturday and X Spaces on Sunday, they only last for 2 hours max. I made that boundary that I don't work on weekends and I stick to it - I don't want to know what's going on over the weekends, I need to get my rest!
It's normal to have self-doubt but once it comes at you, switch it up to a reflection moment.
Eniola Mercy: Ask yourself “What win have I had?” It might be not the biggest $2,000 that you've made but if you've crossed a milestone, that's enough, as long as you're doing so much for yourself and making progress. Reflect! Give thanks to God for the things that you have and keep moving. Don't dwell on it! That's how it works for me.
Guiding principles that always sets you in the right direction when managing communities
Eniola Mercy: The first thing is to understand what my community needs per time. I was telling someone recently that if a new person joins the Web3 Afrika community, he or she would wonder why the community is so quiet. But looking around I understand that people who joined a year ago or two years ago are busy because they have either gotten jobs, have internships, chasing hackathons, or doing things that are bringing them money and that's the most important thing, seeing your members succeed. I understand my community and the kind of people in there.
Secondly, communication. I asked them what I could do to make the community better and more engaged, and they said I should just keep engaging them so they don't pull back.
Third, proffer a solution. As long as there is someone to communicate with you, be ready to provide a solution. What I do basically is that I understand different phases of the community, so if something isn't working out I try another strategy. I noticed recently that when we have our X Space, we have like 200 people join but we don't have that traffic in the community and so that means the community isn’t dead.
You can connect with Eniola Mercy on X and LinkedIn
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*Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
This was a beautiful read. Thank you for sharing