Her career started with a ₦160k/month executive assistant role. Seven years later, she’s managing $5 million marketing budgets, launching global products used by millions, and earning $7.8k/month — nearly $100k a year — from her apartment in Lagos.

But this leap didn’t come easily. Getting here took heartbreak, hundreds of rejections, a career pivot, and relentless learning.

This is how she moved up to become a globally respected product marketing manager and how she’s planning for what’s next.

This Day

I currently work remotely as a product marketing manager in Web3, helping one of the world’s oldest internet browser companies explore the future of decentralised technology. I earn $7,800 a month.

I launch software products at my job. This might sound vague, but “products” aren’t just apps: they can be features, experiences, or systems. My job is to take those products to market, craft their story, figure out how they fit into people’s lives, and ensure the right people find and understand them.

Web3 itself can be a difficult concept to grasp. But I’d explain it as a new way of building systems: financial, digital, communal, where everyone has access, everything is transparent, and no one person or company holds all the power.

In my role, I work closely with the product team to decide what we build, why and when we build it. This means prioritising what our users truly need. Sometimes, product managers and engineers get caught up in the technical magic of building and forget the human being at the other end. My job is to sit in that middle space between user and product. I translate the needs of real people into the roadmap, so that what we build solves the problems that actually matter.

But here’s where it all started for me.

The Early Hustle

In 2018, fresh out of uni at 20, I felt a heavy urgency to get my life moving. As the first of four kids, I carried the pressure to succeed.

I tried front-end development using React but hated it. It felt mechanical, like bricklaying. I needed a job that could give me creative joy, so I started showing up daily at a coffee shop on Victoria Island with my laptop, applying for any job I could find.

One day, a woman — clearly someone important — walked in for a meeting. When she finished, I introduced myself and asked to be her assistant. To my surprise, she said yes and hired me on the spot. She was the CEO of a Lagos-based company, and I became her executive assistant, earning ₦100k. I helped her manage tasks, meetings, and day-to-day operations.

At the same time, I also tutored kids. I’d signed up with a home tutoring agency and was getting ₦30k a month teaching science subjects after work. One family, a Lebanese father and his two daughters, liked me enough to cut out the agency and hire me directly, which bumped my tutoring income to ₦60k. Altogether, I was making ₦160k a month.

Eight months later, everything unravelled. The company where I worked as an executive assistant collapsed amid fraud allegations, and the founders were declared wanted. It was a wild ending, but by then, I had tasted what it meant to hustle and find my footing, and I was ready for more.

Building Skills, Earning Little

I aggressively hunted for jobs, applying to anything I felt remotely qualified for: marketing, social media, assistant roles, etc. Then, one day, I sent my CV to a recruiter I found on Twitter.

That’s how I landed my first remote role in 2019, as a content assistant at a US-based natural hair extension brand run by a Nigerian-born founder. She was open to hiring from Nigeria, and I got lucky. From my apartment in Lagos, I planned and scheduled social media content, ran competitor research, brainstormed campaigns, and helped manage the blog. It was my first taste of working internationally.

The pay was ₦150k monthly, sent via WISE. I still kept up with home tutoring after hours to make ends meet.

But eventually, the cracks started to show. We were a team of four — all Americans except me. I felt isolated —a distant cog in a system I wasn’t fully part of. With growing personal needs, I knew it was time to move on. I wanted to earn more and matter more.

Learning on the Job

By late 2019, another unexpected break came through. Because of my content assistant experience, I landed a role as a content specialist at a US-based B2B SaaS company. It felt like a fluke of luck: I wasn’t a trained writer, but the job required constant writing. Their SEO strategy demanded a stream of articles, and I had no choice but to figure it out fast.

The first few weeks were intense. I leaned heavily on Google, my teammates, and a brilliant editor who shaped my writing from scratch. It was baptism by fire, but I grew rapidly. I earned $250 monthly, not much more than my previous salary, but the real gain was skill.

Then, in early 2020, a friend sent me a job link. I wasn’t looking, but I applied anyway. It was a content coordinator role at a fashion startup in East Africa. I got the job: $450 a month, or about ₦270k at the time.

For the next year, I ran the content calendar, managed writers and editors, drafted weekly newsletters, posted on social media, and brainstormed editorial themes. It was structured but creative work. I was deep in content strategy and digital storytelling, balancing trend research, editorial deadlines, and brand messaging all at once.

I learned how to lead a team, own processes, and communicate ideas that moved people. It wasn’t glamorous, but it laid a strong foundation for everything that came next.

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The Pivot That Changed Everything

In January 2021, while still at the fashion startup, a friend messaged me: “Are you open to a new job?”

I wasn’t actively searching, but she had a lead: a content specialist role for a child company under one of the largest global crypto and Web3 companies. 

I figured, why not?

She sent my résumé to the recruiter. I didn’t think much of it. The job was for a Lagos-based team, though tied to the global company. I barely took the interview seriously. They sent me a task — a writing sample, and I remember submitting something I immediately hated. I stayed up, rewrote it from scratch, and asked them to ignore the first draft. A few days later, they sent me an offer.

It came with a huge salary jump — $1,000 per month. That was more than double anything I’d ever earned. And the role turned out to be so much more than content.

I was hired as a content specialist but quickly found myself doing product marketing: launching features, crafting go-to-market strategies, and building narratives around new releases. Blog posts, newsletters, social campaigns; I figured out how to communicate product value. That’s when I realised: this is what I love. Not just content writing but telling the story of a product strategically, creatively, and holistically.

At some point, I asked for a title change, from content specialist to product marketing manager. It just fit better. I didn’t want to code or be a product manager, but I wanted to be close to the product, shaping how people saw and interacted with it.

I stayed for nearly two years. It paid well; the best salary I’d ever earned. But I didn’t love the job. The work culture was tough, heavily influenced by a rigid, top-down hierarchy that didn’t suit me. It’s also the only job where I ever had a serious conflict with a colleague; the kind that led to HR intervention.

Despite the money, I wanted out. So I quietly started searching again.

From $1K to $6.5K/Month: The Leap That Paid Off

This was the turning point in my career.

By early 2022, I knew I wanted to leave my job, but didn’t know where to go. I was casually applying to a few local companies when a friend sent me a Naira Life article about a 24-year-old content marketing writer earning $93,000 a year.

I was also 24, in the same line of work, but I was earning just $12,000 a year.

That story lit something in me. I read it again and again, sometimes first thing in the morning. It became my north star. I remember thinking, She doesn’t have two heads. So why not me?

I started deliberately and consistently applying for international roles for the first time. Until then, every remote job I’d gotten was a stroke of luck; someone had sent me a link or referred me. This time, I was hunting hard. I started in April 2022 and didn’t stop for eight months.

It was exhausting.

I’d apply, get rejected, apply again, get close, only to be turned down. Sometimes, I’d ask for feedback, then go back and tweak my résumé, read up on what they said I lacked, and keep going. I had learned how to navigate interviews, write better applications, and ask better questions.

But the rejections wore me down. I was miserable at work, but couldn’t leave without something better. 

The burnout was real. I barely left the house. I’d wake up, apply to ten jobs, and return to bed. From staying inside so much, I developed a vitamin D deficiency. I was exhausted mentally, physically, and spiritually. 

In June, I broke down. I took a one-month break, emptied my account, bought a car, and disappeared for a bit, like a personal rebellion against how stuck I felt. But by July, I got back on the grind.

In November 2022, after what felt like a hundred failed attempts, something finally clicked. I landed a product marketing specialist role at a Web3 startup. The pay was $2,000 a month, and they bumped it to $3,000 two months in. It was progress, but the company culture was off. I didn’t feel settled, and after three months, I left.

The real breakthrough

I applied for a new role through AngelList (now WellFound) and got the job. The offer? $6,500 per month.

$78,000 a year.

I couldn’t believe it when I saw the figure. I remember staring at the offer letter, stunned. It was more money than I ever thought possible.

That job was everything I’d worked for in 2022. During that year, I’d been obsessively learning, taking courses, reading blogs, and sharpening my skills. It finally paid off. I had spent six months there as a product and content marketing manager. But then, out of nowhere, the company ran into funding problems. They announced we might only have a few months of runway left.

I was devastated.

After grinding for a full year to find that job, after finally feeling like I was getting somewhere, it all felt like it was slipping away. I was emotionally drained.

The thought of starting the job hunt all over again made me feel sick.

But just before I left that role, in June 2023, I got a LinkedIn message from a recruiter hiring for a role in the global tech company I currently work for. They were expanding into emerging markets and building a new product in the Web3 space, and they needed someone with my experience.

She asked if I was interested. I said yes. Then she ghosted after I asked about the salary. But she’d dropped a link to the job in her message, so I applied anyway.

A few days later, HR reached out. During our first call, they asked for my salary expectations. I said $7,000/month. She paused and said she’d have to get back to me.

She did. The company approved the amount, even though it was above their initial budget, because I had the experience the team needed. They made an offer, and I accepted.

That’s how I landed my current role.

At the Top: Launching Products for Millions

In July 2023, I stepped into the role of Product Marketing Manager for a new product launch. I worked remotely from my studio apartment in Lagos, earning $7,100/month. That product now has over 7 million users, and counting.

Nearly two years later, I’m earning $7,800/month. It’s been a steady, satisfying climb, and it feels especially significant because I still live where I started: Lagos. But now, I live comfortably.

I send my mother between ₦500k and ₦1 million every month without blinking. I used to dream about that, but it’s been a long time since I needed something I couldn’t afford.

I was recently promoted to Senior Product Marketing Manager, and my contract now runs for the next three years. That kind of security is rare in tech, and I don’t take it for granted.

I work with teams worldwide, managing people, leading strategy, and running marketing budgets of over $5 million annually.

More than that, I feel respected, valued and trusted. My colleagues support me, and they see me for who I am, not just for my skills. That’s not common, and it’s not lost on me.

Stability and What It Means to Me

Recruiters have tried to poach me. Some have dangled offers twice, even three times what I currently earn. One role came with a $22,000/month salary and relocation to the UAE. It was very tempting.

But I turned it down.

I’ve come to understand the value of stability. I like what I’m doing right now. I believe in the product we are building. I believe in the mission and the company’s ethos at the moment. And sometimes, that matters more than the highest bidder.

This company has existed for almost 30 years, longer than I’ve been alive. That kind of track record means something to me. It’s a different kind of security. And I’m not willing to trade that for the uncertainty of a startup barely five years old, no matter how flashy the salary is.

Sure, I know there’ll always be higher-paying jobs whenever I decide to move on. But right now, I have enough. Life is good, and my family is living comfortably, and that’s more than I could say a few years ago.

The Future: What’s Next

Lately, I’ve been thinking more intentionally about what comes next. I’ve realised I want to move into venture capital.

I love product marketing: the strategy, the storytelling, the process of turning ideas into launches that land. But now, I want to do it at scale, not just for one product but for many simultaneously. VC feels like the next step. It’s a chance to help multiple startups grow, using everything I’ve learned so far.

To get there, I know I’ll need more than technical expertise. I need a stronger foundation in business, the kind that comes with an MBA. In a few years, I’m planning to go back to school for an MBA focused on startups, finance, or growth strategy.

An MBA will give me the business acumen and credibility that VCs demand. It’ll also help me stay relevant globally, which matters to me. I don’t plan to stop working with international companies anytime soon. I want to stay remote and global and continue playing on a bigger stage.

VC is the goal. When the time is right, school is part of the path to getting there.

My One Cent for Anyone Starting Out

If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this: never stop learning, and don’t stop showing up.

It’ll be hard. You’ll feel stuck. You’ll doubt yourself. But you can’t let that stop you. Keep pushing, keep learning. That’s the only way to grow.

I also think that too many people are chasing quick wins. They jump from job to job for a slightly higher salary, without pausing to build anything deep. But real growth comes from staying long enough to learn something real. From watching how people with 10, 15 years of experience move, think, and work. From putting your head down and mastering your craft.

I’ve seen it too many times: teams where everyone has five years of experience or less, and no one’s really learning from anyone. Everyone’s good at a little bit of everything, but no one is excellent at any one thing. That’s not how you build depth.

So here’s my advice: pick something, and do it really well. Don’t let shiny new job titles or inflated salaries distract you. There’ll always be a new hot role. A new industry. A new trend. But the people who win are the ones who stay focused and put in the reps.

Whatever path you choose: design, writing, engineering, product marketing, own it. Go deep, and get so good at it that when you walk into an interview room, there’s no question who the best candidate is.

That’s the only real way to stand out in a crowded job market. It’s not by knowing a little about everything, but by being undeniably great at something.

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Also Read: This Consultant Went from Earning ₦183k/Month to ₦2.6m/Month in 5 years 

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