Welcome to a new Weekly Interviews edition where we interview brilliant women in our industry and share their stories with the world! Anyone is welcome to share their story by simply filling this form, we encourage women from all walks of life in our industry to do so.
Introducing Rejoice Ojiaku, Global SEO Account Manager at Neo Media World. Based in London, UK, Rejoice has worked within Digital Marketing for over 2 years. Since finishing her masters in marketing at The University of Manchester, she started her journey as a Junior SEO Executive. She is passionate about diversity within the workplace and ensuring the perspective and struggles of Black people especially Black women is changed. Her career goals are to eventually work as a Freelance SEO Consultant as well as doing her very own Ted Talk one day whilst growing B-DigitalUK into a powerhouse for Black Talent in Marketing.
We asked her everything from how she first got into SEO to what empowers her to be the brilliant woman she is 💪🏽
During my last year at university, I loved the marketing module so much that I decided to do Marketing for my masters. After I graduated, I got into a graduate scheme that was rotational and my first role was as a Junior SEO Executive. I was in that role for 6 months without rotating and by the time it came to rotation, I decided I wanted to stay in SEO because it was an awesome fit for me. Combining my first degree (IT Management) with my masters (Marketing); I guess SEO was always my calling.
My favourite SEO task has got to be the content side. Although I have mostly been doing Technical SEO, nothing beats keyword mapping and writing meta titles, descriptions, body copy etc. It allows me to be creative.
Recently I was introduced to Sitebulb and my goodness its' AMAZING!! I like things that are simple and make my life easier and Sitebulb does just that!
The Google extension, SEO Meta In One Click, is absolutely beautiful to use, I get to know what I need to know in seconds so I enjoy using that. Keyword Everywhere is another go to tool for me cause again, writing meta data is absolutely fun and it allows me to see what keywords are doing well.
Lastly an honourable shoutout to Pi-Datametrics and Brightedge because they're amazing platforms.
I always came across the issue of multiple H1s on sites and I just never know how to look for them without cheating and using Brightedge but then I finally learned that I can inspect the code and search for <h1> and it comes up! It was such an AHA moment for me because I'm not extremely technical and just knowing that trick was life changing.
My proudest industry achievement is starting B-DigitalUK with my friend Wilhemina. We felt there was a gap in Black Talent within the industry and this is not to say black people were not around but we didn't know of each other. For us, we felt it is vital that we were able to see representations of ourselves everywhere especially at major conferences where it looks whitewashed. We wanted to educate black students about the industry and how it is a viable route so when we launched B-DigitalUK, the reception blew us away! We were being involved in discussions to do with Diversity & Inclusion which is a passion of mine and the support so far has been crazy.
Don't enter the industry trying to be like someone else, always aim to be yourself especially when it comes to your skillset.
Be true about what you enjoy in SEO and it's fine if you are not technical, you don't have to be. SEO has so many layers, you just need to find your spot and remember to keep learning and developing how YOU want so you become the best version of yourself in this crazy SEO world.
Wilhemina Gilbertson-Davis: My Friend, my sister! She inspires me because she is a go-getter and she doesn't let anything get in her way. The way she supports others is beautiful.
Areej AbuAli: B-DigitalUK was birthed during a Women In Tech SEO conference and seeing what she has done with the platform really pushed us to do the same for black people. She was able to create something so powerful and it's truly remarkable to see. She basically forced the industry to see women as major players and I love it.
Miracle Inameti-Archibong: I think she is such a badass with SEO, she has a breath of technical SEO knowledge and I would like to one day be in a position to be Head of SEO (god willing) or freelance SEO. I think she is basically superwoman in the industry and I love seeing a black woman doing her thing.
I think what empowers me to be who I am today is my faith. Just knowing that with God I can do all things, I continue to push myself and be a better version each time. I feel my limitations does not reflect the capabilities of God and if he believes in me and says I can do it...then I must be able to.
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Thanks Rejoice for a truly insightful interview, you can connect with Rejoice on Twitter and LinkedIn. You can also connect with B-DigitalUK initiatives on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
To view more interviews with brilliant women, check out our Interviews page. If you've enjoyed reading this interview, then we'd love for YOU to share your story with the world! Simply fill this form here, we welcome brilliant SEOs from all walks of life! 🙌🏽