Carrie and Emeka Anazia graduated Summa Cum Laude from North Carolina A&T State University in 2011 and 2012, respectively. They married last December and released their first book, Acing The Undergrad: Your Personal Mentor, this fall.
Heavily involved in mentoring and leadership roles on campus while balancing part-time jobs and academics, Carrie and Emeka share the principles they utilized in college within their book. Between the two of them, they earned over $20,000 in scholarship money, studied abroad in five countries and maintained above average G.P.A.s. Emeka graduated with a degree in industrial supply chain management and Carrie, an undergraduate degree in elementary education and a graduate degree from Columbia University.
“We have a passion for mentoring and have mentored students every year while at North Carolina A&T. After we graduated, we wanted a way to share our tools for success with the masses, Emeka said. “We realized that a book would be the best way to do that.”
The book’s layout is unique in that it is geared toward how they’ve found students learn best. Each chapter includes a primary principle or lesson, an overview, and personal examples for students to relate to. One of their favorite chapters, “There Are No Excuses: What Is Holding You Back?” speaks on overcoming life struggles and turning them into strengths. They each share personal dilemmas that affected their work, but never deterred it. A stroke, brought on by Lupus, continues to affect Emeka’s short-term memory, yet he finds ways around it. While Carrie, who has faced stuttering all her life, uses her story to inspire others.
“Having a speech impediment growing up caused me to have low self-esteem and to be very shy. There was always a constant fear of speaking up because I didn’t want to be looked down upon or made fun of because of the way I spoke,” Carrie said. “However, when I was in college, I realized that if I spoke with confidence and carried myself with assertive body language, then I didn’t give people any ammunition to pick on my stutter. When I learned to accept my stutter as a part of me and not be ashamed of it, it no longer was a hindrance in my life.”
Residing in North Carolina, Emeka manages promotions, marketing and speaking engagements for their book while Carrie works as a special education teacher for kindergarten through fifth grades. They are currently working to create a YouTube channel to further explain the book’s lessons.
Find out how they gained the most of their college experiences within their book, Acing The Undergrad: Your Personal Mentor, currently available on AuthorHouse and Amazon and read more about them via their website.
BMWK – what tips would you share with young adults about successfully navigating college? What do you wish you would have know before starting college?