At the Edge: The Economics of Reclaiming Internal Authority in a Measured World
Join us for a live conversation exploring the economics of cultivating internal authority, with Anwulika Okonjo, a developmental leadership coach and the founder of Ijeruka, and Dr. Aisha Udochi Amolo, a a third-generation, Nigerian-American economist, educated at Harvard and Howard University
Internal authority is the capacity to recognise which frameworks are shaping our decisions, where those they come from, and how to choose consciously in alignment with our own flourishing and goals, especially when the path isn't clear and the stakes feel high.
✨ Dr. Amolo redefines economics not as a dismal science of numbers but
the profound exploration of human potential and needs.
→ This session will expand the way you think about defining value, making decisions, and authoring your life and work in dominant systems designed to do the defining for us.
Internal authority is easy to romanticise. It’s often framed as confidence, conviction, or the courage to “trust yourself.”
But what does it really mean to author your life, work and futures from within, especially in a world that is constantly measuring you?
Measured by productivity.
By credentials.
By metrics of development that quietly decide what counts and who counts.
Many of us have learned to succeed inside these systems. And yet, somewhere along the way, a question emerges:
Is this truly my voice — or a more sophisticated version of external authority speaking through me?
What This Conversation Explores:
In this conversation, Anwulika and Dr. Amolo will think together in real time about:
Economics as lens, not truth: How dominant economic frameworks aren't neutral descriptions of reality, but particular ways of seeing that shape what becomes possible
Making the invisible visible: Developing the capacity to recognise which frameworks are driving your decisions about work, value, success, and resource allocation
Expanding the available lenses: What African and Black knowledge systems offer as sophisticated alternatives to Western economic thinking
From unconscious inheritance to conscious choice: The work of moving from performing frameworks you absorbed to choosing that align with your goals and flourishing
Human potential as economic question: What shifts when economics is understood as the exploration of human needs and possibilities rather than market optimisation
What to expect
At the Edge is a horizon-scanning conversation series with renowned and visionary minds building at the edge of what's possible, and exploring who we need to become to shape our desired futures.
This will be an honest conversation about growth arcs, complex tensions, and the unfinished work of black flourishing.
Deeper Engagement
Members of the Ijeruka Village will be able to contribute questions during the session and continue the reflection afterward within our digital campus.
If you’ve ever felt both accomplished and quietly unconvinced — clear in your direction yet still disentangling inherited measures of worth — this conversation may resonate.
You’re welcome in the room.