Dr Morenike George-Taylor has built a career across law, telecommunications, hospitality and business. As President of the Restaurants, Cafes, Bars and Clubs Association of Nigeria (RCBCA) and Managing Director/CEO of Viande D Enterprises, she brings experience in leadership, strategy and entrepreneurship to an industry where taking care of others is part of the job.
Following the Wellness & Style Live Experience, we spoke with Dr Morenike about what the event meant to her, how she approaches rest and wellbeing, the lessons her career has taught her about success, and why having choices may be one of the clearest measures of a life well lived.
You’ve worked across law, telecommunications, hospitality and business, and you’re now leading RCBCA while also running Viande D Enterprises. Looking back at all these different chapters, how have they shaped the person you are today, beyond your professional titles?
Every chapter of my career has taught me something different about people, resilience and leadership. Law taught me discipline, critical thinking and the importance of understanding both sides of an issue. Telecommunications exposed me to a very fast-moving corporate environment, while hospitality taught me something even more important: that business is ultimately about people and experiences.
Moving through these different industries has made me adaptable. I have learnt that you cannot lead effectively if you are unwilling to learn, evolve and sometimes start again.
Beyond the titles, I think these experiences have made me more intentional about who I am and what I stand for. Integrity is extremely important to me. I believe you should be the same person when nobody is watching as you are when everybody is watching.
Today, I don’t measure myself simply by the positions I’ve held or the businesses I’ve built. I think more about the impact I am making, the people I am able to help, the opportunities I create and the kind of legacy I am leaving behind.
I’m particularly happy to be supplying premium meat and seafood products in the hospitality space, as I am able to enhance how restaurants serve their guests. This is part of my focus on improving the hospitality industry as a whole.
Most importantly, my faith has become central to how I see everything. I am a Christian, and God is at the centre of my life. That gives me a grounding that no professional achievement can replace.
You work in an industry built around feeding, entertaining and taking care of other people. How do you personally make sure you’re not putting your own wellbeing at the bottom of the list?
I have had to consciously learn that taking care of yourself is not selfish. In an industry where everyone needs something from you, it is very easy to become the person who is constantly giving and forget that you also need to be replenished.
For me, wellness has become much more intentional. I enjoy going to the spa because it gives me the opportunity to slow down, disconnect and simply breathe. I also love spending time with people I love. Sometimes the best form of rest isn’t being alone; it is being around people who make you feel safe, loved and completely yourself.
I also enjoy singing. It is one of those things that brings me joy without feeling like work. I also have a favourite restaurant where I spend a lot of time with family and friends.
I am also becoming more conscious about what I eat and adopting a healthier diet. I am learning to see wellness as a lifestyle rather than something you do only when you are exhausted.
And my faith is a huge part of my wellbeing. Prayer, my relationship with God and knowing that I don’t have to carry everything by myself give me perspective.
You’ve taken on very different roles throughout your career. Was there ever a point when you realised you had outgrown what you were doing, even though staying would have been easier? How did you handle that transition personally?
Yes. I think there are moments in life when you realise that something has served its purpose, even if it is still comfortable or familiar.
I have never been afraid of growth, but growth can be uncomfortable because it often requires you to leave behind a version of yourself that you have become very used to. I have been in the same roles for the past five years, which are roles that revolve around executive leadership and strategy. I am able to run companies in multiple locations and bring ideas to reality. However, I have had to align with where my passion lies and what I can see as my future.
For me, the key has been understanding that staying somewhere simply because it is familiar is not necessarily security. Sometimes you have to move forward because you have become a different person.
I have learnt to trust God through those transitions. I don’t always have every answer before I make a move, but I try to make decisions with clarity, prayer and purpose.
I’ve also learnt that you don’t have to prove anything to anybody. Sometimes the most courageous thing you can do is acknowledge that it is time for a new chapter and walk into it.
Running a business and leading an industry association can take up a lot of your time. What does making time for yourself actually look like when you have so many responsibilities competing for your attention?
It has become about being intentional rather than waiting for free time, because if I wait for free time, I may never get any!
I have learnt to create pockets of time for myself. That can be a spa day, dinner with people I love, listening to music, singing, resting or simply doing absolutely nothing.
I also value quality time over quantity. Sometimes an hour spent laughing with people you love can do more for you than an entire weekend of trying to “relax” while still answering emails.
My relationship with God is also part of how I create space for myself. It helps me step away from the noise and remember what really matters.
I am increasingly protective of my peace. I don’t believe that being busy all the time is a badge of honour. There is a difference between being productive and simply being overwhelmed.
You’ve built businesses, managed teams and worked in demanding industries. What are some things you’ve had to learn to say no to as you’ve become more senior?
I’ve had to learn to say no to things that don’t align with my values, my priorities or the season of life I am in.
I’ve also had to say no to the pressure to be everywhere and do everything. When I am somewhere, I have a clear purpose and direction. Leadership can sometimes make you feel as though everything must pass through you, but that is not sustainable.
I’ve learnt to say no to unnecessary drama, to relationships that consistently drain me, and to opportunities that look impressive but don’t actually move me forward.
And I’ve had to learn to say no to perfectionism.
You cannot build anything meaningful while trying to make everybody happy or in an environment where you’re not at peace. At some point, you have to be clear about what matters to you and focus on that.
Women are praised so much for being able to handle pressure, multitask and keep going. Have you ever reached a point where you realised you were handling too much? What made you recognise it, and what did you do differently afterwards?
Absolutely. I think many women are conditioned to keep going because we are so used to being responsible for so many things at once.
There have been moments when I realised that being strong doesn’t mean pretending that you don’t need rest. There is a point where your body and your mind start telling you what your mouth has refused to admit: “You need to slow down.”
That realisation changed how I think about strength.
I don’t think strength is simply how much you can carry. Sometimes strength is knowing what you should put down.
Pamela Shodipo said something profound at the Wellness & Style Live Experience: “If you’re not careful, the pursuit of success can consume the very things that make success meaningful.”
I became more conscious of delegation, boundaries and rest. I also became more honest with myself about what was genuinely important and what was simply noise.
I think women need to stop competing over who can suffer the most and start asking whether the life we are building is actually a life we enjoy living.
Your work with RCBCA puts you in close contact with business owners and professionals in the hospitality industry. What has that experience taught you about the difference between looking successful and actually having a life that works for you?
This is one of the biggest lessons I’ve learnt.
We live in a world where people can curate an entire life online. You can look incredibly successful and still be deeply unhappy, exhausted or financially stretched behind the scenes. I’m happy with the members of our association, and we try to support each other while operating in a very delicate industry.
Don’t be carried away by what you see online.
Real success, to me, is having choices.
It is being able to decide where you want to live, who you want to spend time with, what work you want to accept, when you want to rest and what kind of life you want your children and loved ones to experience.
Success is not just a car, a house, a holiday or a photograph. Those things are lovely, but they are not the definition of success.
For me, success is freedom, peace, purpose and having the ability to make choices based on what matters to you rather than desperation.
And I think integrity is a major part of that. I would rather build slowly and honestly than build something that looks impressive but cannot stand up to scrutiny. Not everyone will understand what you’re building, and people will misread your motives, but be loyal to your true self.
You attended the Wellness & Style Live Experience this year. What was the experience like for you, and was there a particular conversation, speaker or moment that stayed with you after the event?
WAS Live was a beautiful reminder that women need spaces where we can pause and have honest conversations about ourselves beyond our careers, businesses and responsibilities. Dr Tewa, as usual, did an amazing job reminding us to focus on ourselves inasmuch as we want to focus on others.
What stayed with me most was the emphasis on the whole woman. We spend so much time talking about achievement that sometimes we forget to ask whether the person achieving all these things is actually okay.
In this day and age, mental health matters a lot and can be linked to productivity. As a leader, your job is to bring out the best in your team, and that means providing what they need to achieve their goals and paying attention to what is causing them to underperform.
I appreciated the conversations around wellness, rest, identity and living intentionally. It reminded me that there is no point building an impressive life if you are too exhausted to enjoy it.
I also loved the sense of community. Being around women who are at different stages of their lives and hearing their experiences creates a kind of connection that you don’t always get in professional spaces.
The theme for this year’s WAS Live was “Rest Is a Skill, Not a Reward”. After being part of the conversations and experience on the day, did the theme make you think differently about how you approach rest and wellbeing in your own life?
Definitely. I think many high-achieving people have been taught, consciously or unconsciously, that rest is something you earn after you’ve worked hard enough.
But there is always another target, another meeting, another problem and another deadline. If rest is always a reward for finishing everything, you may never rest.
I’ve realised that rest has to be part of the process. I also learnt to sometimes switch off my phone! Lol!
For me, that means deliberately making time for things that restore me: going to the spa, spending time with people I love, singing, taking care of what I eat, spending time with God and simply giving myself permission not to be “on” all the time.
Rest isn’t laziness. It is maintenance.
And sometimes you need to rest before you reach the point where your body forces you to. I fell ill and almost died a few years ago, and work moved on.
For women who attended WAS Live or are considering attending the next edition, what would you recommend they take from the experience, and what would you personally love to see more of at future WAS Live events?
I would tell women to go with an open mind and, most importantly, to go for themselves.
Don’t go because it looks good on Instagram. Go because you genuinely want to learn, connect, reflect and give yourself permission to think about your own wellbeing.
I would also encourage women to remember that everybody’s journey is different. Don’t compare your chapter one to somebody else’s chapter twenty.
My personal advice to anyone building a career, business or life is simple: have integrity, be dedicated and stay focused.
There will always be distractions. There will always be people who appear to be moving faster than you. And social media will constantly show you somebody else’s highlight reel.
Don’t let that make you question your own journey.
Work hard. Stay focused. Do things properly. Keep your values intact. Take care of yourself. Keep God at the centre of your life.
And don’t forget to actually live. Because at the end of the day, true success isn’t having everything. True success is having choices.
Choosing a Life You Can Enjoy
For Dr Morenike George-Taylor, the conversation around wellness ultimately comes back to the kind of life we are building while pursuing success. Her experience across several industries has taught her the value of adaptability and leadership, but it has also made her more conscious of the person behind the professional achievements.
For women navigating careers, businesses, relationships and the expectations that come with all of them, her advice is worth remembering: build with integrity, stay focused, take care of yourself and do not become so consumed with the pursuit of success that you forget to live.
After all, a successful life should be one you have the time and wellbeing to enjoy.
Written by Aliyah O.
