Hadassah didn’t set out to become a digital marketer, nor, indeed, a traveler who visited four African countries in just two years. But her journey, from earning ₦18,000 as a teacher to building a career in marketing while traveling across borders, is shaped by resilience, experimentation, and an unshakable desire to live intentionally.
The Beginning
Hadassah grew up in Plateau State, in a quiet environment where the cost of living was low and family support was constant. She didn’t run a business in university or search for side gigs. “I was wholly dependent on my parents,” she says. But after graduation, reality arrived.
She took her first job as a teacher. NYSC offered only ₦19,000, and her PPA made it clear they wouldn’t pay anything extra. The cost of living pushed her toward a difficult truth: “₦19,000 could not cover anything. I had to start doing something else.”
So she printed her CV, walked into random buildings, and submitted applications. One of those buildings turned out to be an MTN Customer Care Office. A few weeks later, she got the call. The interview was smooth. They needed people who spoke Hausa, Yoruba, or Igbo. She spoke Hausa fluently.
She got the job. With MTN paying her ₦60,000 and her NYSC allowance, she finally had breathing room. For two years, she balanced her PPA, her call-center shifts, and adult life before returning to Jos in 2019 at her parents’ request.
Reinventing Herself After NYSC
Back in Jos, jobs were scarce. Applications went unanswered. Months passed. So she created her own work.
“I started Esther’s Craft,” she says. “Handmade bonnets and briefs. I made them myself.” She took them to offices, stores, and customers. It wasn’t glamorous, but it kept her afloat.
Then 2020 happened. She got a marketing job that paid ₦65,000. COVID hit. Everyone was suddenly online, and people around her needed help with Instagram, content, and posting. She offered to help, “not as a manager, just posting and supporting friends.”
But something clicked. “Social media came easily to me. I could see content formats and immediately know what to do.”
Becoming a Digital Marketer
By 2021, she joined a social media agency. They assigned her five accounts for just ₦30,000 a month.
“That pay was really poor,” she says. “But I was ignorant of how much the service was worth.”
Her cheap Android phone struggled to handle seven active accounts (five client accounts plus her two personal pages). Eventually, it crashed, wiping her work. When she asked her employer to pay her salary, they refused.
She quit.
January 2022, with a new iPhone in hand, she decided to freelance on her own terms.
Over the next two years, she built a portfolio across industries, got certified, refined her structure, and positioned herself as a high-value SMM. Clients began to trust her more and pay better.
By 2022, she had also passed an exam at her full-time organization and was inducted as a staff member. They transferred her to Lagos.
“Moving to Lagos was a blessing,” she says. “Clients here understand the value of the work. They pay better. They don’t treat SMM as something mediocre.”
Today, she earns about ₦500,000 monthly from two stable freelance clients, in addition to her salary.
Discovering Travel
Travel began with curiosity.
After COVID, she realized she didn’t know much about her own city. She started exploring nature spots with a friend. She learned something important: “Nature is my happy place.”
Traveling between states became normal. Jos to Abuja, Abuja to Lagos. She explored beaches, nature spots, and tourist sites. But international travel still didn’t feel realistic.
Intentional travel, budgeted, planned, and structured, started in 2023, when she left Nigeria for the first time as a birthday gift to herself.
She visited Benin Republic and Togo, two neighboring countries. The culture, languages, food, and simplicity stole her heart. “It was wholesome, therapeutic. I knew this was something I’d keep doing.”
In 2024, she visited two more countries for her birthday. Travel is now a ritual. Every year, she picks new destinations.
She’s only just getting started.
The Next Chapter
Hadassah is still a freelancer, still a full-time worker, still a creator, and still a traveler. She wears many hats, but she carries them with calm purpose.
She’s not trying to “blow.” She’s building a life. A life of structure. A life of creativity.
A life of intentional exploration represents a new class of young African women pursuing soft ambition, choosing growth without chaos, choosing travel without excess, and choosing work that aligns with who they are becoming.
She doesn’t have the final roadmap, but she has momentum. And sometimes, that’s all a journey needs.
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I’ve lived many lives, but one lesson ties them all together: money is only as powerful as its utility. Through my work, I share stories about money and create guides for Africans who want to get the best out of theirs.