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Episode Description

In this episode of the Women Emerging Podcast, host Julia Middleton speaks with Folawe Omikunle, who describes herself as an ‘accidental leader’. Leadership was never her plan—she avoided it through school, took jobs for their mission rather than their leadership challenges, and never set out to lead. Yet, over time, those around her saw her as a leader, and she had to accept it.

Folawe reflects on the challenges of stepping into leadership without a roadmap that truly resonated with her. She shares how much easier, more confident, and more focused she could have been if such an approach had existed. She describes the moment she finally ‘took the blindfolds off’ and embraced her role.

This episode is for anyone who has found themselves unexpectedly leading and wants to better understand how to own and shape their leadership journey.

About the Guests

Folawe Omikunle

Folawe Omikunle is an education advocate and former CEO of Teach For Nigeria. She led efforts that impacted over 300,000 students and built a network of leaders dedicated to educational transformation.

About the Host

Julia Middleton

Julia Middleton is the host of the Women Emerging podcast and a best-selling author of “If that’s leading, I’m in” as well as two previous books: “Leading beyond Authority” and “Cultural Intelligence”. She is deeply committed to helping people from all backgrounds to find their own approach to leading.

In 2020, Julia launched Women Emerging and in 2022 she lead an expedition of 24 women to find ‘an approach to leading that resonates with women’. She now leads expeditions with women all over the world based on 4Es methodology, discovered in the first expedition.

Prior to that, Julia was founder and, for over thirty years, Chief Executive of Common Purpose, which grew to become one of the biggest leadership development organisations in the world.
Julia is also an Ambassador for the Aurora Prize based in Armenia, on the boards of Alfanar Venture Philanthropy in the Arab World and Equality Now, which operates globally, and on the Advisory Councils of Fundacao Dom Cabral in Brazil and Synapse in Pakistan.

Born in London and brought up in New York, Julia was educated at French Lycées and graduated from the London School of Economics. She is married, with five children and lots of grandchildren.