The Winning Race

What's Next?

The orientation week was a breeze, partly because she had read 'The Winning Race' cover to cover two times already. 

The in-house therapy role was a new role they had created because the board realised that, although not drastic, the performance of employees had dropped after the COVID-19 pandemic. So they felt it was necessary to get an in-house therapist who understood the value and culture of the company. They believed it would be better that way and help the therapist understand and know how to help them. So in the interim, she was working in the HR department.

Asha majored in Psychology and took business admin as a minor for her undergrad. She was fortunate to intern in a company as a personal assistant to a product manager during her undergraduate years. He was a good man. Instead of allowing Asha to be just his assistant, he taught her everything he could about being a Product Manager within the time frame. And when the period was over, he enrolled her in a three-month online crash course to study product management as his gift to her. He believed her psychology background would help her stand out in the field. And it did. Since then, they have been in contact, and she goes to him whenever she has challenges. She thanked God for him daily.

A year after starting her role as an in-house therapist at TRW, it was time for her first development program. As part of TRW's value of developing employees, every employee was enrolled in a development program each year. They could learn a new course, earn a certification, intern in a different department or one of their sister companies for three months. Asha's boss suggested she enrol in an HR certification program to improve her skills and even get more opportunities in their department. She thought it was a good idea, so she did it. Unbeknownst to her, her boss had planned to resign to pursue other interests. And he nominated her to fill his role because of her diverse background. She was grateful. She still worked as the in-house therapist till it was filled.

Junior was beyond proud of himself and thankful to God for the opportunity to impact Asha's life through Uber driving. His father was impressed daily with the strides Asha kept making each year in the company. The atmosphere had changed for the better because Asha put the employees' mental health first and brought some balance to the policies they set as a company. She had made many changes to the interior decor of the space because she believed colour and ambience affected people's mental health. One of her favourite things about working with TRW was that there were few restrictions - her department had a considerable budget. Once she explained the likely outcome of what she suggested, she was often allowed to execute it.

Junior offered to take her out for dinner when she was promoted, and sampling restaurants had become a regular thing in their friendship. And as usual, Junior didn't mention where; he simply told her to be ready by 7:00 pm, and he'd pick her up. Her mother had given up trying to force Junior on her as a boyfriend because she realised Asha and Junior had no plans to pursue that path. But today, when she saw Asha dressed, she couldn't help herself but bring it up one more time.

"Ei Afia, the way you're always going out with the man, are you sure you'll get a boy? No one will approach you o. Yooo."

"Oh Mama, I thought you were over this? Junior is my friend, and that is that." She paused. "Keep me in your prayers, and I'm sure God will send a man my way. I cannot go and propose to a man, and they don't seem to be proposing to me either, so unless prayers, Ma." She repeated her sister's line to her mother, making her mute. Junior came in when he arrived and greeted Mama with his usual gifts in hand.

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Really guys, thank you for sticking with me🙏🏾! And I hope you've been enjoying the story as much as I am!

And it looks like Asha's mother isn't going to stop bugging her about dating Junior, huh?
Ooh and is this the date where Junior will finally let his intentions be known and propose to make our ship official?