The motivation of doctor and speaker Nothabo Ncube
Fourteen-year-old Nothabo Ncube’s promise to her dead mother would reverberate throughout her life. Her vibrant mom had been killed in a car accident. Gazing at her coffin in the stifling heat of the overstuffed church in Africa, Ncube’s knees were trembling, and she had to clutch her grandmother just to stay upright. Suddenly she heard a familiar voice. Her own. “Mama, I’m hopeful — I’ll try by all means and I’ll strive to be a doctor.” It was her final gift to the parent who had always nurtured this dream. As she filed past the body, she felt a bit lighter. “I knew she was listening — I could see her smiling,” says Ncube.
Ncube’s mother, a teacher and principal, had always been a role model to her daughter. “She had that passion of inspiring kids to be the best they could be,” she says. Ncube determined early on that she, too, would lead a life of service, though in medicine rather than education.
Defying stereotypes as an African woman
This wasn’t easy for girls born in her homeland of Zimbabwe. “You were taught that you’re not enough — at best a girl could become a clerk,” says Ncube. But her mother defied the stereotypes and encouraged her to reach high. “She would look me in the eyes and say, ‘You’re a star, you’re smart,’” says Ncube.
The bereaved teenager would have to draw on this bedrock of belief throughout her life. Two years after her mother’s death, in 2006, Ncube immigrated with her father and younger brother to Toronto, where she expected to live in a mansion. Instead she moved into the poverty-ridden Regent Park projects, where prostitutes and drug dealers plied their trade in her building. At school, Ncube says an English teacher judged her for her accent and gave her low marks. It was only her long-ago oath to her mother that pulled her through. Ncube graduated near the top of her high school class and won a Fulbright Scholarship, which funded her science studies at McMaster University.
That’s when another crisis nearly derailed her dreams. “I went through a drastic family issue, and lost my way,” says Ncube. She became paralyzed by depression, losing her optimism and her focus. “Just getting out of bed was a task,” she says. She couldn’t ask for help, since her tightknit community viewed mental illness as shameful. After failing out of her first year, she finally confided her troubles to her roommate, who understood Ncube’s difficulties and encouraged her to regroup. Two years later, she was accepted into medical school at Windsor University.
The Oprah touch
Ncube’s next challenge was to scrape together the $30,000 fee for tuition and living expenses. A friend suggested she appeal to Oprah for help. Ncube filled out the application form with her life story and, to her amazement, was invited to attend an open discussion entitled “You’ve become what you believe.” Listening to Oprah narrate her own journey from poverty to power, Ncube realized that losing her mother so early in life had been a divine gift in its own way. “It forced me to dig deep, realize who I truly was and give hope to others,” she says.
It was in medical school that Ncube first used her talent for inspiration. As she began treating patients with psychological problems, she disclosed her own struggles to help them open up. “When you share your story, it gives permission to others to do the same,” she says.
Becoming a motivational speaker
After completing medical school in the spring of 2017, Ncube decided to try motivational speaking, which she saw as an extension of doctoring. Instead of attending to individual clients, she hoped to benefit a larger group simultaneously. Ncube landed a spot on the prestigious Ted Talks series shortly after her graduation. Though she was nervous and shaky before taking the stage, she moved her audience to tears and received a standing ovation at the end.
Since then, she has become an internationally sought-after speaker, travelling back to Zimbabwe and South Africa. Ncube tries to motivate young girls to realize their ambitions and also reassures older women that it’s never too late to redirect their lives. After one talk, a listener approached her. “I’ve gone to a lot of therapists, but seeing your healing aura with its motherly touch was more helpful,” the woman told her.
Motivational speaking has also led Ncube to a new career as a life coach. After every speech, audience members line up to meet her and ask for more personal guidance. While her presentations inspire people to reach for their own dreams, the coaching offers specific strategies to achieve these goals.
Ncube also mentors girls around the globe on a volunteer basis. Just as her mother once encouraged her pupils to reach their potential, so, too, Ncube bolsters her charges’ confidence through regular Skype or phone sessions. “I remind them that they are so much more than their society’s expectations of them,” she says. In the future she hopes to create an online platform where women can empower each other with their own tales of tragedy and triumph.
Ncube gets back as much as she gives. Every time she ignites hope in her listeners, she heals from her own traumas. “The moment I release my story into the atmosphere, I feel lighter,” says Ncube. “I become free.”