The stately and serene ambience of the King George Hotel, an upmarket hospitality establishment in Ikoyi, Lagos, was the venue for the formal launch of ‘HEELS & LADDERS: A Career Acceleration Handbook for Female Professionals‘ written by Mrs. Chinyere Okorocha.
NEWSWIRE Law Events Magazine’s correspondent in Lagos reports that the event, which took place on Saturday, February 21, 2026, was graced by family, friends, colleagues, associates and well-wishers of the author – and they included legal luminaries, captains of industry and celebrities. The author was joined by her husband and children as well as her siblings, Mrs. Ngozi Chika-Mbonu and the on-air personality popularly known as Chico.
After the opening formalities, the event began with a profile of the author. In her current roles as Intellectual Property (IP) Partner, Sector Head of Health & Pharmaceuticals, and the Overall Head of Sectors at the law firm of Jackson, Etti & Edu, Okorocha stands out as a consummate legal practitioner with a distinguished record spanning over three decades.
A committed Bar leader, she has served the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in various capacities; she was, at various times Chairperson of the NBA Women Forum (NBAWF); Council Member and Treasurer at the NBA’s Section on Business Law (NBA-SBL); a Patron of the Law Society at the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos; and a member of the Dispute Resolution Panel of the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), among other assignments.
Welcoming guests to the event, Okorocha (fondly referred to as Mrs. O by her teeming admirers), paid tribute to her husband and family, and to her bosses and colleagues at Jackson Etti & Edu – which she describes as her ‘home’ for the better part of her professional life.
She went on to describe ‘ Heels & Ladders’ as an idea that was years in the making, motivated by the need to remind women – especially young, rising female professionals – that though there are glass ceilings out there, they can be shattered, provided the woman in question is ready to roll up her proverbial sleeves and get to work. Being female in today’s world, she said, was an asset rather than a burden – much less a disability.
There were a couple of reviews of the book, as guests were treated to a sneak peek into the rich and instructive nuggets contained in two of the book’s 14 chapters. The first reviewer, Mr. Kunle Ajagbe lamented that society often frowns at the woman who shows ambition and grit – even as it applauds the man who displays the very same attributes.
Given the fact that women often have to negotiate every raise, promotion or recognition before it is granted, Ajagbe was quick to stress that negotiation was less about conflict than it was about value exchange, and urged women to master this skill and apply it assiduously.
The second reviewer, Mrs. Mary Akpobome, described each chapter of Mrs. Okorocha’s offering as a book in and of itself. Echoing Mr. Ajagbe before her, Akpobome said it was natural for a woman to shrink her very essence, minimize her desires and lower her voice in order not to offend societal convention.
Also, in a classic case of ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’, she said, in many settings, a woman could as readily be judged for being too vocal, as dismissed for not being vocal enough. Turning her attention to the woman desirous of career and personal advancement, Akpobome said, “Being female is not a strategy.” Rather, building both capacity and confidence, she said, was essential if the woman in heels is to scale the ladder of success without tripping.
The theme of confidence was expanded upon by the author’s daughter, Natasha Okorocha, who began by referencing the Biblical woman of virtue as presented in Proverbs chapter 31. The most genuine source of boldness (for anybody, not just a woman), she said, should come from one’s relationship with God, rather than solely on one’s feelings or sense of their own capabilities.
The reviews were followed by a Fireside Chat between Mrs. O and the lawyer-cum-media personality, Onyinye Ukegbu. In the course of a wide-ranging conversation, the author disclosed that Heels and Ladders was born during the 2020 Covid lockdown. The book, she added, evokes a career and life-journey influenced by numerous mentors and ‘igniters’, as well as driven by a desire to develop a multidimensional persona – rather than one defined solely by her day-job as a lawyer. Mrs. O offered the following nuggets for the benefit of people navigating different seasons of their lives and careers:
– Do more of the things that give you the most pleasure;
– Look up to inspiring people, but don’t lose your authenticity;
– Develop a personal brand ie create the persona you want people to see;
– Society in general, and the workplace in particular, should strive for equity (as opposed to equality) between the sexes.
– It pays to develop the FILE range of attributes (ie Foresight, Intuition, Lateral Thinking and Empathy), especially in pursuit of a healthy work-life balance.
On an evening of many highlights, another highlight of the book launch was a poetry recitation by Ngozi Chika-Mbonu, the author’s aforementioned sister, and then by a panel discussion featuring the pair of Udo Okonjo and Chinwe Uzoho, with Okorocha herself as Moderator.
In the course of their discourse, the two panelists emphasized the importance of the following capabilities:
– Learning to command your value, and not to leave money on the table;
– Being intentional about everything, no matter how seemingly trivial;
– The clear and present enemy called Impostor Syndrome – and the imperative of defeating this monster.
– The importance of never underestimating who you are.
NEWSWIRE’s correspondent reports that the event drew to a close with the formal presentation of the book, ‘Heels & Ladders’ by a highly distinguished cross-section of guests.
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