Speak Book Summary

Book Summary

15 min

Audio available

Brief Summary

Accepting ourselves for who we are and navigating through life isn’t the easiest task in the world. But there are people who can help us improve our outlook in life and to eventually love ourselves. Tunde Oyeneyin’s Speak teaches us how to be unapologetically ourselves. In this inspiring memoir, she relives her journey towards who she is right now and tells us the mindset she had in conquering various obstacles in her life.

A motivational, emotional, and inspiring book, Speak teaches its readers how to rise above the challenges and how to navigate through life’s challenges while learning self-awareness, self-acceptance, and self-love. This awe-inspiring book shows its readers that life isn’t always going to be a walk in the park but it also teaches its readers how to react in hard situations and to prepare themselves for success.

About the Author

Tunde Oyeneyin is Texas native who originally came from Nigeria. She is a Peloton instructor who trains more than 20,000 riders at any given day. She is also a well-known motivational speaker. Oyeneyin began her career as a professional makeup artist and eventually became a fitness instructor. She has been featured in Today, Good Morning America, Vogue, and many more. In 2021, she was named a Nike Athlete and the face of Revlon.

Topics

Biography & Memoir

Speak Book Summary Preview

Take-aways:

Don't wait on others before you start loving yourself.
Use our gifts for a larger purpose.
Trust our inner voice.
Acknowledge and work through doubt.
Take the detours life throws at us.
Keep persevering even through the pain.
Always be prepared for opportunities.
Speak up and be yourself unapologetically.

Key Insights

Loving ourselves is a mantra easily said but difficult to do. Many struggle with their appearances or their status in life. Others even become very hard on themselves and eventually wear themselves out. However, if we learn to step up to the challenges that arise in our lives and walk towards self-acceptance and self-love, we can live better and purposeful lives.

Tunde Oyeneyin’s Speak offers us stories and events in her life which revolve around the principles of surrender, power, empathy, authenticity, and knowledge—hence the title SPEAK. The book brings us with Oyeneyin as she goes through her journey as she grows mentally, spiritually, physically, and emotionally.

Love and trust yourself.

Tunde Oyeneyin was overweight throughout her child and teenage years. This started when her family migrated from Nigeria to Texas in the 1970s. When their family became comfortable enough, her mother encouraged her and her siblings to eat as this was a good habit. However, at the age of 14, Oyeneyin started experiencing the struggles which came with being overweight. She couldn’t fit in bridesmaid dress and started realizing that she didn’t fit the conventional standards of society. Because of this, she started minimizing her social footprint and tried to make herself small. This was when she realized that she was not loving herself enough to show her authentic self. Seeing her attitude, her mother realized how Oyeneyin was changing and encouraged her to start her weight loss journey. She eventually lost 70lbs. She became healthily and found the importance of loving yourself enough to take care of herself.

Another way to love ourselves, according to Oyeneyin is to find our gifts, hone them, and use them to make our society a better place. Some people are talented cooks so they give away food packages. Others are gifted in singing, so other singers host benefit concerts for their chosen charities. However, it doesn’t always have to be something big and extravagant. For Oyeneyin, her talent was making those around her feel uplifted and beautiful.

She realized this when she was working various jobs during college and became a make-up demonstrator for customers. While doing their make-up she listened to their stories and started bringing in energy to their interactions which they responded to positively. Once she found out her gift and purpose, she started letting herself grow in the make-up industry. It even came to a point that she decided to leave Houston and everything she knew to go to Los Angeles. She trusted herself enough to take the risk.

This brings us to another point made by Oyeneyin in the journey of loving ourselves: trust our inner voice. Although Oyeneyin went to various lengths to pursue make-up, she found herself feeling uninspired in conducting makeup demonstrations. She felt that it was becoming...