Magira Samndi: Communication is about connection

Magira Samndi

Clara has a presentation at her office. She has her slides and talking points ready. On the day of her delivery, she flopped because something was lacking. Mr Badmus is attending a networking event where investors and potential business partners will be present. Fast forward to the D-Day, he finds out that he becomes clumsy and lacks the right words to say in his different encounters. Justy and Joseph are newlyweds. After the wedding ceremony, they are left with themselves. They began to have several misunderstandings. 

From all the case scenarios, one major thing that is lacking is Communication. It is the lifeblood of any relationship. Good communicators have a superior advantage anytime, any day. They are known to access opportunities and get rewards.

To do justice to this topic, Omote Ro Dhe brought in Magira Samndi, a Communication expert who helps people understand ideas, connect with opportunities and see things differently. 

Pause. Go back. Read the first sentence of this third paragraph again. While she chipped in a thing or two on communication, Magira also schooled us on AI, social media and more.

Read excerpts of this exclusive chat below:

I'm curious who is Magira, where you're from, and who you are beyond the titles and accolades  

I’m Magira Samndi, a Nigerian from Southern Borno, and I grew up in the northern part of the country. I’m the only daughter in a family of four children, so I grew up surrounded by three brothers. My family has always placed a strong emphasis on education, especially my dad, and I think that shaped a lot of who I am today.

Growing up, I was the quiet, bookish child. I was usually the one coming first in class, and one of my biggest childhood motivations was actually my dad’s reward system. If you came first, you got the most money; second and third positions got less, and if you weren't among the top three, there was no money. So naturally, I took my academics very seriously! Looking back, it’s funny, but I think it also taught me discipline and the satisfaction of doing something well.

I was also constantly being chosen for leadership roles, even though I was, and still am, quite introverted. I was the class representative, represented my school on different occasions, and somehow leadership kept finding me even when I wasn't looking for it. I was the quiet girl who would rather sit somewhere reading a storybook while everyone else was playing. I love solitude, reflection and long walks. Give me a quiet evening, the sky and some time to think, and I’m perfectly content.

But being introverted doesn't mean I don't enjoy people. I can be very reserved when I first meet someone, but once I become comfortable with you, I can talk your ears off. I think that contrast is a big part of who I am.

Beyond my professional titles, I would describe myself as curious, reflective, faith-driven and deeply interested in humanity. I’m driven by love and excellence. I believe whatever is worth doing is worth doing well, and I care about leaving things better than I found them. I also believe strongly in intergenerational collaboration. We don't have to dismiss what came before us to create something new. We can learn from those who came before us, stand on their shoulders, improve what they built and pass something better to the next generation.

I've explored quite a few different areas over the years, from communications and public relations to social media, community management, graphic design, mental health advocacy and, more recently, AI. They may look like very different interests on the surface, but for me there has always been a common thread: I want to understand people, communicate ideas, solve problems and contribute to something meaningful.

I’m also someone who takes my faith seriously. I’m grateful to God for how far I’ve come, and I try to balance doing my part with prayer and trusting God with the things I cannot control.

So, beyond the degrees, job titles and projects, I think I’m simply a young woman who is still becoming: learning, exploring, serving, asking questions, trying new things and figuring out how to use what I have to make a meaningful difference in the lives of other people.

Your profile says you are interested in how communication can help people understand ideas, connect with opportunities and see things differently. Where did this interest come from?

My relationship with communication actually started before I fully understood what communication was.

Growing up, I had a lot of different ideas about what I wanted to become. At different points, I wanted to be a banker because I thought bankers had plenty of money; I wanted to become a pharmacist like my mother; and I also wanted to study International Relations because I was fascinated by travelling, understanding the world and being in spaces where decisions that affect people are made.

Eventually, I chose Mass Communication for my undergraduate degree, partly because I saw it as a pathway that could eventually lead me into International Relations. But honestly, I didn't know how much the field would open up for me.

At university, I was exposed to public relations, advertising, marketing, broadcasting, film, editing and development communication. Development communication particularly stood out to me because it brought together many things I cared about: people, development, sustainability, communities and social change.

That was when I started to understand that communication is much bigger than simply passing information from one person to another. It can help someone understand something complicated, discover an opportunity they didn't know existed, participate meaningfully in decisions and even see an issue differently.

I sometimes think of communication as a torch in a dark tunnel. The torch doesn't walk the journey for you, but it helps you see the path ahead. It helps you understand where you are going, notice the things you might stumble over and make a more informed decision about your next step.

That idea has become increasingly important to me because there is so much information in the world, yet so many people still don't have access to it in a way they can understand or use. People cannot take advantage of opportunities they don't know about.

Communication also fits naturally with my creative side. I enjoy writing, designing, creating videos and finding ways to turn something complicated or messy into something clearer and more beautiful. I've explored social media, public relations, community management, development communication and digital content, and I'm now interested in how communication can help people understand emerging areas like artificial intelligence.

So, for me, communication is really about connection. Connecting people to ideas, people to opportunities, organisations to the communities they serve, and sometimes even people to a completely different way of seeing the world.

I don't think I've explored everything communication has to offer yet, and that's part of what excites me. I still want to keep learning, creating and finding new ways to make information more accessible and meaningful to people.

AI is changing the way people create content and communicate. How are you approaching AI, and what opportunities or concerns do you see for young professionals?

I started taking AI seriously because of an application I was completing for a communications role. One of the questions asked me to rate my ability to use AI for writing, design, research and workflow automation. I remember being struck by it because, around the same period, I had come across another organisation that discouraged the use of AI altogether.

That contrast made me realise how quickly the conversation around AI was changing. Some organisations were beginning to see it as part of how modern professionals work, while others were still concerned about its effect on originality and authenticity.

For me, AI is a tool for effectiveness. It can give you speed, help you organise your thoughts, support research and automate repetitive tasks, but I don't believe it should replace your thinking.

I often say that prompt engineering is useful, but mindset engineering is just as important. What mindset are you bringing to the tool? If you expect AI to think for you, you may gradually stop questioning, researching and thinking for yourself. But if you use it to explore, challenge and refine your ideas, it can significantly increase what you are able to do.

I've used tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Zapier and Make.com for research, writing, content creation and workflow automation. I've also had professional experiences where I was asked to submit an AI-assisted output and explain the prompt and thinking behind it. That reinforced something for me: the quality of the result often depends on the quality of the thinking behind it.

AI is powerful because of the speed and efficiency it offers. It can help you organise a messy idea, find perspectives you hadn't considered, accelerate research and handle repetitive work. For young professionals, especially those working with limited resources, that can be a huge advantage.

But I think we also need to be careful about what we give up in exchange for that convenience.

AI has never lived your life. It hasn't experienced your childhood, your culture, your failures, your relationships or the things that shaped your perspective. Those experiences give human communication its texture and originality. I don't want young professionals to become so dependent on AI that they lose their curiosity, their voice or their ability to think critically.

I'm also very interested in AI safety, privacy, governance and ethics. AI is not only about writing better prompts or generating content. We also need people thinking about the policies, rights and safeguards surrounding these technologies.

Another area I've recently started exploring is AI infrastructure. Most of us experience AI at the surface: we type a prompt and receive a response. But underneath that are data centres, computing power, GPUs, networking, cooling and energy systems that make those experiences possible. That has made me curious about the parts of the AI ecosystem people don't usually talk about.

I would actually love to explore that through communication, taking something as technical as AI infrastructure and explaining it in a way that an ordinary person can understand.

Ultimately, I don't think the question for young professionals should only be, "Will AI replace me?" I think we should also ask, "How can I learn to work with this technology without losing the human abilities that make my work valuable in the first place?"

For me, that balance is the real opportunity.

You have said that young people and their well-being are areas you care deeply about. What first made you pay attention to this issue?

I think my interest in young people's wellbeing comes from both personal experience and observation. I am a young person myself, and I am a young Nigerian living through many of the same realities that young people around me are experiencing.

Over the years, I have seen how things outside a young person's control can affect their education, career plans, confidence and sense of direction. I experienced disruptions to my own education, including university strikes and the COVID-19 pandemic. There were plans I had for my life that simply did not happen according to the timeline I had imagined. And I know I'm not the only one. Many young people had their education delayed, their plans disrupted and their transition into work affected by circumstances they had little control over.

That made me realise that when we talk about youth wellbeing, we cannot talk only about mental health. We also have to talk about the environment young people are growing and trying to build their lives in.

But my interest in mental health started even earlier.

I remember a classmate in secondary school who attempted to take her own life. I was shocked because I had interacted with her before and had no idea she was struggling to that extent. She survived, and eventually we learnt more about what had happened and what had led her to that point. That experience stayed with me. I kept asking myself how someone could get to a place where death seemed like an escape.

Around that same period, I discovered a small book called Fundamentals of Psychology on my father's shelf. I became fascinated by it. It introduced me to ideas about the brain, thoughts, behaviour and memory, and eventually I started learning more about anxiety, depression, stress, burnout and other aspects of mental health.

The more I learnt, the more I realised that wellbeing touches almost every part of our lives. It affects how people learn, work, build relationships, make decisions and participate in society.

I also began reflecting on my own experiences. I had always been the quiet, high-achieving student, and being constantly presented as an example came with its own pressure. I learnt that a young person can be doing well academically and still have things happening internally that other people may not see. That helped me understand that young people are more than their achievements.

Over time, my understanding of youth wellbeing became broader. To me, it includes mental health, but also education, employment, opportunity, safety, belonging, supportive environments and having room to grow, make mistakes and try again.

There are incredibly talented young people who simply don't have access to the systems and opportunities that would allow them to develop those talents. This is especially important for young people in underserved and rural communities, where access to information, skills, networks and opportunities can be very different.

That is why I believe investing in young people is part of nation-building. When we invest in a young person's education, wellbeing, skills, creativity and ability to participate, we are strengthening the people who will eventually build and lead the institutions, businesses, communities and systems around us.

For me, youth wellbeing goes beyond preventing young people from struggling. It is about creating the conditions in which they can actually thrive.

I want young people to have opportunities, but I also want them to have the support, environment and freedom to make meaningful use of those opportunities. And I think young people should have a voice in shaping those systems because we are not only preparing for the future. We are living in the present and experiencing these realities now.

Social media can create opportunities for young people, but it can also create pressure around success, appearance, money and lifestyle. How do you think this affects young people's mental well-being?

Yes, I definitely believe there is a relationship between social media and young people's wellbeing.

I think social media has made connection so much easier. You can connect with someone in another country, learn from their experiences and see life through another person's lens. In some ways, you can even travel with your eyes through social media. You discover places, cultures, ideas and experiences you may never have encountered otherwise.

And I have personally benefited from that side of social media. Some opportunities I have received came through social media. Someone once recommended me for an opportunity because of something they saw me share online. I got a community management opportunity through an online connection, and I once got a design project because someone saw my work on LinkedIn and reached out to me about branding her new spice business. So I know firsthand that social media can open doors.

But it can also become unhealthy when we constantly compare our lives with what we see online.

You can open your phone and see someone saying, "I made a million in 24 hours," or "I made 15 million in one week." Then a young person who has just graduated after years of delays or setbacks can look at that and begin to feel incapable, unsuccessful or even worthless.

We are often comparing our real, complicated lives with other people's most carefully presented moments. Social media can distort our idea of what normal life looks like and create pressure around money, appearance, relationships, lifestyle and success.

I see this especially with beauty standards. Young women can face so much pressure around hair, nails, bodies, clothing and the lifestyle that is supposed to come with looking a certain way. Sometimes something as simple as not having a particular hairstyle or getting your nails done can be interpreted online as a sign that someone is broke or unsuccessful. These things may seem small, but constantly feeling like you are not measuring up can affect how you see yourself.

That is why I think guarding your mind is important. We have to pay attention to what we consume and what we allow to influence us.

Social media can turn life into a public scoreboard, but we are more than our achievements. Someone finishing school at a certain age may be a huge success for them, while someone else getting through school despite years of disruption may be an equally meaningful achievement. Starting a business, getting your first job, learning a skill, recovering from a difficult season or simply becoming more confident can all be progress.

I don't think the answer is to stay away from social media. There is too much value in it. I think we need to become more intentional about how we use it.

Use it to learn, connect, create, find opportunities and share your work. But don't allow it to dictate your worth or convince you that you are behind because someone else's life looks different from yours.

There are many things that can happen for you because of social media, and many things that can happen to you because of it. I think the difference often comes down to how consciously we use it and how much control we allow it to have over how we see ourselves and our lives.

There is still stigma around mental health in many African communities. What conversations do you think we need to start having more openly?

I think one of the biggest conversations we need to have is about what mental health actually means.

For many people, mental health is still associated mainly with severe mental illness. But mental wellbeing is much broader. It includes how we cope with stress, process our emotions, respond to difficult experiences and function in everyday life. You don't have to be at your breaking point before your wellbeing deserves attention.

That is why I strongly believe in early mental health education. My own first real encounter with the subject was when I found a small book called Fundamentals of Psychology on my father's shelf. It introduced me to ideas about the brain, thoughts, behaviour and emotions, and made me realise how much young people could benefit from learning about these things early.

I would love to see mental health education become a normal part of what children and young people learn. They should be able to recognise their emotions, understand stress, notice when something may be wrong and know where to seek help.

I also think we need to talk more openly about men's mental health. In many African communities, boys and men are taught that strength means being tough, providing, enduring and keeping your problems to yourself. So sometimes a man may rather suffer silently than admit that he is struggling. We need spaces where men can talk about grief, trauma, financial pressure, relationships and family expectations without feeling that vulnerability makes them weak.

Another important conversation is about how we respond when people actually open up.

Someone can say, "I'm struggling," and be called lazy, dramatic, ungrateful, weak or lacking faith. We need to learn to listen before judging. If a young person is being bullied, dealing with academic pressure or going through something they don't know how to process, they need to feel safe enough to say, "Something is wrong." If they fear being judged or dismissed, they may never speak.

That is why families, schools, workplaces and communities need to create safer spaces where people can ask for help. Schools should have access to appropriate counselling and mental-health support, and workplaces should take employee wellbeing seriously too.

My faith is also an important part of how I navigate life. I pray, draw strength from the Word of God and believe in trusting God. But I don't believe seeking professional support means someone lacks faith. I can pray for healing and still go to a hospital when I am sick. In the same way, I can pray and still speak to a counsellor or mental-health professional when I need support. For me, those things can coexist.

This is part of why I started building MentalPalma, an initiative focused on youth wellbeing and creating spaces where young people can express themselves more openly. I am still developing and rethinking it, but the vision is to create safer and more supportive environments for young people.

Ultimately, I think we need to stop waiting until someone reaches breaking point before we talk about mental health. We need to educate people early, create safe spaces and make it normal to say, "I'm not okay," without shame.

Sometimes reducing stigma starts with something as simple as giving someone a safe enough space to speak.

Have you ever had to step back, rest or rethink your expectations of yourself? What did that experience teach you?

Yes. This is something I have had to learn over time because, for a very long time, I was used to being a high achiever.

I remember the first time I came second in class instead of first. I felt horrible. I could barely sleep for days because I wasn't used to it. Looking back, I realise how much pressure I had placed on myself to always perform and always get things right.

I remember another experience in science club. I was doing really well and was asked to make a presentation, but somehow I fumbled it. People laughed and made fun of me, and it felt like everyone had been waiting for the day I would finally fall because they were tired of seeing me win.

It hurt deeply at the time, but it taught me something important: you can be good at something and still have bad days. You can be excellent and still make mistakes. A mistake does not erase everything you have done well before it.

I had to learn the same lesson with my life timeline.

In secondary school, I had a picture in my head of how my life would go. I would finish from a UK university, do NYSC, start my career get married, and move on to the next thing. But life didn't follow that script.

I didn't get admission in my first year, so I went through a pre-degree programme and gained admission the following year. University disruptions, including ASUU strikes and COVID-19, delayed my education. Then, during NYSC, an administrative issue with my registration number took about a year to resolve.

There were moments when I was watching time pass and thinking, "This wasn't how it was supposed to happen."

But something else was happening during those periods. I was growing.

I was taking courses, doing internships, learning new skills and growing mentally and spiritually. While dealing with the NYSC issue, I was even doing a remote internship with an organisation in the United States. Someone could look at me sitting in my room with my laptop and assume I was doing nothing, without knowing what was actually happening.

That taught me that a season of waiting does not necessarily mean a season of doing nothing. You can be quietly building, learning and preparing.

My faith has helped me with this too. I believe God can redeem time. And He does that by giving you speed. I believe that someone starting before you does not mean they will arrive before you, besides, you're honestly not in competition with anyone. Sometimes life takes you through a route you didn't expect, and you have to trust that you are still moving.

I am still waiting for some of the things I imagined for myself. I still have career goals, places I want to go and things I want to build. I am still ambitious, and I haven't given up on those dreams. I've simply had to learn that ambition and grace can exist together.

I also take breaks from social media when I need to, because it is easy to see someone else's progress and start questioning your own.

I am learning to take life one step at a time, give myself grace and stop measuring my life entirely by the timeline I created when I was younger.

I don't have to punish myself because I haven't arrived yet.

I am not behind. I am becoming.

What is one opportunity you wish more young people knew existed?

One opportunity I wish more young people knew existed is the opportunity to explore the parts of artificial intelligence that go beyond building AI tools or creating content with them.

When people hear AI, they often think about ChatGPT, AI agents, building models, prompt engineering or content creation. Those are important, but there is a much bigger ecosystem around AI: AI governance, safety, policy, responsible AI, digital governance and AI infrastructure.

As AI becomes more integrated into our lives, we will need people asking important questions. How should these technologies be governed? How do we protect people's rights and privacy? What safeguards should exist? What happens when something goes wrong?

There is also the infrastructure behind AI, which I have personally started exploring. Most people experience AI at the surface. You type a prompt and get a response. But underneath that are data centres, computing power, GPUs, networking and energy systems that make it possible.

What I find exciting is that you don't have to be the person building the next AI model to have a place in this ecosystem. You could work in policy, law, ethics, communications, cybersecurity, infrastructure, research or governance.

As a communications professional, I am particularly interested in taking complex ideas like AI infrastructure and governance and explaining them in ways that ordinary people can understand.

I think young Africans should pay attention to these spaces because we shouldn't only be consumers of conversations about technology. We should also be part of shaping them.

So, don't only ask, "How can I use AI?" Also ask, "How can I understand it, question it, govern it, communicate it and help shape what it becomes?"

I think there is a lot of room for young people to find their place in that ecosystem.

Your favourite form of self-care?  

Honestly, solitude. I really enjoy my own company.

Sometimes I tell people that and they take it the wrong way, but I genuinely love having my own space and my quiet time. I love having that headspace where I can just think, express myself and exist without thinking about other people's expectations.

When I have those moments to myself, I can do whatever feels right for me. I can spend hours with my Bible, pray, sing, watch a movie, listen to music, or just sit and think. Sometimes I take a walk around the compound, look up at the stars, feel the fresh air and just talk to God.

Those moments help me reset.

My faith is a big part of that too. Sometimes I just talk to God about everything. I even tell Him that I want Him to take delight in my existence. I want my life, even something as simple as waking up and breathing, to be something that brings Him joy.

So I think my favourite form of self-care is really just having the freedom to be alone with myself and with God. I think I need that space to recharge, reflect and come back to myself.

Books or podcasts?

Books. Definitely books.

I've always been a book reader. I love storybooks and novels, and I think that started very early for me. I remember in secondary school, my form teacher was married to an Ethiopian man and had lived in the United States for many years. Whenever she came back to Nigeria, she would bring these foreign Christian romance novels, and I would always buy them. I loved those books.

There is something about reading that I really enjoy. When you read a book, your mind has to create the pictures. Someone can describe a place, a person or a scene, and suddenly you are building that entire world in your head. I think it's fascinating how creative the human mind can be when you give it room to imagine.

I've also read quite a lot of personal development books over the years. I have books on relationships and marriage, faith, personal growth, financial literacy, psychology and understanding human behaviour. I have Love Busters, Do It Afraid, The Richest Man in Babylon, Increase Your Financial IQ, Understanding Male Temperament and quite a few others.

And then there was a period when I was completely obsessed with online novels. I could stay up until very late telling myself, "Just one more chapter," and before I knew it, it was almost morning. Sometimes I would wake up with heavy, red eyes and a headache from staring at the screen for too long, but somehow I still wanted to finish the story.

I particularly love physical books. There's something about being able to hold a book, turn the pages and actually sit with it. Someone buying me a book is also a really sweet gesture to me. I think being able to read a book and then sit with someone you love and talk about what you both read is such a beautiful way to connect.

That said, I've been listening to more podcasts lately. I enjoy Femi Lazarus and The Diary of a CEO, among others, and I like the way podcasts allow you to learn directly from people's experiences and perspectives.

But if you put a book and a podcast in front of me and told me I had to choose one, I would still choose the book.

One thing you cannot tolerate?  

One thing I cannot tolerate is the misuse of trust.

I think access to someone is a privilege. When someone trusts you enough to share parts of their life, their thoughts or things they may not tell everyone else, I believe that trust should be handled with care.

I don't like when people take the access you've given them and use it carelessly, especially when private things become gossip, someone's vulnerability becomes something to use against them, or information shared in confidence is passed around.

I value honesty, loyalty and direct communication. If there is an issue with me, I would much rather you come to me and have a conversation than make assumptions, involve other people or create a story around what you think happened.

I have learnt over time that you can love people and still have boundaries. You can be open-hearted without giving everyone unlimited access to you.

So, I think what I cannot tolerate is not simply dishonesty. It is when someone takes something as valuable as trust and treats it as though it means nothing.

For me, access is a privilege, and trust should be handled with care.

Finally, what is one thing you want someone reading this interview to take away with them?

If there is one thing I want someone reading this interview to take away, it is this: don't measure your life only by where you think you should be by now.

I have had to learn that myself. There have been so many points in my life where I had a timeline in my head and life simply did not follow it. Sometimes I wondered if I was behind or if I should have achieved certain things by now.

But I am learning that life is a journey, and there are seasons. Some things happen earlier than we expect, some happen later, and sometimes the things we are building quietly take longer before we see the results.

So, keep becoming. Keep learning. Keep showing up. Keep doing your part. And don't underestimate what your life can become simply because of where you are right now.

For me, my faith is a big part of that. I believe in God's grace, but I also believe in doing my due diligence, taking responsibility for my life, preparing myself and continuing to move.

You may not have everything figured out yet. I certainly don't. But that doesn't mean nothing is happening.

Sometimes you are growing in ways you cannot see yet.