Chioma Elile, no doubt, is an intellectual powerhouse. Her rise to success as a professional public relations specialist stems from the belief that success can be achieved through hard work – as long as you know what you want and go for it.
Elile currently holds multiple roles at SYNLAB Nigeria as the marketing and communications lead. She is also the executive assistant to the CEO and the secretary to the SYNLAB Emerging Market Group Board.
She has successfully managed globally recognized projects, which have contributed to the public relations space. Elile is a PR and marketing communications strategist who has fast become a sensation in the PR industry.
She is determined to make an impact not just in the PR space but also impacting brands one project at a time. Her keen eyes for attention to detail and how she manages her team have made her project management skills an insatiable system within the marketing communications industry.
She was the project manager and head of evidence for the internationally renowned and successful Hilda Baci Cookathon project, who is now the current Guinness World Record holder for the ‘Longest Cooking Marathon by an Individual.’
Asked how she was able to manage and compile the evidence that led to Hilda Baci being announced as the World record holder, she said, “Project Management only seems easy if you are working with an intellectual team and I must say that the team I worked with were all professionals in their fields.”
“Handling the project based on the envisioned direction was sometimes tough as there were times when we had a lot of tweaks, which eventually led to the success of the event.”
She also mentioned that she had sleepless nights because she had to be sure that the team was strictly following the GWR guidelines. She did all these while managing a Full Time Job (8 am-5 pm).
She was also asked about how she felt when the record attempt time went from 100 hours to 93 hours awarded to Hilda as the current record holder, she said, “When managing projects, honesty and attention to details is very important. Without reasonable doubt, the world could see that Hilda Baci cooked for 100 hours.”
“I mean, there was evidence everywhere. But what everyone didn’t know was the strict rules that came with being a World record holder.”
According to her, on the first day of the attempt, Hilda almost gave up, noting she was having panic attacks, which was worrisome for the team.
“That period was a trying one for her and the team because even though she had earlier done a 24-hour trial run successfully, her body wanted to take charge and we knew at that point that we needed to allow her to use the already accumulated rest time for her to rest and for her family to be around to motivate her.”
“It was at this stage that she took an extra five minutes break, and she ended up adding extra hours to her attempt time to cover up for the used 5 minutes. Hilda’s initial record attempt time was 96 hours,” she said.
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“But with the development, she decided to run for an extra 4 hours and forfeited her 20-minute extra break time. All these had to be reflected in the evidence compilation process. The evidence team showed when she took the extra five minutes as well as how and when the 20-minute break accumulated was forfeited.”
“I am sure they saw our well-detailed evidence and knew we tried our best to pay back with a few more extra hours of hard work but then again, like they say because you apologized doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be punished.”
“GWR saw shoving 7 hours off the 100 hours as an ideal punishment for taking the extra minutes, and we were grateful for that because we would rather that than for her attempt to be cancelled.”
Elile mentioned how intense the pressure was and how surprised the team was with the crowd turn-up and the World’s Support. She is a force to be reckoned with, and she intends to continue such magnificent works in the PR field.
