THE NAMED WOMAN: A Memoir About Ending Self-Betrayal
I published THE NAMED WOMAN on January 24, 2026—my birthday—because I wanted the day I entered the world to also mark the day I stopped hiding in it.
The book is a memoir, but it's not about healing. It's about what happens when you stop performing the version of yourself that keeps everyone comfortable.
It opens in 1995, sitting under a mango tree at a satellite earth station in Nigeria, and something shifted, a moment when I stood slightly apart from my body and knew, without language, that I was more than what I'd been taught to be.
It closes thirty years later, after I'd buried the performer, changed my name from Zinny to Uju, released an album called Sovereign Witch, and learned that coherence doesn't feel like peace, it feels like weight.
In between are twenty-one chapters about the architecture of obedience: how it's installed in childhood, refined in boarding schools and churches, perfected in wellness spaces and branding culture, and how it follows you even when you think you've escaped.
What's in the book:
The courtyard in Kaduna where they called me a witch and flogged me until I confessed to something I hadn't done
The breath work rooms in Budapest where women paid to perform calm while their bodies screamed
The Abuja veranda where a man called me a "good witch" and I felt my throat tighten with the old reflex to smile
The dinners where I was told I was "too intense" after I stopped letting men interrupt me
The six certifications I collected instead of launching—TEFL, astrology, soul path curation, health science—each one proof I was hiding behind preparation
The woman I gave free branding work to who made 1 million Naira in her first month while I couldn't open my laptop for three hours
The dream of the blue planet where beings slept in pods and one placed its hand on my shoulder and asked why I was running
What's not in the book:
A redemption arc
The moment I "healed" and now teach others to heal
Gentle affirmations about worthiness
A tidy conclusion where everything makes sense
The book doesn't end with me whole. It ends with me here, still working, no longer waiting to be ready.
THE NAMED WOMAN is available now on Amazon for $12.99 in paperback.
If the book resonates, there's more:
Take the Self-Betrayal Quiz to diagnose your pattern
Join Temple of Her (€40/month) for governance philosophy
Apply for an Obsidian Naming & Placement Rite (€3,500-4,500) for deep, personalized transformation
But start with the book. It'll show you what's possible when you stop betraying yourself to stay comfortable.
