We Need To Talk About Money by Otegha Uwagba
Otegha Uwagba's new book is a relatable, recognisable and brave step towards dismantling the barriers surrounding money
Money plays a dominant role in most people’s lives, yet it’s rarely deemed a subject to be freely talked about. Personal finances are often kept private, or alluded to in vague, bashful asides. In her new book We Need To Talk About Money, Otegha Uwagba smashes that social taboo with a candid account of her life, told through the lens of her own relationship to money.
From her earliest concepts of finances growing up to entering (and exiting) the workplace, Uwagba is astonishingly frank about how she has handled everything from navigating Oxford’s social hierarchy to sexist workplaces and the struggle towards home ownership in the wake of both recession and the COVID-19 pandemic. The book isn’t only a critical self-reflection on her own relationship to money, it’s also an examination of the culture that has defined our relationship to it. Discussing issues as diverse as workplace sexism, racism, unpaid labour and the cost of beauty, Uwagba deftly interrogates the societal constructs and complexities of finance.
When these essay-based segments feel less grounded in Uwagba’s own experience, they can begin to feel slightly disjointed. Nonetheless, by mostly rooting this commentary in scenes from her own life, Uwagba ensures that We Need To Talk About Money is a relatable, recognisable and brave step towards dismantling the barriers surrounding this often tense subject.