AUBURN, Ala. – When Nosa Eguae says, "Thanks for coming to my TED Talk," he's not referencing a popular social media meme. He's speaking literally.
A member of Auburn's 2010 national championship team and two-time SEC champion, the former Tigers' defensive lineman recently spoke at a TEDx event in Chicago.
TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design. Founded in 1984, the nonprofit organization hosts conferences where speakers share what its website refers to as "ideas worth spreading."
A video of Eguae's message to Auburn's football team in June 2018 led to his TEDx invitation.
My message to my @AuburnFootball brothers yesterday was simple—be an All-Pro at life. Lead out of love, compassion, and service, and be strategic, don't leave Auburn without putting yourself in a position to be successful forever. The highlight of my professional career so far. pic.twitter.com/GSoz2WCsqp
— Nosa (@NosaE94) June 21, 2018
"It was an amazing opportunity," said Eguae, who played for Auburn from 2010-13. "I went to a TED Talks event about a month and a half before that, and had a feeling in my heart that that opportunity would one day come for me. It came a lot sooner than I ever thought it would."
In his 17-minute talk titled "Eradicating the Disease of Low Expectation," Eguae shares about the lack of self-worth he felt when his NFL career didn't materialize in 2014.
"I was an athlete and nothing else. That was all that I saw in myself. I was a 22-year-old Nigerian-American kid with accomplishments that people dream of behind me and a life of promise ahead," Eguae tells the audience at Wrigleyille, a Chicago neighborhood surrounding Wrigley Field. "But a kid that lacked the awareness of the shoulders that I was standing on. Shoulders of bold sacrifice.
Eguae started as a freshman in Auburn's national championship win vs. Oregon
"I had to come to grips with the fact that just because my football career ended, it did not mean my life did, too. I still had an incredible skill set to change lives."
The week his TEDx Talk video posted on YouTube, Eguae joined former Auburn teammates Justin Garrett and Emory Blake in College Station, Texas, to watch their alma mater beat Texas A&M.
Nosa Eguae (left), Emory Blake (center) and Justin Garrett watched Auburn win at Mississippi State
"To be able to tell my story in its totality from a place of vulnerability and shed light on a place in sport that not everybody knows about or focuses on," Eguae said during halftime at Kyle Field. "For all of us, sports is the fabric and the connective tissue that brings us all together, but we all eventually have to stop playing sport, and we have to then become something else outside of this game that we devoted our life to.
"It was an incredible experience. I think when you're given a platform, you can leverage it for other people. We all have our stories, we all overcome something. To get to where I am now – and I'm nowhere near where I want to be – I'm fortunate enough to be in a position that I've had success and been able to overcome some things."
A territory business manager, Eguae sells advanced surgery products for Baxter International, for whom he's worked for five years.
When he's not calling on Chicago surgeons, Eguae devotes time to helping athletes transition to careers after sport.
Eguae played defensive line for Auburn from 2010-13
"Our work is to really shine a light on the incredible skill set and the transferable skills athletes have," he said. "Placing them into opportunities for serving others and leadership in corporations, to help them be able to reach their best life."
From his TEDx Talk, Nosa Eguae's treatments to eradicate the disease low expectation:
- Find your mirror – "The person or the people that will reflect the power that is in you that you cannot see for yourself. What you see on this stage my sister spoke into existence well before I saw it in myself. She told me that I was enough. In my toughest days post-sport, she was there. When my acting career was shorter than my NFL career and my big break turned into another big loss, she still spoke life into me. Each one of us has an incredible gift that no one in this world has – and we do not serve that gift by playing small. Live in it. Embrace it, and change lives because of it."
- Find the other side of "but" – "Legacy isn't built in times of triumph. Legacy is built in failing, and your inevitable response to it. He stands here today because he didn't stop."
- Champion your issue – "Find the work that's bigger than you, that tugs at your heart, and unabashedly champion it."
Click here to watch Nosa Eguae's TEDx Talk
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer