Turning 30 on Monday feels like a huge milestone. I feel like I know myself a little better.
In 2016, when I moved to Lagos, I was a mommy’s boy making his first defiant move against his mother’s advice. She wanted me to get a familiar job — a corporate role she and her friends could arrange.
I lived with a ton of people in Lagos: from my aunt to my uncle, squatting with a friend, and living in a shared company apartment. When people saw me back in the day, they’d laugh, because I always carried my toothbrush, my sponge, and an outfit, work could take me to any corner of the city, and it made more sense to squat with a friend in that area.
Poverty sat me down and said “I will kill you” 🤣-
@lasisielenu
I started my career in radio and let that bloom for 10 years. While it was a childhood dream of mine, I’m grateful I explored it very early at 15, under Osato Edokpayi as my mentor. The restlessness I felt when I moved to Lagos, the same day I finished my final year paper at the University of Benin, was the same restlessness I felt when I asked for my radio hours to be reduced so I could chase a life in corporate as a Human Resource Support Officer at Serve Consulting under Kofoworola Disu Alabi. The trajectory seemed clear, and the possibilities even sweeter, but again the restlessness came, pushing me to pivot to producing.
I have always been lucky. When that restlessness set in, chude jideonwo , Adebola Williams , and Seun Oluyemi took a chance on me and brought me on as a producer at RED for Africa. I grew so much there, producing multiple syndicated TV shows and experiments, and also getting the privilege of producing the Future Awards Africa for four years.
The restlessness came again in 2022, but this time I was feeling the weight of getting older. For the first time, I prayed that if it was time to pivot, I would get into the MultiChoice Talent Factory program — and I did. I was scared, so I retained my job producing Rubbin’ Minds on Channels TV.
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