I'm a shoemaker.

I'm the MD/CEO of Shoe Speed and we make, fix and sell shoes. We also have an academy that has trained over 600 people in the last 9 years. 

I discovered my love for shoes when I was 7. We were about 10 kids (siblings and cousins) living with my mum. On a particular Sunday, I was quite restless and was disturbing the peace of the house. My mum felt she needed to keep me busy, so she put the school shoes of all the kids together and gave them to me to shine. Each child had about 2 pairs, so I had a minimum of 20 pairs of shoes to shine. I didn't like it because I knew it was going to keep me busy, but I got excited at some point, especially when I saw the transition of dirty looking shoes into shiny ones. They all came to pick up their shoes and they loved them. So subsequently, I would pay them to shine their shoes. I later developed the hunger and thirst for footwear.

I studied Accounting at the University. I was on a first class in my first year but it later dawned on me that I wasn't cut out to be an accountant. Every lecture was boring so I used to read to pass. 

I started asking questions and getting people's opinions about shoemaking. Everyone discouraged me but I didn't give up. I decided to take a stroll around my area during the weekend and I saw a small cubicle not too far from my street with a young man making footwear. I walked up to him and introduced myself. I told him I wanted to learn what he does. He looked up, sized me up and shook his head. He said in Yoruba, "Eni to lori o ni fila" meaning, you have all the opportunity yet you don't appreciate it. He looked at me and said, “If I have the opportunity you have, I won't be doing this dirty job.” I told him I see a future in this and I see a time where Nigerians will be glad to make shoes. I would leave school on Fridays, hang around him and observe what he was doing during the weekends.

Today, I have promoted a different perspective about the art and the business of shoemaking and I have created jobs for people. I have received awards from the Government and the private sector and I have a long list of clientele in and out of the country.

In January 2014, a doctor said the nerve on the left side of my face was dying. Another said it was a partial stroke. I Googled and the information online said Bell’s Palsy. The left side of my face droped 5 inches, just like that. There were signs, but I didn't know. I thought I was just tired.

I was depressed and sad. I cried and couldn't resume school. I was in Ghana all by myself and didn't know who to go to. 

I called my mum and told her the left side of my face was dropping. 

I couldn’t keep water in my mouth because it spilled out. At bedtime, I had to pull my left eye together because it would still be open. I couldn’t taste anything because my tongue was dead. My speech changed too and I was scared. 

Three women were in my house during this period. I met them on the bus. It was their first time in Ghana and they asked where they could get an affordable hotel. I told them to manage my room with me. Our meeting (and me asking them to stay in my house was God’s plan). I didn’t know them from anywhere. If they were not there, I probably would have committed suicide. But, God planted them in my life the night before it all started and they were like Angels. 

Mum called her pastor, her pastor called me and prayers started. 

The doctor said some people don't recover and if I’m lucky my face would go back to normal. I was told not to put pressure on the face; anger or sadness. How would I not be sad in my predicament? 

The doctor said there was no medicine for my condition, but he advised that I take Vitamin C and an antibiotic that was so expensive, I couldn't afford it.  I turned to God. (It's funny because I couldn't remember the last time I prayed until this happened). “Lord, I know I hardly talk to you but I’m in trouble and I need you to fix me please. You created me, so please if you have any spare part that belongs to me, now is the time to use it”, I prayed. Does God laugh? If he does, then he must have had a good laugh that day.

God started his work on me. He heard my cry and listened. He fixed and remoulded me and made me even more beautiful.

I started gaining confidence in myself not too long ago.

When I was 6 months old, my neighbour’s 10-year-old son poured very hot pap (ogi), fresh from the fire, all over me, from head to toe. I still have a few scars from the incident.

Because of that incident, I went through nursery and primary school without a strand of hair on my head. Not one. Imagine a child going to school bald. I hardly made friends and I kept to myself a lot. I was also shy and couldn't look at people in the eye. As you can imagine, I became depressed at a young age.

In primary school, I was advised to try something to make my hair grow. Something was rubbed on my head and the sharp end of crayfish was used to puncture holes in my scalp. Despite the fact that my scalp was numb, I could still feel the pain. Little strands of hair began to grow. I now looked weird and still had no friends. I eventually made one - Tunde Amure. He’s still my friend today.

In secondary school, I joined the fellowship choir and one day, I sang during rehearsals. Everyone wondered who was singing. I started becoming a bit popular. Singing boosted my confidence and that's how my music started.

I went to Olabisi Onabanjo University (OSU) and studied Mass Communication. My inferiority complex that started from childhood also affected me in Uni. I was bullied. At the time, I had hair on my head but not as much as it is now.

I joined the school fellowship and started learning to play the keyboard. My circle of influence began to grow from OSU. I started meeting people who became influential in my life. My current pastor and David Nkennor believed so much in me and they’ve played a huge role in my life.

Prophecies are good. They change the atmosphere and events of your life to favour you. I can boldly say I'm a child of prophecy by my mentors. Today, I’m married with 2 kids and I’m also a music minister.

I studied Law and in year 3, I knew Law was not for me. I had to graduate so I endured.

I graduated with a 3rd class and didn’t even graduate with my set. I didn’t pass despite reading hard. Mehn, Law was tough, from citing cases and sections, to applying principles and rules to questions, and so much more. Yes, I felt bad at some point, especially when my mates graduated and I was still in school. I was a leader in a campus fellowship and people said all sorts of things about me. I felt like a disappointment to my family because all my siblings had provided good examples.

On the day I found out I would not be graduating with my set, coincidentally, it was fellowship time, so after I got the news I went straight for fellowship. The promise I picked from the Bible was Micah 7:8 - "Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me." I held on to that verse and declared it over my life for a long time, I pushed myself towards massive exposure with the support of my brother.

Honestly, God has been with me and grace has stood me out. I am not trying to be humble or spiritual, but I am a God made man. I have not done anything beyond the ordinary in my own eyes but grace always transformed my ordinary to outstanding milestones. I am a voice in brand management and marketing communications and I still do not know how. I have had fun working on some brands that became leaders in their category, winning awards and making more returns.

I have invites to teach and speak about brand development and management for personal and corporate brands. I have also received calls to advise new and dying brands. Some years ago, I got an invite to speak at Social Media Week and I honestly do not know how. Last year, I was awarded young brand manager of the year by Marketing Edge.

My success is a result of God’s grace.

I was very different from my siblings because of my skin colour. Being fair skinned was very attractive and I was the “lighten up the room kinda girl”. I got picked on a lot because of this and I was considered different. I grew up with strangers asking my mum if I was her niece, because in their minds, I didn’t look like the other children. (Nigerians and their ways. Lol.)

I would get the ‘short end of the stick’ and take the fall for my siblings' wrongdoing, as I was easily noticeable. Oh! how I hated my skin colour. I blamed my skin tone and wanted to look like my sisters; to be a bit darker. Even when people gave positive comments about how good my skin tone looked, it made me hate it even more; as I felt I was attracting undue attention. I just wanted to be normal like every other child around me. I got called names like Yellow Pawpaw, Mulatto, Mama Pupa, etc. My friends still call me some of these names and we laugh it off now. Back in the day, I would cry myself to sleep after being addressed that way.

As a teenager; people were quick to judge me based on my skin colour. Everyone assumed I was promiscuous; just because fair skinned girls have a certain reputation. (How people came about that judgement, I have no idea.) I hated being the fair skinned yellow pawpaw girl and it affected some of the decisions I made about value and esteem.

Today, I see myself differently. I look at myself and see a beautiful woman; a go getter and a trendsetter. God hasn’t created me to be limited based on the colour of my skin. I am created to make a difference to my world; to put smiles on people’s faces and to be a source of joy to my parents. I enjoy being different now.

I have embraced my skin and I take very good care of it. I want my skin to glow for the Master’s use.

Raised in a Christian home, I gave my life to Christ before the age of 10. But, I found myself struggling with existential questions by my teenage years. Were faith and the spiritual world real? How do I reconcile faith with my growing knowledge of science?

Halfway through secondary school, I drifted from faith. Not deliberately. I just started becoming interested in other things, like having fun. I still struggled with questions, but knew no one who was interested in processing my doubts with me.

At one point, I read a massive book by Robert Ingersoll: over 1000 pages (and double columns!) of him disparaging the Bible. When I was done, I tore it up and threw it away. It shook what faith I had left to its core, and I was uncomfortable exposing anyone else to that.

In university, I decided to formally drop Christianity instead of still pretending to believe in something I no longer cared about. I quit church, stopped praying and started joking that if I died, I knew I was headed for hell. I still believed Christianity contained truth; I just wasn't interested in trying to live it out.

In my year two, which was my first year of medical school, I started to feel a deep emptiness and a meaninglessness to my life. I started becoming interested in darker music and literature that captured my disillusionment. I slowly started thinking about God and faith again and going to church & reading my Bible. Ecclesiastes really spoke to me. But I wasn't committing yet.

Finally, the day (or rather, night) came. I was alone on a corridor, and for the first time, realised God was speaking to me. Nothing really supernatural; it just felt like I was having a conversation with myself in my own head, except I somehow knew it was God on the other end. Afterwards I said, “Okay, okay, fine! You want me to commit? You want my life? Fine, you can have it!” and I went to sleep, exhausted.

I woke up the next morning with the thought, "What have I gotten myself into?" But I felt sure I'd done the right thing. Years later, I can say giving in to God was the best decision I ever took.

Growing up, my dad and mum were not on good terms. They later separated. This had a deep impact on me.

When I finished secondary school, I was yearning for love. There was so much emptiness inside me. I had an inferiority complex and other personal challenges I couldn't talk to anyone about. So, I began to search for love outside. I began to look up to guys to affirm & love me and I found myself in the wrong relationships. I experienced several attempted rape cases that didn't go through, thanks to God. 

When I got to Covenant University, I began to hear a lot about God’s word and that began to transform my mind. I went for National Youth Service and everything took a new turn. I met a guy. Here I was, coming from a place where I was really looking for love. I didn’t have many guys walking up to me. I felt ugly and believed there was nothing good about me. I was a mess and an emotional wreck, so the attention from the guy was wow! We got intimately involved but he later changed and became violent. He would talk to me anyhow and insult me. The relationship became abusive.

I had to summon up the courage to leave the relationship, but when I left, it had messed me up so much that I became a freelancer. I found myself moving from one undefined relationship to another. One day I prayed, “God send me someone. I'm lost.”

I became stable in church and shared my story with the pastor. He began to help me. 

One particular day in church, I was in tears. Nothing was moving forward and Satan kept haunting my mind. I told God I wanted a ministry to come out of my experiences as I didn't want to waste them. I wanted to help other people. From that moment, my change began!

Today, I have a ministry called The Unveiled Woman Network. We help ladies who have gone through shame, rejection and reproach. We help women from broken and dysfunctional homes that have left them traumatized and pushed them into things they shouldn’t do.

We have reached over a thousand ladies. God turned my mess into a message!