My Journey from Creative to Enterpreneur.
š¬Episode 1- Celebration Church InternationalĀ , Benjamin Dada, the late Fola Francis (mayĀ his kind soul rest in perfect peace), and the instrumental roles they played. š„¹š«¶š½
I got back from service to Nigeria(Nysc) in October 2019, with my head held high. High hopes, big dreams. Anybody that truly knows me, knows I'm a big dreamer. Joseph, the Bible character has absolutely nothing on me.š
I had thought to myselfĀ , "I am Godās baby, I walk with Him and literally do His will, Iām beautiful and intelligent, I know a lot of people, a.k.a 'Iāve got connectionsā, I spent most of my school holidays working, when I should have been chilling like most of my friends were, so I have my c.v filled with tangible work experience. Iām not coming to start from ground zero, the future looks exceptionally promising. Iām just going to be moving from one high to the next high"š„³š
Plus, being the over calculative Maura that I was at the time who loved to be in absolute control of her life; having everything meticulously figured and planned out, I had already plugged myself to a face modelling agency before I landed Lagos, just so I could have soft landing.
"At least, I'll be doing face modelling for a while, that would buy me some time. Then I'll be applying to jobs, I'll also spread the word, and in no time, I would land a great job. I mean, it's Maura we're talking about here, things have always worked for me." I mused.
Siri please play me "story, story oh, story, story, story" šš
Did I tell you that I also set aside a 100k for when I got back to Lagos? Oh, I did.
Not that I had plenty money, but I worked as a Registeration Area Technical Support (RATECH) during the 2019 elections, and I had made some money.
And If thereās anyone who knows how to be hard on herself, "suffer now, so you can enjoy later", itās me).
I had also spent time asking God to show me the church to worship at, because I didn't want to be running helter-skelter trying to figure out what church to attend when I got to Lagos.
Based on how my Nysc year had been "church-wise", I really needed it. So Abba, like I love to call Him, pointed me to the church for me.
Everything was looking pretty good. It looked like I had everything all figured out. If "master planner" were a person, it would be me. It seemed like I had it all going for me, until I called my mum to say I was coming home, and she gave me the most destabilising news ever...
There was nowhere for me to stay. š Like there was literally no house to come to. šš And just like that, I was jolted awake from la-la land. This was not part of all the dreamy plans I had just made.
I didnāt see that one coming at all.š Heartbreak number one. š
I put myself together and trusted that God will take care of me. My mum reached out to a couple of peopleĀ hereĀ andĀ there, and finally found somewhere I could stay, so I landed in Lagos.
Once I got settled in, I mmediately began to take face modelling gigs.
It was interesting at first. I enjoyed going from place to place, meeting new people, and doing my thing. I donāt think I enjoyed sitting for hours for make up to be done on my face, but then I enjoyed the glamour that came afterwards. The money I was making was nothing to write home about, but itās not like I had a better option.
God really planned it well, because where I ended up staying was not too far from where my church was situated at the time.
Iām honestly grateful that I had church; a place where I could be myself, dress in what I was most comfortable in(and this does not mean wear anything revealing. It just means I could wear jeans and top. Or anything that was decent, yet comfortable).
A place where I could pour out my lavish love to God in worship, sit on the floor and cry if I wanted, scream at the top of my lungs in praises to God, and then receive Godās anchor word to me, that would usually set up the trajectory of my life for the days ahead.
It was bliss! Life was already hard. The last thing I needed was a church that would make it hard for me to serve a God I truly, truly, deeply, loved, wanted to know, and serve. Celebration Church International (C.C.I) made it easy.
I believe that if I didnāt have church at the time, or if I had a church that was stressing me and making life even harder for me with unnecessary rules and regulations, just maybe I would have committed suicide, or at least considered it.
Iām sure Iām overreacting, š Because Iāve gone through even worse and harder situations, and I havenāt died, considered, or attempted suicide, But you get the point.
C.C.I brought me so much peace, comfort, and immense joy. I looked forward to attending every single service. I was at every midweek and Sunday service. I needed all the sanity I could get, and that was the only place I was sane.
One of those Sundays, I went to church and ran into my junior from primary school; Benjamin Dada. We exchanged pleasantries, numbers, and took pictures.
Then we got talking much later, one thing led to another, and He asked me to style him for his end of the year Dinner with Softcom, where He worked at the time.
That was my first paid styling gig ever, and if I do say so myself, I killed it. You can check it out here!
He turned up looking like the real big deal that he was, and still is.
I remember that I had to hit Fola Francis up on Instagram to ask questions about how to charge and go about everything.
Apart from interacting with eachotherās posts, that was the first time we ever had a one-on-one conversation. He was so kind, so explicit and very helpful. šš
Thatās when I first started seeing the possibility of being paid for something I was naturally great at.
Find out what happens next, in the next episode!
Did you enjoy reading todayās episode? How did it make you feel? Was it helpful? Did you learn anything? what stood out for you? Let me know all of these in the comments. Also please like, share/repost for more reach!
