Here is Why You should Subscribe to My Channel…Even though it is a Mess Now
My Vlog. Sigh. I started my video log in early 2016 as a way to put a face to my online persona and hopefully reach more people. But it wasn’t until I got a rude awakening at the end of 2015 that I began to think of my vlog. Settle in. I’ve got gist. I was a television presenter at a budding television station in the North Eastern part of Nigeria. I had been working as a radio presenter in the same corporation when I was invited for a screen test for the breakfast show of the station. At that point, it was the opportunity of a life time. You know how you don’t know you wantsomething but as soon as it is given to you, you immediately know that is what you need? Yeah! That was me! I was gleefully nervous but eager to try. After ten minutes of screening, they figured out that I could read the prompter and follow the direction of the camera; like a natural. I was told to resume work on Monday. Since it was a show that handled topical national issues, I went in with a brand of presentation that was heavy on getting to the fact of the matter. I researched each topic and prepared questions designed for context and clarity. I also had a penchant for asking tough questions; not necessarily because I wanted to be controversial but because I wanted to really know what was happening. I believed that if I understood the issue, then my audience would too. What was different about my style was that I didn’t defer to powerful people; even though I was dirt poor and could easily be crushed. If I didn’t like a person or a story been spun, you would know! And I didn’t like a lot of politicians! So, many times, I came out as brusque. You have to understand that I was working in a community where women were expected to be mild mannered and have little or no opinions. With me, that was impossible. I maintained my professionalism – whatever that was at that time – but if you think of a slightly toned down Maupe Ogun, you had my TV personality. From Left to Right: Me, Aaron Isaac and representatives of the Adamawa State Electricity Distribution Company on Safiya Breakfast Show. In October 2015, I had a run in with a top politician which led to my removal from the show. Okay…maybe I had a couple of those but this one had smoke coming out of the man’s ears. Let me put this into context. There were four of us who anchored the show. Two of them were mild mannered and very courteous to guests. Almost too courteous, I thought. The last person was so eager to be controversial that he deliberately sought out taboo topics on air. If he was doing it for knowledge sake, it could have been understood. But he was doing it for laughs and he and I didn’t work well together. Even though that was the case, Mr. Controversial and I were paired a lot on the show. The day we had the run in that broke the camel’s back was terse and one where I kept wondering why we were on the show together. We had a guest who was from a royal family in Adamawa State and an opposition political party stalwart. We were supposed to be talking about basic governance in the State and region. The show was going awry with some of the questions being asked by Mr. Controversial. I didn’t feel they had any baring on the topic of discussion. Unbeknownst to me, there was a lot of bad blood between our guest and many other powerful people in the community and those questions were deliberately asked to irk them. As soon as we got off air, we were told that we had set off a couple of fires and molten magma was heading our way. I didn’t know what it was that I had supposedly done, so I was cool. Plus, I cross-checked my questions and saw that none of them was trigger worthy beyond regular fact checking. My co-anchor was skittish but acting macho. The consensus was that we shouldn’t have asked certain questions. They went on and on. All the talk didn’t come from our producers, so I couldn’t be bothered. I went home…and missed the magma. Turns out all hell broke loose, drama was delivered, people were threatened, powerful men spread their wings and lots of begging followed to soothe frayed nerves. Then the hammer came. We were to be booted off the show. I received a call a day later informing me of the decision. When I went to the office the day after my removal, I saw that our replacement was so politically correct, that it bordered on arse kissing. Was this what they wanted me to be doing? Should I stroke the egos of powerful men to stay afloat? I scoffed! At that point, I knew that even if I was called back to the show, I wouldn’t do it. I neededto be true to myself but even more than that, I could not kiss anyone’s arse. I am too proud and pig-headed for that. Interviewing Professor Oluremi Sonaiya and Abdullahi Bulla, 2015 Nigerian presidential aspirant and National Treasurer (respectively) of KOWA Party This was when I decided that I was going to leave the station. Many things had come together to make me jaded about my stay in Adamawa State and I just wanted an opportunity to start over. I thought of going back to Kaduna State but remembered why I left in the first place. (I will find time to share that story, but not today). Then I thought about Abuja and wondered if it was the town for me. My mother lived in Abuja, there was opportunity for creatives and I would be close to home (Kaduna) if
Love on the Brain and Everything We Didn’t Do Last Week
Hey you! Last week was super slow! I mean, snails achieved more than we did last week. But…thing were uber tight at our 9 to 5 and we just couldn’t deal. Anyway, how have you been? What was your week like? What got you pissed off? We were angry about many things; from abusive men who think it is okay to be violent to women, to Trump being Trump, to modern day slavery, with Libya in the fore front of the news and more. We are ashamed at what is happening there but the major issue is still why so many Africans leave their home countries for Europe through Libya. We solve those problems, we reduce the instances of human trafficking and modern day slavery in our continent. But we will delve into these at a later date. Full articles coming! So…what else did we focus on last week? Well, the ONLY thing we shared was a new podcast where we reviewed Rihanna’s ‘Love on the Brain’. Have you listened to #TheReview? We promise you that the episode was lit! You should listen! That was our week though. We have new articles coming in this week and we have got two review request; the first being ‘Safe’ by Nigerian Artist, M.I Abaga and the other being Justin Simien’s ‘Dear White People’. So we have a full week ahead. We are on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Google+. So…stay connected. Be a part of the family. Tell us how we can be better. And as always, have yourself a great week! Thank you! Best Regards, Ramatu Ada Ochekliye Founder, Shades of Us.
Ending Violence Against Women, Queen Latifah’s U.N.I.T.Y and Closing Long Distances
Hey Roommates! This past week has been…extra! We almost wanted to hide under a rock for a few days. Of course we couldn’t find a rock that would serve us breakfast in bed, with strawberry dipped in chocolate and masseuses kneading all the knots and kinks out of our very weary shoulders and body. So…we worked! Thankfully, last week marked the start of the United Nations 16 Days of Activism; a series of activism-filled-days starting on November 25. As observed globally, the campaigns began with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and will end on December 10 with the commemoration of Human Rights Day. We joined in the campaign by demanding an end to violence against women and girls in our #OrangeTheWorld series. We will continue to lend our voices to the upholding ALL human rights for every race, gender, class or religion of people in the world. We also produced two new podcasts on The Review. Though we didn’t plan it, both reviews were around themes and people from the same era; 90s hip hop messaging. We reviewed Queen Latifah’s U.N.I.T.Y and Straight Outta Compton, the biopic about hip hop group, Niggas With Attitude…or as they are popularly known, N.W.A. Guess what? We finally finished our LONG DISTANCE series and received some major feedback about the what happened to the characters. Some people loved what happened to Adon and Jason while others were so pissed off, they wanted to explode. Yes! We are calling you out! You know yourself! How do you think the story should have ended? Share your views in the comments section and let us discuss. And oh! If you haven’t read the series, what are you waiting for? (Ramat, Remimah, be nice! Just drop the link hereinstead of being petty.) Anyway, that was our week. What do you want to see in the new week? Use the comment section to tell us! Thank you for being a part of our crazy! We wouldn’t rock if we didn’t have you! Read all we shared below and have yourself an uber fantastic week! · Here Comes the Bride (Part One, Two, Threeand Four) · Ending Violence Against Women · The Review: U.N.I.T.Y by Queen Latifah; · Why Do Men So Easily Harass Women? · Rape Cases; · Feigning Innocence; · I Was Attacked…And This is My Story; · Zireme’s Story: A Glimpse into Child Abuse and Marriage; · Good Christian People (Part Oneand Two); · Making Itoro a Woman; · The Review: Straight Outta Compton; · Do Sex Workers Deserve to be Abused? · Long Distance: The Finale. Best Regards, Ramatu Ada Ochekliye, Founder, Shades of Us
On Bad Fathers, Body Shaming and Eminem’s New Song Featuring Beyoncé
Hey hey! So this is coming a bit late in the day but it is here! How was your week? We hope it was as full and fun as ours was? ‘What did we do?’ you ask. A lot…even if we say so our self. We reviewed Eminem’s new song featuring Beyoncé (Yes! Beyoncé!) It is called ‘Walk on Water’ and the video just dropped today, November 20, 2017. So we got in quick, right? And we know you might be wondering why we were doing a review of Eminem’s song since Shades of Us is about Africa, Africans and people of African descent – black and brown people basically – but Eminem is an honorary black person! He is one of us y’all! Any hoo, we also reviewed Ride Along starring Ice Cube and Kevin Hart on The Review. It was lit! And from the blog, we shared posts about dealing with body shaming, fatherhood(or the lack of it) and the fourth installment of our Here Comes the Bride series. We really should finish that! We promised to conclude the Long Distance series and put up a new video but…life happened. We feel ashamed but our hands were really tied. They will come up this week. We promise! So here is everything we shared last week. From the blog; Why Athletes Need Formal Education; Here Comes the Bride 4; The Foreign Certificate Syndrome; Dealing with Body Shaming; Why We Support the Eradication of Poverty; The World’s Worst Fathers On The Review; That’s What I Like By Bruno Mars; Barbershop: The Next Cut; The Birth of a Nation; Ride Along; For Colored Girls; Walk on Water by Eminem featuring Beyoncé; And from the YouTube channel; The Launch; The Un-Invited Wedding Guest; My body, Your Problem; We also celebrated the Nigerian Bobsled team that qualified for the Winter Olympics happening in Russian in 2018. They are officially the first team in African to qualify for the Winter Olympics and they did it all by themselves. What an inspiration! This week! We already promised that Long Distance will come up but we can go further to say that you can read the final edition on Tuesday at 10am on the blog! Excited? We sure are! As usual, there will be two episodes of The Review this week and tentatively, a new video. Ei! We can see your skepticism! We will try! Ha! So much pressure. Any hoo…that was a summary of last week and a preview of what this week would look like. What topic do you want us to discuss? Share your ideas in the comment section and we will get to it! So…have yourself a great week! Thank you. Always Excited, Ramatu Ada Ochekliye, Founder, Shades of Us
Etiquette for Semi-Formal Meetings
Hey! Hey! Ramat is in the building! So by now, you must have heard I did a post about what turned out to be a horrible meeting BECAUSE I didn’t get food. I don’t play with my food at all! But more than that, I believe that etiquette is important! There are certain things people should and shouldn’t do and I dished on it in the new video log. The video is called ETIQUETTE FOR SEMI-FORMAL MEETINGS. Watch the new video below! Whoot whoot!
