Stop making excuses - Nora Awolowo

In the last couple of years, I have personally experienced a surge in the amount of creative content produced by young people in their late teens and early twenties. To tell you the truth, this shift is amazing and revolutionary. Ranging from Tiktok to Instagram Reels and a million platforms you can think of, these people have come to redefine how we enjoy content. For many of these younger people, visual and video content in particular trump all. I had the opportunity to chat with one of these Gen Z's making waves in their space. Meet Nora Awolowo, a twenty-three-year-old woman who has been doing awesome work in film production since her third year at the University.

Nora Awolowo recently produced a documentary titled- Baby Blues which centres around the experience of mothers who have suffered from postpartum depression. For her, the passion for telling stories that impact the quality of life for women was one of her biggest motivations for the documentary. Fortunately, its reception was positively overwhelming. For her next documentary, she says she intends to go bigger and embrace a more narrative style that is, pay actors to reenact the story instead of just an interview style.

Recently, Nora was nominated for the Future Awards Africa 2022. We discussed her recognition in the film industry, and she revealed that the experience felt good. She was particularly excited to see her work getting the recognition that it truly deserved. Talking more about recognition and big platforms, she also recently directed a FIFA original documentary on Nigeria’s debut in the World Cup. I asked her to tell me about it - how it felt and what the process was from getting the gig to delivering the project. Here's what she shared with me: "So, for me, knowing that I directed the first FIFA original documentary in Nigeria is kinda a big deal. This is quite huge in my career. This is where I did not see myself last year to be precise – at the beginning of last year.  We shot it last year. Beginning of last year or so, if someone had told me, I would have said it is a lie.  It is just showing that every work I put into being better is having grown results. I am happy. When we got the brief, first, it looked like a scam until we got commissioned. Having to travel, putting a team together; we had a short time to get it done; having to work with the post-production studios in the UK. Everything was just flowing well. It is huge for us. This is a big moment for us at Rixel Studios. This is what people pray for in their careers. The reviews have been overwhelming. People have been sending emails, messages, and calling us. It feels like we did good work. We did good work. You can check it out in the link in my bio and share your comment."

Returning to the origin of her career path, Nora said "I started this journey when I was in school, at the age of 16. ASUU was on strike and I was trying to figure out what to do to get myself busy. I had a conversation with someone who nudged me to start using my phone to take photos. I did, sent it to him and he helped with reviews. Shortly after, I was contacted by a smartphone company to take photos to promote the brand. I did that for a while and saved up to buy my own camera. That was how the whole thing started."

Talking more about her age, Nora revealed that she gets a lot of comments on it. One of such scenarios was when she got nominated for The Future Awards. "Last year, when I got nominated for Future Awards, they put up 27 as my age. I had to send them an email and attach my birth certificate for them to make corrections. I was 21 at the time. When people make comments about my age, it just makes me feel like, I’m doing something right and I don’t want to ever stop. I keep moving forward."

I had some time to ask her about her family and background growing up. "Growing up was chaotic. There was always one drama or the other. I’m glad I have my place now and don’t have to deal with all of it. It was fun, though. I won't say I grew faster than my age. I would say, I gained more experience than my average peer. I soaked myself in knowledge - learning, creating, and evolving." I must affirm her opinion on this, seeing as I can testify to the importance of getting knowledge and applying it.

For Nora, running a production company, The Rixel Studios, and simultaneously managing the rest of her life is no mean feat. She has created a system that helps her stay organized amid this world's chaos and that includes hiring the right people. On recruitment, she shared that she hires people that align with her spirit. Sometimes, that instinct fails her, but she picks up the lessons from it and moves on. For her, the most essential soft skills a potential employee should have would be the drive, energy, and commitment to the brand.

As with many of us, we have mentors and role models we admire. For Nora, there lies in her heart a special admiration for Lota Chukwu and Blessing Uzi. Kunle Afolayan and his business acumen alongside Niyi Akomolayan and his investment in new generation filmmakers make them highly admirable as well.

At this stage of the conversation, I wanted to ask if she had ever dealt with Impostor Syndrome and this is what she had to say "I suffer from it every day. Sometimes, I feel like I am a fraud, like what exactly am I even doing. So, yeah, it happens to almost everything. But I just show up and keep going"

For Nora, some of her superpowers include juggling so many things together - cinematography, creative director, video editing, and drone piloting. Sometimes, she outsources work. Other times, she does the production herself. She says it is a lot of work, but work that she genuinely enjoys. them. After an exciting conversation with Nora, I asked her if she had any parting words for my readers. She said, and I quote "Stop making excuses. Just do it. Nothing is impossible."

……………………

A big thanks to Bukunmi Akinshipe for writing and editing this interview.