BEYOND THE GRID- S1 EP4 Omo and Eulanda, Hey Dip Your Toes In

Tinuke 0:07

Today, on Beyond The Grid with Tinuke Bernard I'm speaking with Omo and Eulanda, the husband and wife creative duo behind Hey, Dip Your Toes In. They run an extremely successful blog, as well as social media accounts bursting with amazing travel and food imagery, whilst allowing us a beautifully crafted prose. We discuss how they work during the COVID lockdown, and some of the awesome products they burst into the world because of it.

Omo, Eulanda, thank you so much for joining me today. I'm so so thrilled to have you on the podcast. This has been one of my dreams for a couple of years have a chance to chat with you all properly after following you avidly on your blog for years now so I'm so so happy to have you here. Welcome

Omo 0:58

Thank you for the invitation

Eulanda 0:59

Thanks for having us

Tinuke 1:01

I get both of you at the same time it is like gold

Eulanda 1:04

so I never get him at the same time!

Tinuke 1:07

A bit of lock down magic here can't get it. It's amazing. So you two are two of my favourite creatives, you're writing your photography and the amount of work that obviously goes into everything that you create, have always like blown me away for years. For those people listening, can you both tell us a little bit about who you are and what it is you do?

Eulanda 1:31

Absolutely. So we met back in 2012. And before it was - blogging was a thing in our lives like we for us, it wasn't even something we were really thinking about doing. But we bonded over our love for food and travel. And so after we got married, my father asked me, are you guys going to write a book or are you going to or you should start a blog and I said, Well, we're not ready to start, like writing a book yet dad. not quite there.

Maybe a blog

That sounds interesting. And so we kept talking about it. And finally, in 2014, we sat down at our favourite brunch place, and came up with the idea of dipping our toes into life. And like, you know, living life in ways that we immerse ourselves into the stories and feel cultures of others around the world. And Hey Dip Your Toes in was born because we wanted it to be a call a call of action as well. So that's why we put the "Hey" before that. And my own background had been in photography, I'd worked at radio stations before, and I'd always been quite creative, and I've worked in performing arts and education. Basically, I was one of those people that has had many careers.

But I really found that the work that we do now fast forward five years is something that I can actually use almost every single skill set that I feel like that I've been able to nurture over the years. So it's been really great!

Omo 3:01

Yeah. Well, I have no creative background whatsoever, or I had no creative background before this whole venture began.

Eulanda 3:08

But he was a keen writer.

Tinuke 3:10

Okay.

Omo 3:10

Well, I look at that. That's the most interesting thing I'd written ever was probably when I was 15. And I wrote a high school play that came third in a drama competition.

Tinuke 3:21

That's amazing.

Omo 3:22

That's probably the most interesting thing, as I mentioned before them, but I do enjoy writing. And so naturally, when we began storytelling, I gravitated towards the writing side of our platform. So we try to create content that fulfils many needs. There's a visual element to what we do, which is you know, her, her forte. She you know, Eulanda is an excellent photographer, end of story. And usually, I actually get some of my writing inspiration from our images. Because then I'm able to capture the emotions in writing words that she's managed to capture via her images. And so we're just, you know, over time just built a working relationship by combining both both skill sets together. And obviously, the digital side of what we do in terms of managing our platforms has basically evolved over time.

We began by not knowing anything about some of these platforms. But yeah, we've managed to find some effective balance in terms of what type of content goes where, what what is like, what, and you know, how to engage effectively across these various platforms.

Tinuke 4:42

That's amazing. And I think in a way, you might have answered some of my next question, and but it was, how it was working and your spouse /spouses affected the way in which you create so obviously, you're saying you kind of bounce things off of Eulanda, but does it work both ways?

Eulanda 4:57

Yeah. I mean, I tend to take a bit more of the creative lead. So it's not that well, let me preface that by saying that we have a high level of trust in one another. So we trust each other when it really comes to each other's strengths like ones that it's just like, unquestionably, I know that when he writes something, I'm not going to have to look over his shoulder, or can I have a second look at that, like, but we'll do that with each other because we want each other to have another eye like looking at it, we want to share things sometimes before they're shared and put out to the public just to kind of get that roundabout agreement that comes and that's a part of one of the key fundamentals of our relationship as well. But um, you know, we've trust each other implicitly, explicitly, comes to those decisions. So, um, you know, but I think there's times where we don't always agree on things and you know, and

We know when the other sometimes I think we know when the other person's not going to agree. Maybe with something that we might share or

Omo 6:07

I can always tell when she's not fully on board, it's something she, she has that contemplating look on her face, like, like if I do sometimes I, over the last two years, I've tried to get more into creating videos. Okay, so whenever I create something I know, she's actually a brilliant storyteller when it comes to videos as well. So I'm like a student at school, you know, showing Teacher she's there and I put it in front of her, and she watches it. I can tell that she's like, "hmm, but it could be better...."

How do I constructively let him know that I don't quite like it.

Tinuke 6:49

Yet.

Omo 6:52

But you see that process that process has has worked because every time she gets involved in those types of getting involved in those types

conversations, the product that comes out of it is always better.

Tinuke 7:03

Yeah.

Omo 7:03

So it's actually said learning to trust each other.

Eulanda 7:06

Yeah,

Omo 7:07

learn to take feedback and apply feedback to improve. And yeah, we know our - We're trying to achieve the same goals. So it always helps to work in tandem with each other that way. Yeah.

Eulanda 7:19

Yeah. I mean, there's time too I think it was such a such a brilliant example there. There are times when we have different levels of comfort when it comes to sharing personal stories. And we have to realise that the platform that we have curated is shared. And sometimes it's a difficult one because there might be something that I'm, I feel really strongly about that I really want to share. But it you know, I also feel like oh, maybe I should talk to him about that. Yeah. Well, to give him the heads up, or, you know, what can we talk about this is it the right time, it's at the right place, and sometimes we don't agree with it because we have different levels of comfort.

With sharing and we share differently.

Tinuke 8:03

Yes,

Eulanda 8:03

As well, um, so that one is also one of those kind of like bridges that you constantly have to kind of. Hmm, okay. All right.

Tinuke 8:13

Sure. No, I feel you about one. I think that's my partner and I, our journeys are very different. He's very much. I get really frustrated. I googled everyone. And if you google him, he doesn't exist on the internet. And to me, this is so strange, like, how is this possible? Like, how could you not be on the internet anywhere? And then there's me if you literally googled me and has like five pages of

posts. And this is one that I share the world. And when we started blogging, it was this really awkward thing where I started as a mommy blogger. So I spoke about my kids, and there was pictures of my kids. And he's kind of like an ethical hacker. So one day I went to find my site and it was gone. And he had basically taken it offline. And so I'm sorry what because there's pictures of my baby everywhere.

We can't do this. So we had to kind of come to some sort of agreement on how this was going to work in terms of what his comfort levels were about sharing him and sharing our daughter, whereas we've got better at it. So my kids are everywhere online now. But again, we've no names and no, you know, no location and things like that. So they got their own, they can choose their digital footprint when they're ready. But it was a huge like learning curve where I'm like, we share the world share, share, and he's like, No, no, no. Yeah, incognito, we do not exist. So yeah, I feel you trying to strike that balance is a very interesting journey. We'll come in.

So as I said, You are one of my favourite influences as a pair. Do you have any influences that inspire you? And well, that you feel are doing amazing work at the moment?

Eulanda 9:54

Yeah.

Omo 9:57

I probably use the term or the phrase Creators, Content Creators and influencers because some of the people that I think we enjoy whose work we enjoy and really appreciate are not necessarily influencers but creators. And of course they exist across we have different examples across different platforms

on YouTube. There's so many people, but I guess creatively, I look up to people like Dan Mace Peter McKinnon, obviously Casey Neistat, those those types of people set the standards for us. I think a show for me anyway, when it comes to videos.

Eulanda 10:37

Yeah.

Omo 10:38

In terms of writing, I mean, influences come from people who are on social media and off social media.

I love I love reading work from Davida Oh, yeah, who runs Wonders of Wonders? Yeah, she writes brilliantly. And

Eulanda 11:00

And you know, her podcasts listening to her voice with her dulcet tones, it's like that, you know, this the voice that you want to go to sleep with? Yeah, yeah, it's incredible magical. It is, really, really is. And there's, I mean, there's so many incredible creators out there that I feel like I find inspiration from as well. And sometimes it's not just in like the physical body of work. Sometimes it's just in their authentic voice. So I also think of who's a close friend of mine, as well as Marty Lewis. And, you know, she is like fearless in the way that she is, you know, the way that she expresses herself and the way that she is such a advocate for DNI in the industry. And then,

as well as Sareta. I love Sareta. The Comedy this mix of comedy and lifestyle and just make realness Yeah, and I love

Just her whole take on issues, social issues and life and she's just so real and I hope she gets a serious book. Deal. Oh, sure. Yeah deserves that. 100%

Omo 12:12

Yeah, I think we also like the work that Cle Hannigan does with the Wind Collective. Mm hmm. He's very very expressive in the way he he puts his videos together. Yeah, we could we could rattle off a whole list.

Tinuke 12:29

So it's interesting cuz I agree with you. Even when I was doing the UK, Black influencers lists like quite a lot that were on there. I would have put more under the term Creatives as opposed to Influencers.

Would you consider yourselves influences as well as creatives? You're for sure Creatives, but do you see that maybe you influence people as well?

Omo 12:52

Yeah, I would embrace that term. Yeah, I think we initially when we started this journey, we struggled with that because obviously the industry was still taking shape, and the the term I nfluencer had some negative connotations attached to it, look, ultimately it is what it is. If our opinions if we have people who listen to our opinions, who ultimately make decisions based on what we share, then we are influencing them whether we realise it or accept it or not. So what we've tried to do over the last, you know, three years is really embrace that term. And make it a positive thing, looking to share that in a positive way. Wherever we have a platform to talk about influencer marketing or digital marketing, we try to highlight the fact that this is who we are, and this is how we think we're trying to set a standard for what this industry should be like.

Tinuke 13:47

Yeah. Amazing. I'm gonna pivot a little bit because one of my big loves is reading, absolutely love to read. That's how I normally plan if I'm going to travel anywhere. It's normallu from a book I've read and thought, Oh, you know, I need to now see that place. So I'm forever on the lookout for the next big read. What are you guys reading at the moment? Or what's the last book you read?

Eulanda 14:11

So I kind of do the same way, I will be reading a book, I put it down for months, and then I'll pick it back up again. And then I'll start reading another book at the same time. So I'm in that place right now finishing a book called influencer. And that one's more of a take on it's written by gosh, her name is Danielle, I can't remember her surname yet based in the US and it's a great book on just, you know, this kind of state of influencer marketing. Some of the stuff is not quite niche specific for the US. but I find it very useful because of her experience working with the agency. But then there's another book called I Am My Brand brand by Kubi Springer, and she's a British, Black British author, that it's basically all about building your brand and how you can really be the face of your brand without it being like so I guess, physically exhausting, you know. So finding a way to, you know, in create teams and kind of streamline your process of your business while still keeping it front front facing. So that's been really inspiring as I've gotten into it towards the beginning of the book and excited to explore more

Tinuke 15:26

and hopefully finish it before starting another one.

Eulanda 15:29

I don't know. I am just that person. You know, like I used to, I used to speed read when I was little, and I used to like read a lot. And over the years of my time has kind of shrunk to kind of reading for enjoyment. I'm just one of those people is like, I just have to go with what I'm feeling that I need to read right now. Yeah, so if it's reading two books at once, I feel like I could still hold space for two subjects at once.

Unknown Speaker 15:55

So yeah,

Omo 15:57

yeah, I think as unfortunately the older I have gotten my attention the more my attention span has reduced. I used to be an avid reader like Eulanda, maybe not speed reading, but I would read anything and everything. Yeah, but now I just I pick bits and pieces from books, you know, I see a nice title, you know, maybe read a few chapters. I mean to come back to it, but then something else comes up and it just so much happening. So it's, it's been a struggle to, to really do an end to end read of any books recently

Eulanda 16:30

But we are thinking about going on a road trip, and I was thinking we should do a reading day where we bring like a favourite book or two. Yeah, we just do a full day of just reading anything.

Omo 16:43

You see. Oh, she made she just made a plan on my Yeah.

Tinuke 16:48

I can picture that. I think either, you too in a tree house somewhere in your hammock reading. You know, that could work. Even down in the UK. We've got amazing tree houses.

Omo 17:02

Yeah.

Tinuke 17:05

And I'm just like living vicariously through you because I don't plan on going anywhere anytime soon. So it's just go do it, go do it.

I absolutely love your School Daze series. And you're So You Want T be An Ally as well. So tell me about them. Where did they go for the series originates.

Eulanda 17:29

So the idea for school days actually came about when I was a bit depressed from COVID. And I was sitting around the house that first week, week and a half in my red robe, trying to figure out like, where I was gonna go from here. And I realised that if I didn't want to go any further down in my emotional state and physical well being that I needed to throw myself into a creative project, and so I kept thinking of going back to school because I remember that anytime I've ever been in school, which for the most, I feel like for most of my life outside of the last six, seven years, I've been in school.

But or been taught in schools, so on and so forth. I've always found that the environment is education, environment and school environment is so immersive. And for many, it's, it can really propel you forward in your learning and be able to skill share with others. And it fosters this environment of, you know, just positive environment of creativity, oftentimes, so I was like, You know what, I need to go back to school, and maybe provide this opportunity for other people and creators to come to the table share their skills, and for others to learn collectively. And so you have that and then too, I want to just be able to have time when some of my really great friends and industry and for others to learn from them.

So I used - gathered friends for the most part, I think almost everyone was a really good friend. Except for bar, maybe one or two that had approached, you know, approached us about being on the show. And, um, you know, now we're looking at Season Two and you know, looking at it sustainably, how can it foster other things and products, and all of that? So that's been it's been great. The response has been really positive. And yeah, I'm excited for to see it grow.

Tinuke 19:28

Amazing. And with this, So You Want To Be An Ally. I'm guessing that was off the back of the June protests and

Eulanda 19:36

Yep, that is exactly, exactly it. And so we call it the goodness the Great White Migration that happened of June 2020. And

Tinuke 19:50

what should always be good, don't go down in history as I like June 2020.

Eulanda 19:58

So we just saw this massive shift of people like all of a sudden, every Black creators', social media feeds were exploding with followers, primarily the same demographic. Yeah, you know, white women between the ages of like, the late 20s, all the way through, yeah, let's say 45 or so, like that. And then getting all of these requests, emails and it, I'm sure you got so many off the back of creating your directory. So man, so you were just hyper visible. We were all so hyper visible. It was it was quite like whoooo we felt very exposed in many ways. And so, you know, we kept asking ourselves,

these people are messaging us about how to be better allies. inboxing us sending us emails, sending a million things. And honestly, I think they were still several emails that we never even responded to just miss them. Yeah, we just couldn't keep up with the backlog of messages. But Funny enough, that's all pretty much died down. Back to normal back to normal, the migration was short lived.

But one thing we kept asking ourselves in seriou- with a more serious tone was, you know, what can we share about being at our allies. And we understand that so many of us as black creators were actually quite exhausted, of trying to educate people on how to be allies. And so we felt, we felt confident about stepping into that space and being able to share our experiences. But without but not under the guise of saying, oh, we're the educators come to us heroes. It was just about you know what, let's provide a space and a platform for other black creators to be able to share and not just creators, this is just everyday people who might not

Be creators, we had a pastor on, you know, we most of them have been creators. And we plan to potentially, you know, build out the series a bit more and do a few more episodes, but umm a part of it. It's like you lose a little bit of steam, suddenly things are going on. Yeah, but it was an incredible few shows that we did with that. And I think we still want to explore it and do more around it, but we just need to kind of come back and can relook at things and what we actually want it to be. Because we did the blog post which was Omo the lead on writing that and that has that was super effective with people coming and having loads of questions right and

Omo 22:42

I just like her I had also been receiving a lot of emails and direct messages people White people wanting to know better and do better. So I just sat down, put my thoughts together and came up with an article about just four things that people need to be thinking about when they're thinking about being better allies not talking about just being aware of, you know, the fact that black people have a different lived experience from white people. That's just the way it is. Being more sensitive to situations where, you know, you might not necessarily know that a black person might be going through something different, but just being sensitive that it might mean ready to step in when necessary to be an advocate for that, for that person in that situation. And just the continuous awareness and learning I think is very important. I mean, open to not being defensive, but just

being in the position where you're willing to listen before then responding and jumping to conclusions. So the article has done well, I'm glad it's, it's still up there. And that will forever be like our first answer to anybody who's asking how do? How can I be a better ally? Just simply pointing to that? So that's awesome. I think, you know, you've done such good work.

Tinuke 24:07

And yeah, I think having those resources there for people to time and time again, Google or you know, ask you about and be able to find there's just, you know, you're doing God's work, you're doing good stuff. Thank you both.

Eulanda 24:20

Amen

Tinuke 24:23

So,

it feels like your creative process has been in overdrive during the lockdown period. And I know from what you said that there was a slow start, where you kind of, you know, which is understandable kind of what do we do now and having to, you know, having to pivot quite quickly, you know, and has the pivoting come naturally to you, or is it something you have to actively work on? Was it kind of like, Okay, this is what we do we just change or is it something that you're not normally quite comfortable in doing?

Eulanda 24:53

Now, I'm comfortable with pivoting now as part of a survival tactic.

You know, I went through the whole great recession in the US where I lost my business. Yep. And I told myself that if I were to ever be a business owner again, that I was not going to go through it in that way. So, you know, in many ways us working in the travel industry, this has been a travel depression in so many different ways, for sure. And for many you, their businesses have shuttered their doors.

And there are businesses that will not never recover. But in hindsight, there's going to be really incredible businesses that are birthed from this process are meeting new needs and new spending habits of the consumer and the consumer marketplace is changing. And it's been incredible to see that, you know, that after an extremely devastating situation, which we're still living through right now. And this pandemic, yep, that businesses can still recover and different ways that we can can still pivot. And for us, it's been really about focusing now on building legacy items, thinking about digital products that we're creating. And that's what, you know, we're working on right now and doing a lot of putting our heads together a lot of extra time spent working and creating developing new income streams. And so it's for me, I'm actually, in many ways, I'm glad that I was able to go through this process of pivoting and reminded me of the fact that I've gone through extremely challenging situations when it comes to you know, socio economic environment, and that you can pivot and you can do it successfully.

Omo 26:46

Just, you know, in a slightly different answering that question in a slightly different way. The lockdown has been a good opportunity for us to really step back and look at our creative process in general, and just understand where we want to be focusing our energies on going forward. Knowing that, you know, although we have interest in a lot of areas, you know, in a lot of things, we are unlikely to be hundred percent effective in every single one of them.. So you know, if it's a few things that we want to focus on, then let's focus on those things and do them really, really well. that this has been an opportunity to step back and look at the landscape and decide how we want to go forward and begin to lock down to be honest. Some of the stuff that we're creating. We're just having fun with like Tik Tok! For example that just

fell from nowhere like oh, okay, let's just jump on. Do it. Have fun? We have no agenda. Yeah, we had no plans to go like a million followers or anything Yeah. And that, that sparked some other creative ideas. Were able to repurpose content is just as

As creatives we want to believe that the process of creating isn't static, yes, it is always evolving, it is always changing and we're happy to change as long as long as it leads towards specific goals. We're happy to keep changing as well.

Tinuke 28:17

That's amazing and tick tock still scares me. I think I've downloaded it twice, got well confused and deleted it again. And I just don't understand how to create on this platform and everyone is just so Uber creative on it, and you know, their cutaway skills or the videos and everything. Wow, I hold my hands up. I'm not ready. Just amazing content. Yeah, love it. I'm going to try again. I think I'm going to just leave that to my 12 year old because she's a natural at it. So maybe she can direct my videos for me. I can't do it.

So what are- I know you just mentioned that you know you'll do anything if it's going towards your specificgoals that you've obviously you know, got things for what are they? What are your plans for the future? Do you have anything in the short term that you're working on? Or is there like a bigger massive goal? That's your five year plan that you want to reach your own TV station?

Eulanda 29:15

Oh my gosh, never. You're just planting a seed right there.

You know, um, I have, I think it was last year it's actually last year someone I really do look up to who's another creator whose work I absolutely adore. And her name is Holly Kato, and she's incredible photographer and filmmaker, and Caribbean. Incredible the work that she does, yeah. And she says, you know, "produce the work that you want to be hired for". And it was really something that resonated with me, because I remember she put out a call because she was looking for a Director of Photography for project that she was doing. And I said and she was like

Just like, Oh, it's really difficult to find female, especially women of colour. Yeah. You know, DPS. And I said, you know, I've Dp'd before I can get DP on the project. And so she was like, Oh, do you, you know, send him send over your portfolio, so on and so forth. And then I was I kept thinking, what do I have really, I can send her that would show her my portfolio of work as a DP and as like, I don't have anything recent nothing recent that on that quality that I knew that she was looking for, you know, and so then I then was like, Okay, I need to, that's what I need to do. If If, and I was like, even if I decided not to take on this opportunity, or this line of work in the future. It really did plant a seed in my in my head and I've heard the same thing before. But I think this time, the seed took root because you know, the parable about the seeds falling in different places, and sometimes the seats don't fall in the right place. And, and sometimes you don't water the seat correctly, you don't really think inserted into the soil. This time the seed was inserted into the soil. And I said, Okay, you know, across the board, I know that we need to create the type of content that I know that I want to create together that I want us to be noticed for will be that that will hopefully get us a foodie travel show in the future, or something or an opportunity where we can pitch our body of work to a Netflix or an Amazon but still retain creative rights to and as well you know, and be able to get an executive producer credit for it. So that is I've always wanted to do some type of hosting on a more

I guess, on a scale that does address that my desire of and love for food and travel. So I think it would be an incredible opportunity so that it's been about creating content that helps to kind of fall in that vein that hopefully gets us noticed

You know, we launched our show called foodie knows, which is something we've been we've done, you know, several years ago, we produced quite a few different like foodie kind of travel videos and use the hashtag foodie knows. But this time we're like, okay, we're going to use this as an official site,

Omo 32:16

Foodies Know #FoodiesKnow please.

Eulanda 32:16

Yeah, I said foodies knowo, right? Oh, sorry. I dropped the s Foodies Kno

But the whole idea was, okay, we need to have this on our YouTube channel, because producers search YouTube for emerging talent. They're looking for film, filmmakers and so on and so forth are trying to get inspiration. Yeah, and so on, so forth. So, for us, it was a it just made sense to start thinking about an episodic type of series that we can create for that. So that's we know that's a bit more kind of long term and a bit more drawn out. And we have a list of

You know, different goals that we want to achieve? Like we definitely want to get on the international property.

Unknown Speaker 33:06

ladder. Yeah. And we want to be able to create a space that is for creators. And we've been looking at properties in Turkey, we have to put the no sign down right now, as you know, as the world's going through some big changes, and we had our own, like personal issues with immigration and stuff last year. So a lot of things had to slow down and we had to kind of pivot and change things around. But that's still very much a goal that we want to create a space for creators that then also has residences, like a creative residency, I might apply for come and be in this incredible immersive environment, surrounded by a few other select creators. And, you know, it can be from two weeks to a month that this residency happens. Yeah, and they're able to just have really incredible time to create and also

Eulanda 34:00

further training and skill development, and so on and so forth. So that's a bit more of that like the long term but for us short term is making sure that we have created like I said, Legacy Products, and creating loads of digital kind of a digital library of products that our community is really waiting for. And we've been waiting for these things for quite some time. And we just haven't spent time off the road trying to create them. And now we have that time and in fact, we're like, even if travel does open back up, our focus is to hit these particular goals and amazing we will be saying no to you know, some opportunities to travel just because we want to make sure that we're taking off the boxes of our long you know, our short term goals as well as long term.

Tinuke 34:51

It's awesome. Thank you so much. Now so yeah, just I literally I'm trying not to write while I'm talking about that because he was giving me all these ideas of things I need to do, yes, I need to do that. And you know so much to think about already. And so you've given me lots of advice about adding meaning to, and what advice would you give to maybe newer creatives who are trying to make it in this kind of multimedia world that we now live in, where it's not just about, you know, maybe being good at one thing, it's about kind of encompassing, you know, as you as you're doing YouTube and the writing and the Instagram and, you know, being multifaceted across multi platforms, what kind of advice would you give to them?

Omo 35:38

as cliche as it might, it might sound find your authentic voice, and nurture that voice.

It might take a few iterations of trying few things, you know, try this. Try that before you find that harmony in your creative abilities. But once you find your creative voice, nurture it, just stay true to it, focus on it and keep building that, you know, some of the some of the most celebrated creatives or writers now have gone through that process as well. No one, no one makes it from day one. The other day somebody messaged me, I was like, oh, some bloke was saying that he was gonna teach her how to make YouTube videos and become a celebrity and start making money on YouTube. I'm like, oh, okay, well, I'm trying to scam you because there are no overnight successes. What? Not? No one we know who is big now as a creator, maybe overnight? No, I was going through a process.

I was watching this BBC show by Michaela Coyle. The I may destroy you. Yeah. And it led me to read in an interview she did recently with with one of these online magazines.

And she went through that process as well of starting out as a comedian and and eventually getting picked up to write chewing gum chewing gum, which is awesome. Yeah, yeah. And then eventually going around and a few other projects before finding her writing and storytelling voice and this new series that she's done. And this series you know, whether love it or like love it or hate, it will define her for a long time to come. So it's that process of finding your voice and nurturing your voice I think is probably the most

significant advice I can give enriches service,

Eulanda 37:37

surround yourself with the right people.

Unknown Speaker 37:42

You know, you have to be aware of imposter syndrome, I'd say to creators, especially those starting out, it's really easy to get distracted by all the noise out there and for you to compare yourself and you're looking at what this person is doing on the left and what that person is doing on the right. When really you need to be looking down the middle of the highway, in the direction that you need to be going, because that's your path. It's not to your left and it's not to your right.

Eulanda 38:08

So you have to really be be really, I guess you could say precious, but you need to really take care of yourself. Yeah. And look at your time and nurturing your time as a form of self care. So that means getting rid of some of the noise and engaging with others, but with it, but not underneath the guise of a let me watch and see what they're doing. I think it's great to have inspiration. And it's great to be inspired by other creators. But like almost head, if you're spending time crafting your authentic voice. Yeah, so that's going to come naturally, you're going to look at others, you're going to get inspiration. You're going to watch documentaries, you're going to do this, but guess what you're going to be spending a lot of your time creating and then collaborating with others. And you will create

He'll find your voice through that. But you can't do that, if you if everything that you do is focused on what everyone else is doing. So I would say, really try to carve out your lane. Definitely

Tinuke 39:14

Amen to that I know that is doing COVID. So I did kind of have you locked down a bit, and I've kind of been able to grab you. But again, you know, there's so much it could be doing so much it could be creating. So I'm thankful that you spent some time with me and my listeners on this podcast. And I'm sure that what you've said will be insightful and show and, you know, show you in a new life for some people who may be having, you know, have a chance to watch your lives and you know, see your amazing content yet. So I hope that they love you as much as I do. And that you've been some new followers from it as well. Thank you so much.

Omo 39:52

Thank you. Thank you for having us. Thanks for introducing us to the audiences as well.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai