#3 Shemiloore: Consistently Creating Content Against All Odds
The most annoying variable is the electricity condition; sometimes, when there’s no light, you can’t do anything... I don’t have a tripod stand or a ring light but I create video content
Thank you for your time, Can we meet you?
Alright, My name is Oluwashemiloore Oluwatobi Lawani, a final year student of the Department of English Language, Obafemi Awolowo University. I’m a Content Creator, I write creative pieces, I do storytelling, I do a bit of designing with Canva, I create videos with Inshot, and I’m also into social media management.
From your introduction, you mentioned that you do content creation, writing, a little bit of design, and you create video content with Inshot. How did you get started with your creative journey?
I started late last year during the Covid-19 break, during the lockdown. I just left a job working as a content creator for a digital technology company, so I just got off and I attended a class, more like a close mentoring session with a senior creative, a big one, Salem King, The Booster Academy, that’s what it is called, and they taught us how to use Inshot and how to basically thrive on Instagram, that was what gave me the push to start creating on Instagram. I would have started creating in 2016 but I didn’t have enough push or the push that I needed to start, so it was just late last year after the class. We were to do a 7 days challenge and I just talked to myself that there will be no need to include myself in the 7 days challenge if I would not keep up with it, so I did the 7 days challenge and I have kept at it ever since then till now.
How did writing come about for you? When did you know that writing was something you loved doing and decided to start writing?
Well!!! my writing story is very funny because I’ve been writing ever since I’ve been able to combine words, ever since primary school, and I could remember a time in senior secondary school when My English teacher was like my creative pieces are very very good because I was good at all these essays and all, but I didn’t take writing seriously until I entered OAU in 2016, so that was when I started writing poems, short stories and now I just do creative writing and storytelling.
We understand that writing and content creation is what some people do for a living, it’s a full-time job, and being a student requires ones time and energy, how do you combine being a student and being a content creator at the same time?
Well I guess, it is about priorities for me. Right now, I know I can’t fully be a writer, I can’t take it as a full-blown thing because I have my academics to focus on, so writing or creative writing or storytelling now for me is just a process of building a portfolio not working per se or wanting to get clients. It is just testing the waters, experimenting, trying to see what I’m good at, and what I’m not. I’m trying to test things so that when I’m done with school I will know if I’ll face it squarely or not, but right now my major priorities are my academics, so YES, It’s just apportioning the needed amount of time to each field and just knowing that one is necessary at this time than the other.
You already spoke about how you prioritize, what are some of the challenges you face as a Student Creative?
I think one of the challenges is the fact that your friends, some people who are your friend majorly will be like “aha can you do this”, they are not mostly supportive. I can’t say that’s the case for me because I have supportive friends but most people do not have supportive friends. The major challenge is usually when your devices or the app you use start to glitch or they begin to malfunction because basically, that’s what your entire creation depends on, and sometimes lack of mobile data, and then the most annoying variable is the electricity condition, sometimes when there’s no light you literarily can’t do anything and then starting out as a student creative, you have to prioritize, most of your money goes to the necessary things, you can’t buy some appliances or gadgets, for example, a ring light, a camera, tripod stand and all the things that you need. I don’t have a tripod stand, a ring light but I create videos, so I have to use what I have to get what I need, these are the major challenges I face.
You mentioned some of the challenges you face, for example, not having access to the resources you need to create efficiently, light being an issue, data and all. How have you been able to circumvent them, because in spite of these challenges you still create videos and content?
It’s a strange thing, you know, when it comes to data, it always very amazing how money for data just comes when you need it to, I think, majorly for data, the money is just part of your allowance as a student, you just apportion a certain amount to data but however, with light, there is really not much to do, if your phone is dead, it is dead. Recently, I had to get myself a power bank just in case the people that are toying with power decide to toy with it, I won’t get affected. On tripod stand and ring light, there’s a video on my Instagram page where I showed my follower how I make my videos, this is very very funny, I had to place my phone on something just in front of a window so I have natural light and all that. I have to use an earpiece so that my voice goes directly to the mouthpiece so that they can hear me clearly since I can’t afford a lapel mic yet. I think it’s something beautiful that is part of the process, the struggle to want to persistently create, but the major thing is just the vulnerability and the accountability you have with your followers or with the people that are interested in what you are creating, letting them know your circumstance and letting them understand the stuff that goes into creating and the circumstances that surround creating basically. So that’s how I’ve been overcoming it generally.
Earlier while talking, you mentioned something about having people that support you. What is the content creation and creative writing community like? Is there a community? What is the creative community like in your school?
I don’t know if there is a physical or an online creative community in OAU, So I really can’t say much about OAU but I can say how it is online: On Instagram, I can say that there are a few OAU creators that follow me on Instagram, and the support from them is pretty strong, they are very supportive, it’s amazing because it’s like they know you and it’s like they’ve met you, it’s like you guys are friends and you've not really met before. I have quite a number of guys from OAU that support me really well and it’s amazing. If they were an online community of creatives on OAU campus or if there were a physical club or something, I bet it will be so amazing because the support online is really amazing.
What’s your creative process like when you need to create a video or create content?
Well, Let me start from ideation: How do I get ideas? I get ideas from basically everything because I keep my creative cap open, I don’t limit myself to where I get creative ideas from, people get creative ideas from books, some get from movies, I get from anywhere, from anything, I could be staring at the street, buses passing and I just get a content idea, I could just see a cartoon and have a content idea, I could be staring at the sky and have a content idea, So I don’t cap my ideation process.
The next step is that I try to put it into words that even a child should understand because that is the most important thing if people don’t understand what you are writing, what is the essence of writing it anyway, so it’s next thing in my process, trying to bring it to simple words, keeping it so simple that people can understand, using relatable words, scenarios and that’s where storytelling comes in. I tell stories that people can relate to around the idea.
The next thing is taking it to Canva, designing it in slides or a single post if necessary or if it’s a video, I grab my phone, place it in front of a window and just hit record, I record myself stating that point, stating that idea, you know, speaking those words or if its Canva, as I said earlier, I just design it into slides.
The next stage is giving it to some of my friends to review it and some other people who are just interested. I just post it on my WhatsApp status and be like, I’ve created something new if you are interested in reviewing just send a dm and some people do send a dm and they review, I make corrections and then post it, leaving my followers to engage and leave their comments and I engage them.
So that’s how it has been so far.
Interesting!!! You have quite an interesting creative process and that’s detailed. Though you’ve already mentioned some of them, What are the most used creative tools for you?
Alright, so Uhmm, the only tools I use now are my phone, my earpiece, and my power bank if need be, I don’t use my system. The apps I use on my phone are Canva, my notepad app for documenting ideas, and Inshot. Yes, these three and then if I need to edit my photos, I use Snapseed. So these are the tools I use in creating.
We all know things have changed since Covid-19 and you said you started during the Covid-19 period, how did Covid-19 impact you as a student and as a creative?
The period of covid was good for me because during Covid I got to work with a tech company, I also got to intern with a tech company where I served as a team lead twice which was amazing and it was also during Covid that I started creating, so it was amazing. I didn't really feel the impact of not being in school until the beginning of this year when it dawned on every one of us that a year had passed and we that were finalists has not graduated and so we have to do the entire year but it was not bad, the entire one year break was worth it for me, it was amazing and it was full of good stuff, and I really enjoyed it.
You said you started content creation and you took creative writing seriously two years ago. Within this period, have you ever felt like quitting?
Oooh, definitely
How did you handle it?
Essentially, I read a book I was introduced to by a friend and the name of the book is “START WITH WHY” by Simon Sinek. I believe that anyone that wants to go into anything creative or anything at all should first grab a read of the book. The book teaches you how to get a why for whatever you want to start, so even when the excitement dies down, even when your motivation dies down, your why keeps you going. It was my why that got me going. So what is my why; My why is that I am here to contribute my own quota of help and inspiration to the world so that just kept me going. Having a lot of stories I believe would help and inspire people. So that was what kept me creating throughout the entire period I wanted to give up.
So basically, understanding your why kept you going
Yes!!!
While talking earlier, you mentioned a bit of your experience working with a tech company and others. In all this work you have done, what project(s) would you say you're most proud of?
The most interesting thing I have worked on is still what I am working on and I think is going to be the most exciting I will ever work on but I don't want to jump to a conclusion yet, is creating on my Instagram page. It is the most exciting thing I have ever taken up. It was a challenge I was faced with, that was why I said earlier that there would have been no need to continue with the 7 days challenge prior to this time, so I felt like this was worth the shot and I just decided to continue with it. It is an ongoing project and is the one I am most proud of.
Though you touched on it earlier, how do you stay creative?
I really have not monitored myself consciously to know how I stay creative but I know that I engage in a lot of things that are fun and essentially it's fun things that keep me creative, a fun light atmosphere. I listen to music and I make sure to stay in my element and what's my element; I listen to music, I watch comedy skits, I watch cartoons, I read comics, I read books, self-help books, self-development books, I read all those things, creative things, I follow creative guys, everything together just keeps me creative and essentially my mind just subconsciously work creatively.
What are the things you do for fun, how do you relax?
The most fun thing I do when I want to relax is Sleep,
Sleep is the number one thing on my list, Sleep! Sleep!! Sleep!!! When I sleep, my mind sort of goes into a resting state, a calm state, so when I wake up I process information much more creatively. If there was something that was hard for me before, when I wake up I see it in a new light, so sleeping is one of them. I listen to music, I read comics as I said, I watch comedy skits, I follow creative guys, I binge on their content, I read blogs of guys that are into this creative stuff, I eat and have fun basically.
Who are the creatives that inspire you?
There are quite a lot of them, Kyrell, Precious Gaza, Bolaji, Salem King, Blessing Abeng, Alma Asinobi, Simi Kunle Oni, Dimejii, Dimeji stories, but to mention a few.
Who is the one creative person you would love to work with or collaborate with on a project?
It has to be Salem King. He is like a model of what I want to do, he has gone through the path I want to go through and he's doing stuff that I see myself doing.
Do you have a dream company or brand you would love to work with?
I have never had a dream brand I would love to work with but there are quite a few brands that tIckles my fancy and Cowrywise is one of them. I like Cowrywise, they would make a good brand to work with.
Finally, any advice for anyone looking to get started with content creation and/or creative writing.
I am just going to give the most given advice that;
The best time to start is now
That is just the truth, you cannot wait till you have everything because you probably will not have everything when you want to start and if you decide to wait, haha, it's going to be a long time. I should have started creating seriously since 2016 on Instagram but I was waiting [laughs] for everything and now I do not have everything yet. If you go through my comment section, if you go through my DM with people I have never met on Instagram, they keep on saying how the content was helpful, and that is part of the things that keeps the creativity going, the best advice is to “START NOW”. Learn on the journey, you can't know everything till you leave this earth, so you learn on the journey but do not wait till you've learned everything because you can't, so Just Start, clarity comes from the journey.
Who would you like us to interview next?
I would like to know how the person behind OAC blog does it. I want to know how he does his stuff, how he works.
How can people reach you?
My Instagram is the best place to connect with me. Feel free to say Hi
Thank you for sharing with us
Takeaway Nugget: Don't wait for the perfect time to create. START NOW and you will get better at it. Enjoy the process and have fun.
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See you next week😎!!!