Tag

Aduragbemi Akintepede

Browsing

Oluremi TejumoJesu, also known as TenaciousTejumoJesu is a child of God and a Mindset Fixer, she helps individuals move their minds from average and mediocre to positive and excellent.

She has a coaching academy, Discovery Point With TenaciousTejumoJesu Academy,and this offers Coaching classes on Self Esteem,Purpose Discovery, Relationship with God and fellow humans.

She is the author of the book “You Are Enough.” She is also the Lead Volunteer of Blissful Vines Network.

She is also the CEO of Emerald Empire (a catering and event planning hub).

TenaciousTejumoJesu loves meeting people, cooking, reading, inspiring the world around her and leveraging on experiences.

She shares her Ruby Girl story with Aduragbemi Akintepede

1. Let’s meet you. Who is Tejumojesu?

TejumoJesu is a child of God who loves going about His Business. She is the second child in her family and she believes in ORIGINALITY and REBRANDING oneself as an individual.

2. What is Mindset Revamp?

Mindset Revamp is one of the programs from Discovery Point With TenaciousTejumoJesu Academy, and it aims to help individuals reset their mindset and also break some mindset myths that has been naturally built over a long period of time.

3. When did you realize your gift of revamping minds?

I realized this gift last year, precisely in the month of December.

4. You published a book titled “You Are Enough” what is the story behind it?

The story behind it is that of a young girl who suffered from low self esteem which affected her sense of identity. And she was able to overcome when she realized that she is enough just the way she is.
And that young girl is ME, TenaciousTejumoJesu

5. What does your book entail?

It is a true life story of how I struggled with low self esteem and what I did to overcome that defect.
I was very vulnerable with my readers as I gave personal examples from experiences.

6. What has the Covid-19 pandemic taught you?

It has taught me to go all out to add more knowledge to myself, it has also taught me COMPLETE TRUST IN GOD.

7. As a caterer and event planner how has the pandemic affected your business?

This pandemic didn’t affect my business, as I quickly switched to digitalization as soon as I noticed that the whole world virtually went online.
And it has since then been useful.

8. How do you relax or unwind from your busy schedule?

I take out time to REST, see a movie and spend time with my family.

9. As a Mindset coach what are the major challenges young people face in Nigeria and what is the way out?

All the challenge starts from the mind, and the only way out is to be concious and intentional about your thought pattern.

10. How do you juggle coaching, event planning and other activities you’re involved in?

I try to balance everything. And when I see that everything is overwhelming, I switch into “observation mode.”

11. *Mention 3 women who inspire you and why?

My mum
Chichi Ogbonnaya
Tolulope AkinbinuThey have been able to successfully groom me, and show me that as a woman, you can attain the greatest height and still be balanced!

12. *Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?

Married with two children.
Winner of the Forbes under 30 successful women.
Established in my coaching career and own a restaurant.

13. *If you were given the opportunity to address a group of girls five years younger than you, what will be your advice to them?

You can be whatever you put your mind to, you can be successful and no one can stop you from being the total and complete woman except you.

Aduragbemi Akintepede is a nineteen year old undergraduate of Law at Olabisi Onabanjo University. She started writing at the early age of nine and published her first book, a play at the age of fourteen. She has also authored “New Cheese,” a memoir and “Late Last Year,” a short story.

Aduragbemi has a passion for writing, campaigning for women and child rights, acting, teaching and humanitarianism.

One Good Turn” which is her first published book is currently on Ogun State Ministry of Education Science and Technology’s Approved List of Textbooks for use in Junior Secondary Class Two, Literature-in-English text for 2019/2020 academic session in schools across the state.

She shares her inspiring story with me in this interview.

Childhood Influence

My parents are educationists, my dad used to be a civil servant at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology while my mom is a teacher. So, as a little child, I had access to books early. While growing up in primary school, my dad used to have lots of books hanging around the house and some on shelves. I read “Eze Goes to school, Mayor of Casterbridge, Merchant of Venice, Things Fall Apart and books by Wole Soyinka which I didn’t understand but always kept reading. They informed my early writing and I started writing my version of stories as they came to me, in drama, firstly on the plain back of A4 papers not in use anymore at home, then, later I progressed to notebooks when I was admitted into secondary school.

My love for the female gender also grew from my home too. I have two siblings and they are both girls. So, we’re three girls. Our experiences while growing up as children made me love and appreciate femininity. That made me drift more towards the female gender, identifying with their struggles, empathizing with experiences of adult females around me, having a great feeling of joy when females around me are excelling and achieving feats.

My writing journey

I discovered that I love imagining stories and writing them out. Like I said, I started with drama, writing out dialogues. It was fun. Allowing my imagination run wild, writing things I felt should come after another. I had a friend in Junior Secondary Class One then who I write with on notebooks. I wrote my first play in Primary Four. I wrote the second with her. I had graduated to writing stories on notebooks. I would sit with her during break or after exams and start writing. It was our way of playing. Suggesting a plot of action, creating our characters to suit it. Making the dialogue flow. Everything was fun to us.

My friend left my school after our Junior Secondary education. In Senior Secondary Class Two, with the help of my parents, I was able to publish my first book, “One Good Turn Deserves Another.” A publisher advised them to let me publish my stories, so, my play was worked on and I became an author at fourteen.

Started at age 9 and publishing my first book at 14

Looking back, I must say that the journey so far has been God’s special grace. I am not the most creative or talented among my peers, I am still a budding writer but so far God has helped me to transition from then till now. When I started out, writing was a childhood hobby and I had the desire to make great impact, do great exploits even at my young age and that childhood dream is still driving me and I hope younger ones and adults alike can read from me and know that age can never be a determinant or barrier to success.

Being a Government endorsed Author at 19

I must say that being a government endorsed author at such a young age is an incredible honour for me and I’m still in awe of it. I should be the youngest author on the entire list of recommend texts for secondary schools in the state and I feel so honoured. It is also a great encouragement to me and to fellow young people that your age notwithstanding, you can be anything you set your mind to become.

My passion for women, child rights, humanitarian work and it’s Impact

I am passionate about women and children. For women, I recognize and can relate to their strengths, struggles, challenges and flaws.

We have single mothers in our society, we also have women who are married yet single in the actual sense because they bear the entire responsibilities of the home or are denied of marital bliss, love and affection. Naturally, I have a sense of empathy for them and it breaks my heart when I hear sad stories about women being abused, sidelined, going through one pain or the other.

I have always been passionate about the reading culture, mostly for teenagers because I feel it is declining in my generation and it is important to start with the little ones.

I did a revision to my first book early this year shortly before it was adopted by the Ogun state government for Junior Secondary Class Two. I ensured I included lots of vocabularies in it, some of which I learnt myself during the course of writing. It also has questions for each Act in the play. All of these were put in place so that as much as students are reading the didactic part of it with morals being instructed into them, they are also adding to their wealth of knowledge and usage of new words and can also attempt questions on what they have read.

My Goals

I intend to have a book drive in primary and secondary schools firstly in Ogun state where it is a recommended literature text, then, extend it to other states. I also intend to partner with brands mentioned in the play such as Bigi Drinks, Mentos Sweet and Nestlé as well as foundations owned by youths to have book reading sessions, talks, acting out of scenes from the book and also donating books to schools in indigent areas where students cannot afford to buy notebooks not to talk of literature texts.

Other Projects and Activities

I am also a member of organizations which give me platforms to reach out to these category of people I’m passionate about. I belong to Junior Chamber International Nigeria (JCIN), Jesunpadabo Charity Initiative which is a Christian missionary intitiative where people are fed with both the word of God and material needs too, Our Little Gist Foundation where we reach out to the girl child. By God’s grace, I am an executive member of these organizations and my activities in them always bring me a step closer to my dreams.

Balancing it all

I am a Law student in my third year, I don’t really have to give a detailed report to my parents on my academics because they trust me well enough to balance it all. However, I am accountable to my elder sister who is a medical student and also to an older friend of mine. They monitor my grades and academic progress. So, because I know I’ll have to give them a detailed report at the end of every semester, I ensure I perform well.

I also have people who do not cease to remind me to balance everything together. I have seniors in my Law faculty who commend me for doing well in other areas and also urge me to excel in my academics, so, I can be given a platform on my valedictory day to talk about school and my writing as well.

Personally, while following my passion, I always remind myself that I must excel in other areas too. So, I always try to create a balance, write or carry out other activities during semester breaks or periods I don’t have school work to do. I attend tutorials too almost every weekend and so far I have been excelling greatly in my academics.

Challenges

I am a young writer and as much as I really love writing. Most times, I lose interest in finishing up a story I’m working on. I keep procrastinating or waiting for inspiration. So, far, the knowledge that I am to take the first step- start writing, even if I feel inspired at the moment or not has been of great help. It is more like a farmer who keeps waiting for the sun to come out before setting out, he will definitely fail.

I also have a particular person, my older friend whom I mentioned earlier, Lanre Omodele who really keeps me in track. He gives me deadlines to finish up a story I have lost interest in or been procrastinating.

On Giving up

No, there hasn’t. I am passionate about everything I do and that drives me. There are times I feel discouraged or have low moments but there has never been a time I felt like giving everything up. When I’m down, I turn to God for strength, allow myself to drop my fears and worries at His feet and walk into His rest. My parents have also been very supportive. They help out in almost all areas and are fully involved in every process; writing, editing, publishing and marketing. The immense support and sacrifices of my family, adults who believe in me and youths alike keeps me going.

Being a Woman of Rubies

I feel so honoured to be a Ruby Woman and I feel that what makes me a Woman of Rubies is that I don’t allow anything limit me from going for whatever I want and also the courage to always do things afraid. I also feel that my desire to impact and impart younger generations, to be an epitome of the saying, “it is never too late or too early to start something new or achieve great feats,” makes me a Woman of Rubies.

Dear Young Woman….

For young women who are hesitant to take a leap of faith even while being afraid, I will advice them with two of my personal quotes from my second book, a memoir, “New Cheese” which goes thus:

“Work on self discovery and dare to be a new, better and positive version of you than you were yesterday.”

“Embrace you, assess you, celebrate you and above all, love you everyday to know you deserve the newest cheese out there!”

 

Aduragbemi Akintepede is a nineteen year old undergraduate of Law at Olabisi Onabanjo University. She started writing at the early age of nine and published her first book, a play at the age of fourteen. She has also authored “New Cheese,” a memoir and “Late Last Year,” a short story.

Aduragbemi has a passion for writing, campaigning for women and child rights, acting, teaching and humanitarianism.

One Good Turn” which is her first published book is currently on Ogun State Ministry of Education Science and Technology’s Approved List of Textbooks for use in Junior Secondary Class Two, Literature-in-English text for 2019/2020 academic session in schools across the state.

She shares her “Ruby Girl” story in this interview.

 

MEET ME

Aduragbemi Akintepede is a nineteen year old law student, author of three books, the second child of a family of five.

HOBBIES

I love dancing, reading, writing or thinking about my characters when I’m not writing, teaching and acting. I love art and nature also.

 

INSPIRATION

While growing up in primary school, my dad used to have lots of books hanging around the house and some on shelves. My dad was a civil servant and my mom is a teacher, so, I had access to books early. I read “Eze Goes to school, Mayor of Casterbridge, Things Fall Apart and books by Wole Soyinka which I didn’t understand but always kept reading. They informed my early writing and I started writing my version of stories as they came to me, in drama, firstly on the plain back of A4 papers not in use anymore at home, then, later I progressed to notebooks when I was admitted into secondary school.

 

BIGGEST FEAR

Not making impact.

 

CHANGE

I don’t think I’ll like to change anything. Both my flaws and strengths contribute to who I am today. I’ll just have to keep leveraging on them more to become a better version of myself.

 

ON MY FIRST BOOK BEING CURRENTLY IN OGUN STATE SECONDARY SCHOOL

Truly it is a golden opportunity and a great honour especially because of my age. I have always been passionate about the reading culture, mostly for teenagers because I feel it is declining in my generation and it is important to start with the little ones.

I intend to put this opportunity to great use by having a book drive in secondary schools firstly in Ogun state where it is a recommended literature text, then, extending it to other states too. I intend to partner with brands mentioned in the play such as Bigi Drinks, Mentos Sweet and Nestlé as well as foundations owned by youths to have book reading sessions, talks, acting out of scenes from the book and also donating books to schools in indigent areas where students cannot afford to buy notebooks not to talk of literature texts.

 

TO GO BACK IN TIME OR TIME TRAVEL TWO YEARS TO THE FUTURE

I’ll prefer travelling to the future.

 

BEST QUOTE 

“Work on yourself, by yourself and for yourself.

WHAT KEEPS ME UP AT NIGHT

Writing or thinking about how to move a step further to my dreams.

 

IF GIVEN THE CHANCE TO BECOME THE PRESIDENT OF NIGERIA FOR A DAY 

I’ll address the educational sector in Nigeria at all levels.

 

WHAT PROMPTED ME TO WRITE MY SECOND BOOK, A MEMOIR, THIS EARLY

After undergoing my cheese moving experience as regards my academics, I got “Who Moved My Cheese?” by Dr. Spencer Johnson from a friend. It prompted me to put my experience down and relay it to others to shine a light to their path by sharing the story of the mountain I climbed.

JUGGLING ACADEMICS, WRITING ,PUBLISHING BOOKS AND ACTING TOGETHER

Honestly, combining everything together has not been easy but I love it when I do not allow anything limit me from going for whatever I want and also the courage to always do it afraid. So, while following my passion, I always remind myself that I must excel in all those areas.

MY BRAND IN THE NEXT 5 YEARS

I see myself being fulfilled to a great extent, my desire to impact and impart younger generations being actualized and my name being known across the globe for iconic deeds.

 

MY ADVICE TO GIRLS FIVE YEARS YOUNGER THAN ME

I will advice them from one of my personal quotes from my second book, “New Cheese” which goes thus:

“Work on self discovery and dare to be a new, better and positive version of you than you were yesterday.”