Creative People - Profile 7: Omonike 'Omonaikee' Odi

We are back to our Creative People series. This time we have 'in our studios' a dear friend, sister, writer, model in the making (I love that one), singer, media personality, 'The Omonaikee Show' host and blogger. There are quite a few people I know personally who are passionate about writing, and she is definitely one of them. (Although recently I queried whether her first love is writing or posing for photographs, as you will see in the pictures we took during her exclusive photo shoot with Cognito Studios...simply amazing. After the shoot, I told her I dont think I have had this much fun shooting pictures since I picked up my camera and started Cognito Studios this year)

To give you some more insight into why she loves doing what she does, here is an excerpt from her blog 'Omonaikee': 

"...But I must confess, it is not only the love of writing or the consequent desire to master it that makes me touch finger tip to key pad. As my fingers chase themselves all over my QWERTY keyboard, I recognise that I am also nurturing the ambitious goal of making a positive impact on YOU, dear reader and all the potential visitors to this blog. I do not entirely know how I am going to do this yet, but I have set this “noble” goal for myself that YOU will benefit from giving me your time" (http://omonaikee.blogspot.com/)

So read on. Let's get to know Omonaikee a bit better. Who is she? What does she do? Enjoy the pictures too.

· My name is Omonike Odi, I am behind the brand “Omonaikee”. Omonaikee is a multimedia platform that provides media content on print, audio, video, radio, live, online and social media. All messages are prepared to motivate, inform and empower a target demographic. 

Along the road to where you are today, what were some of the significant events that helped shape you? 

· I grew up hearing about talents in church and about how God gives each person an ability and He will hold us accountable for how we have used these gifts. That stayed with me. What it did for me at an early age is that it helped me realise what unique abilities I had and as I grew older I became concious about how to develop and deploy them in every phase of my life. There was also a conciousness to use them positively and use them to share the benefits of my relationship with God with other people. That was significant in shaping the way I use my abilities today.

Who is Nike in the next 5 or 10 years? 

· In the next 5 years, Omonaikee is a global brandname and in the next 10, it is a global company headquartered in Nigeria and Nike is it’s CEO. It’s my BHAG; my Big Hairy Audacious Goal. 

What message would you give a young lady who feels useless, bored but has dreams and aspirations, and doesn’t know how to go about making them a reality? She feels helpless to make her life meaningful? 

· This is the best question you have asked me so far because I am passionate about young people and women and I am all for people going after a life that accomplishes their potential. There are usually 3 reasons why people dont make their dreams a reality. The first is the issue of time. For people who are tied down by the demands of a job, a marriage or kids; they should celebrate what they have achieved so far be it a mortgage, work experience, precious kids or life experience. 

Next, they should ask themselves if they are waiting for time to make itself available to them to pursue their other dreams and realise that it will not come. Very often we have to negotiate with the demands on our time in order to create time for what’s important to us, so start negotiating with a full night’s sleep, a full time job, or a full time nanny. The second reason is the lack of money. I find that if we will only do all that is within our power both financially and otherwise, we will get farther ahead than where we are right now. 

One question I have had to ask myself is : “Nike, have you done everything you can?”. Not having money shows you what you do have. It also shows you what your spending priorities are and where to put money when it comes. The third reason people very often don’t achieve the life they want is they haven’t discovered themsleves. Self discovery is at the beginning of every accomplishment. Each person needs to look closely at themselves and find what is special or different about them. 

They need to look at their environment and background and find what opportunities it presents to them. They need to identify their interests and see what they can do to explore it. Then they need to think hard about what they want to be based on these resources God has put in and around them. Next, they need to take advantage of the external opportunities to develop or utilise their innate abilities, then use the results of that to build the life they want and become what they want. 

Who inspires you today and why? One or two people 

· I am inspired by a lot of people for different things. For instance, I am inspired by my friend Cobhams Asuquo because he has a pure heart and that quality magnifies everything he does with his heart, into an impact. I am inspired by my mentor, Fela Durotoye because he has a lot of compassion and wants to help people. I am inspired by several others because they are sincere like Pastor Sarah Omakwu, or are strong characters like Funmi Iyanda, or are selfless like my mum. 

But generally, all the people who inspire me have one thing in common and that is personal achievement. I am inspired by personal achievement especially when it is achieved against daunting odds or disadvantage. For example, I am inspired by the resilience shown by Steve Jobs in the last 7 years of his life when he lived with pancreatic cancer. In those years he still pursued his dreams even till the end. It taught me that whether life is long or short, a lifetime is enough to be you. It is enough to become who God wants you to be. 

What is your favorite quote? Explain how it inspires you? 

· I like several quotes because I love the written word and I both consume and create it. Some of it is on my blog at www.omonaikee.blogspot.com. But the ones that go beyond inspiring me to shaping me are the words of the bible. My favorite verse is Psalm 32:8 and I quote the New International Version “The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life, I will advise you and watch over you””. It inspires me because it shows me that every season of my life good or bad is a path but God is divinely leading me through the best combination of paths to get to where he has lovingly assigned for me. Those words are beautiful. Another one is in Ephesians 2 :10, paraphrased, it says that we are all the work of God’s hands and that we are recreated into a life lived with Jesus as it’s owner so that we can do those good works which God planned beforehand for us and take those paths which God prepared ahead of time that we should walk in and live the good life which God prearranged and made ready for us to live. These words have a lot of creative power. 

“Whether life is long or short, a lifetime is enough to be you. It is enough to become who God wants you to be.”- Omonike Odi (CEO, Omonaikee)