Iyke Bede
In her newly released ebook, ‘The Innermost Mind’, beauty entrepreneur Olajumoke Adebayo shares detailed accounts of her decade-long career waddling through a sea of challenges to emerge a successful businesswoman.
Split into four chapters, the first chapter x-rays her life from the early age of eight when she gained admission to boarding school. She notes how the conditioned microcosm helped her gain a sense of independence, and reshaped her perspective on life.
The second chapter introduces a teenage Adebayo torn between living life on the fast lane and persevering to make ends meet in school. The circumstances would later inspire her to hone her skills as a makeup artist with no formal training while acquiring the basics of business and marketing on the job to evolve into the go-to beauty spot at Ladoke Akintola University.
The follow-up chapter relays a series of setbacks encountered in the course of sustaining her business. Here, she divulges the cause of her startup failures which ultimately lands her in a cesspool of debt. She also touched on the constant pressure of keeping up appearances in the industry that requires a fair amount of vanity to gain validation.
“As a child, I always wanted the approval of others, to fit in, but this in no way made me a copycat. I feel striving for excellence already gives you all the edge you need to stand out. That was my principle to block out all of the negative pressure,” Adebayo revealed.
In the final chapter, the founder of Oge Skincare and Spa shares her current exploits in the industry including collaborations with fashion houses in Ghana and building a growing clientele in The UK. Although she notes that she isn’t where she hoped to be, she, however, acknowledges how far she has come from a small beauty shop on campus.
“Knowing I have a unique purpose for my life, I am telling my story to someone out there, be it a girl or boy, with hopes that they would read it and be inspired. In the end, everyone is beautiful, but not everyone is confident enough to see that. Our sense of inner beauty needs to be awakened to accept ourselves,” Adebayo concluded.
‘The Innermost Mind’ is currently on sale on Amazon.
