Modupe Idowu is the delectable lady behind Gingerlie Lifestyle Blog. In this piece she shares a little about herself and how she started her popular lifestyle blog.
I knew I was privileged. In fact I’ve always felt privileged and I remember how at some point in my childhood I was convinced I would never be successful – because the only success stories I heard were of people who were less privileged or people who had a difficult childhood and overcame it all. For me I had it easy and to a large extent and based on all I had heard I did not think I could ever be successful . I was brainwashed with the idea that the most successful people are the ones with the hardest upbringing. Thankfully I now know that’s not true at all. We all have the opportunity to be successful regardless of our backgrounds.
Despite being convinced that I wouldn’t make it in life. I still tried in little ways to be the best I could if not for anything, at least to appreciate all my mum did for us. I started reading self-development books on how to be the best version of myself . In my Js. 3 I read a book titled “how to read and understand” (or something like that) it was written by a Nigerian. He basically talked about how the brain can assimilate whatever you want it to – the trick is to do it purposefully and consciously. After reading that book, I felt I could conquer the world! And I did. I came third in class that term unlike my usual 11th- 16th In a class of about 30. This encouraged me and I started believing in myself more. and I became more purposeful about my lifestyle. I was deliberate about places, conversations and people especially the kind of friends I made.
With this new outlook to life when I was posted to Kogi state for my NYSC I enjoyed my camp experience so much unlike most corpers I know. I socialized a lot more than I normally would considering how quiet I am, and I even contested in the miss NYSC beauty pageant which I won. I eventually redeployed to Cross river where I didn’t know anyone at all – except my big sister and her husband who were there on official appointment.
Making friends was a bit difficult for me because I was shy coupled with the fact that I stayed with my sister and didn’t get to go out much. I was that corper who worked at her convenience, lived in a fancy house and drove a Lexus. Serious borrow pose (all my sisters’! Lol) So I didn’t really get to mix up with the other corp members to experience the real #corperlife. I was bored half the time but had access to a laptop, internet and electricity.
This boredom and access to internet made me start watching a lot of YouTube channels. I’ve never really enjoyed watching TV, the only channel I watched back then was Ebony Live TV. I couldn’t get enough of Bolanle, Ebuka and Toke Makinwa and I’d get soo inspired and want to share what I learnt. I’ve always had a diary but I wanted to share my thoughts on a platform where people could easily access what I had written. I also wanted to be able to curate tools and materials to help any individual live more purposefully, so I started my research on how to set up a blog. I followed the different steps until I got it! It took me about a month to get it up and running. I didn’t have a name for my blog yet and I started praying for God to give me a name.
One Sunday after church I was preparing lunch for my sister’s family and I literally started picking names of food items in the kitchen to see which would go better with “lifestyle blog” and somehow GINGERLIE LIFESTYLE BLOG sounded better! Guys I kid you not, that’s how I came about the name for this blog.
The interesting thing for me is that I also came up with the tag line “Making purposeful living a lifestyle” because I wanted to create a space where I shared tips and resources to help youths make better decisions” and after some weeks I googled the name “Gingerlie” and discovered that Gingerly means “in a careful or cautious manner” and “showing great care or caution.” and I was super convinced that it wasn’t a coincidence that I chose Gingerlie as the name of my blog. God chose it for me and He wants me to use this platform to help youths make purposeful living a lifestyle. In a nutshell Gingerlie Lifestyle is a blog that aims at making purposeful living a lifestyle. It started out as a personal journal but has quickly grown to a community of young like-minded people who are passionate about personal development
What started out as a hobby has grown into much more, in the past 4 years I have been opportune to collaborate with several brands like Travelstart, HBS, Luxe gal, Virtue Clothiers, GTBank, Transcorp, Spectacools, So Fresh NG and others. I’m super grateful for how far I’ve come and for where this is going . In the near future I see Gingerlie Lifestyle Blog being a one stop resource for all Personal Development related content, I also look forward to offline hangouts and other related events that will positively engage youths as well as equip them to live their lives with purpose.
Nice read…
Go girl!@dupe! Great to get a little insight on you journey this far… well done.