Kikelomo Atanda-Owo is a beauty to behold. She’s tall, slim and very fair that glows. She has the look of a white woman but a Nigerian accent. Many people who see her often doubt if she’s really a Nigerian or a half-cast.
Kike is a regular face in the media space having worked with Silverbird, TVC, AIT and The Nigeria Compass before having a stint at other industries like banking, telecommunications and oil & gas. She has been back in the media with REAL TALK WITH KIKE on radio.
On Saturday, October 31st 2020, her beautiful Magodo residence she played host to many celebrities as she held a small but classy birthday party.
City People’s DAMILARE SALAMI 08155134152 had a swell time with her on her birthday where she revealed a lot about herself. Below are excerpts from the interview, enjoy.
Congratulations to you on your birthday…
Thank you
You look so fascinating on this special day of yours. Can you tell us the secret of your style on your birthday?
First things first, I want to thank God for the grace given to me to celebrate another year, because many have come and gone. However, I’m grateful for the opportunity to still be alive.
Adding another year is of course a big deal. What in particular would you say life has taught you so far?
Life has taught me to be more dependent on God and more self-resilient. Thus far, I would say that the years I’ve spent on earth and the experiences have taught me quite a number of things. It has taught me how to manage space and understand human behaviour better. It has also taught me how to take things on the face value not necessarily act on what you hear because what you hear might not be what is meant. So, thus far, life has been good, bad, ugly, fine but above all, it’s been great.
2020 has been a very difficult year for a lot of people, especially in Nigeria. What has 2020 done to you?
Jokingly, I was telling some people a few days ago that I wish I could deduct 2020 from my years. Reason being that sometimes you want to think that you’ve not achieved so much because of the pandemic and again, peculiar to Nigeria is the protest and #EndSARS. It seemed as if when the year started, we all had a lot of goals, we all have a lot of dos and don’ts that we all wanted to achieve. But I think 2020 has taught me to take each day as it comes.
Can you briefly talk about the disappointments you’ve had so far in your life?
I think I will not necessarily want to concentrate on the disappointments because most times from the disappointments, there are blessings. So the disappointments have been blessings to me. Today you might ask yourself why this is happening to you but there is a reason God is trying to put you on a spot and force you to be still. At some point when you understand or you are patient to understand what you are passing through and know that it’s just a season because we all have different seasons in our lives. Disappointments for me have been blessings in disguise so I don’t want to change anything about my disappointments and pains because they made me who I am today and to the glory of God, I’m doing well.
You look so fascinating I must confess. Would you tell us what motivates your style?
First things first, I think it is very important for me to showcase my designer and stylist, Odeva Nigeria. This was a gift from her actually, I was surprised that she just decided to hook me up because I ordered some clothes from the U.S courtesy my cousins as birthday gifts but they actually didn’t arrive till date. So Odeva fixed me up. Mai Atafo too also gave me a gift as well, stunning dresses and I just want to say thank you to them first. What motivates my style? I think when they just look at me, they already know what suites me. I love fashion but I’m not somebody that will be caught exposing parts of her body. I believe that those eras are in the past. I’m a mother of three beautiful children and with the opportunities that God has given me, I believe that how you are dressed is the way you will be addressed. I believe that I belong to a class that is elite and I would not want to appear shabbily. And of course, I educate lots of youths who are following me and I want to be a role model to lots of them so you will never catch me dressed in a way that will expose any part of my body. But above all, I just love fashion. It’s a part and parcel of me and it’s based on my grandmother, Alhaja Abibat Atanda and of course, my dad because those are the luxuries that have been given to us while growing up.
You are a mother of three but you don’t look like one. How have you been able to keep this captivating shape?
Laughs (wo, spant mi lo deceive e) well, I understand that I have a good physique and I am grateful to God for my gene because sometimes we all say we want to lose weight, we want to do these and that but we must also understand that some things are part of our genes. Regardless of what you eat, the good life you want to keep, the exercises and all of that, the gene is very important. Both my maternal and paternal grandmothers have been slim and I think it’s part of my gene. And above all, I will say that I’m just blessed to have this body.
Before I call it a day, Nigeria is in a much-tensed situation at the moment, although we are happy that calm is gradually being restored to the country. What do you have to say about Nigeria at 60?
Thank you so much for that question, I believe that we are not there yet to be honest but the present government are trying their best at the moment especially in Lagos state. I want to believe that he’s doing everything possible to make the state enjoyable. He’s a man of the people, a man of the youths, and I believe that using Lagos state as an example, this country will be better if we can all unite together to understand that we are all stakeholders. I think part of the challenges we have been facing so far is the fact that everybody is thinking about himself individually and individualism is one of the problems that have brought us to where we are. But the day we come together to say that we are no longer going out of the country for medical care, tourism, holidays, etc. is the time I can say that Nigeria has attained its greater height because a lot of our leaders send their children abroad to school but the day they decide to send those children to public schools, they will make those public schools better. I want to use the case of my former mentor, Pastor Danny Olaoye as an example. His children are in public schools in America despite the fact that he could afford paying huge fees in private school, he went to withdraw them from private school to public school because he knows that the public school where he is taking his children to is of the same value as that of the private schools there.
Still on Nigeria, would you say that the End SARS protest achieved its aim?
Yes. It’s a laudable one, I would say that well done to all our youths, this can never change in the history of Nigeria. When it comes to the kind of awareness it created, I would say that when it comes to 2023, I believe that it is not just going to be the same when it comes to campaign, political leadership and a whole lot of things across board. That is one of the reasons I would want to say that I am proud to be alive during this era, I’m happy that at a time like this, I’m a part of this generation, I’m a part of the youths regardless of whatever my age is, I’m still a youth. End SARS is the stepping stone to the change that we’ve been waiting for.
You are a Nigerian the way you sound but you don’t look like a Nigerian. Can you tell us about that?
I’m Nigerian, from Olowogbowo Egatawo, Isale Eko precisely. My father is from Isale Eko, my mother is from Delta, Agbor and her Dad is from Argentina. I think I have different breeds in me. I guess that’s the combination of who I am. I’m a full traditional woman, don’t be deceived by what you see.
As a media practitioner, what message do you have for your teeming fans and audience who are eager to hear you talk all the time?
Well, media is new and not new to me. I started my career in the media with Silverbird, AIT, TVC at a time, and the Nigerian Compass before I transitioned into other sectors of the industry and then, telecommunications, banks and Oil and Gas. To be honest, returning to the media has not been an easy step for me especially in that space where we already have some people occupying the leadership roles but for them to accept me back into that role, I want to say a very big thank you to them all. You’ve given me a platform I never knew will grow to what it has become within a year. I’m happy that it’s been impactful to the world, it has been an added value to a whole lot of people. I am also happy because I had thought that the show is limited to Lagos until I started receiving calls while I’m on air from US, UK and even Sweden last week, I was surprised. And a whole lot of people that DM my social media handles; some people said that they are from Greece and were so happy with some of the videos they stumbled upon on my YouTube. Again I want to say thank you to all my fans who have believed in me, I pray that I will not disappoint you. But above all, I just pray that everyone will have longevity in soundness of health because regardless of whatever you do, the most important for us right now is to stay alive because this is exactly what we’ve been fighting for; so thank you all for the opportunity.
What’s your take on the social media bill? Some people are saying it has come to stay while others, especially the youths are saying no.
To be honest, it’s a yes and no for me and the reason I’m tilting towards a 50-50 is that the same platform that some people in government used to campaign before getting elected is what they are opposing now. These social media platforms have helped the government achieved most of their goals. So having listened to some of our leaders without mentioning names, I believe that it is one-sided in the sense that it is when the events on social media do not suit us, we say oh, let us regulate it. What about the times that those platforms and tools have helped us to drive our messages globally. Those tools have helped you individually to get to where you are today. So we cannot get there and forget the tools that launched you to where you are. Again, apologies to the youths of today but I feel that they don’t read, because when you read, I feel that there are certain things you don’t pick your phones and start sharing. You need to pay attention to what you are writing and a whole lot of things that you are saying because when you are clamouring for change and clamouring for the youths to represent us, the youth has to do so properly and when one youth is tagged badly, it cuts across every other youth. So when you see these people saying they want to regulate the social media, we are the cause. If we do better with those platforms, they can take us anywhere so it is left for us to use it positively, in a way that it is not going to harm anyone. Whether we like it or not, the same social media has caused pain in a lot of homes and cost so many people their lives. To the youths, I pray for wisdom, I pray that we all can grow quickly, and at the end of the day, we can use these platforms to achieve a lot of things because we are in the age that is technology-driven and we need that technology right now, we don’t want anybody to come and tell us what to say and how to say it.
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