SOPHS x AUGUST BY FENNY!!!

Hey guys

How was your long weekend? I hope it was splendid and restful. I was indoors most of the time, did a couple of researches and applications, then finally took myself out on a treat. *wink* you know what they say - the best investment one can ever make is on himself/herself. Secondly, I was blessed with a new phone this weekend by my bae mama so blogging would definitely be a lot easier for

me *dancing shoki d' shoki ahh* aint mother's just the best? At least Duru can free me now or better still get off my case lol.

So a few days ago, I had a collaboration with some bloggers. Remember I spoke about it in this post. One of the collaborations was a photo-shoot with one of my favorite bloggers, Fenny of Augustfenny. you can checkout her blog here. She's a fashion blogger and a clothing designer who recently began her portfolio. She's had some previous collections but recently produced some new collections last week and needed them to be modeled. We were about 4 models, each entitled to two outfits. for me, it was more of the skirt in black outfit and the top in the white. Bellow are some of the pictures from the shoot. Please feel free to let me know what you think.

So yeah what are your thoughts?

DZYN COUTURE S-S 16 PRESENTATION!!!

Hey guys

Happy inauguration day. I just realized its been 8 good days since my last post and I must express my sincere apologies for that. My busy life, coupled with the fuel and power crisis we've had for some days now, has been some of the major reasons for my long silence.

On the other hand, I attended a couple of activities/events last weekend, one of which was a fashion event titled 'The Dzyn Couture Spring-Summer 16 Presentation' organized by DZYN Couture. It was held at the Vanilla Lounge from this post and it brought together so many colorful people and clothes too. I was there and so were two of my friends, Kachi and Ify.

The event was a cumulation of a pop up store, which sold pieces from the previous collection, an installation consisting of still models dressed in long airy, light maxi dresses and evening gowns.

Also, the private showing was exclusive to the brand’s most esteem clients and a couple of socialites too. There were beautiful displays of some new collections of signature maxi dresses and alluring evening dresses, along with the show stopping fasinators.

Chi-Gul on deck!

It was indeed a beautiful and colorful gathering filled with beautiful faces and personalities like Chioma Omeruah. You can checkout my interview with her in this post. I did enjoy every moment spent at the event and I look forward to bigger and greater events organized by Dzyn.

Photo Credit : Ejike Manny.

ITS YOUR GIRL AGAIN CHI-GUL!!!

Hey guys,

What's popping? How has the week been so far? Friday is around the corner *woop *woop. I have a couple of collaborations to do with some bloggers this weekend and I am pretty excited about them. I hope you've all started making your own weekend plans o. If you haven't, then you better start now before it's too late.

Okay so, Its that time of the month again!!! The 15 for 15 challenge. I must say, I'm really enjoying this challenge as I get to meet really nice and interesting personalities, some of which I have interviewed and some of which, I am yet to interview. You can check out my interviews so far, with Janyl, Toin, Ajebutter 22 and Benny ark, here , here , here and here. For this special month of may, we have the very beautiful and multi-talented lady, Chioma omeruah, otherwise known as chigul/c-flow in the house today.

If you know chigul, you would know that it is possible to be all shades of 'beings' in one. She is not just a Comedian, but a singer, an MC and an actress, filled with so much passion and enthusiasm. She was born in Lagos, lived in the US for the most part, where she worked as a french teacher before returning to Nigeria to live her dreams. She speaks about five different languages including french and spanish and loves to make people laugh. This uncanny character started making the headlines in the comedy world in 2010 and has since then, emerged not only as one of the best female comedians, but has tremendously reformed in her music, acts and stage performances.

Today, Chioma shares a little of her private life, career tales and some tips on living a happy life in this exclusive Interview with my humble self.


1) Hi Chioma, can you please tell us a little about your self?

I AM THE 2nd OF 4 CHILDREN, WAS BORN IN LAGOS, ATTENDED THE AIRFORCE GIRLS MILITARY SCHOOL IN JOS, THEN AIR-FORCE SECONDARY SCHOOL IN LAGOS BEFORE I LEFT FOR THE US IN 1994. STUDIED FRENCH EDUCATION, TAUGHT FRENCH IN HIGH SCHOOL IN THE US FOR ABOUT 4 YEARS, CAME BACK TO NIGERIA IN 2006...AND THEN, CHIGUL HAPPENED. LOL!

2) Why Chigul?

HMMMM! I'M NOT SURE LOL. WELL, CHIGUL WAS A NAME GIVEN TO ME BY A ONE TIME PROSPECTIVE TOASTER. I GUESS HE WAS TRYING TO BE SWEET BY CALLING ME 'CHI-GIRL BUT IT CAME OUT AS 'CHI-GUL' ND HERE WE ARE TODAY.

3) LOL! That was quite funny. I can only Imagine the expression you had on your face. For the sake of our readers though, What was the inspiration behind comedy?

ANY AND EVERYTHING INSPIRES CHIGUL. FROM  PEOPLE AND OBJECTS, TO THE WEATHER, AND EVEN STATES OF BEING...i.e. HAPPY, SAD, POOR, CRAZY... U NAME IT, CHIGUL CAN PROBABLY SING ABOUT IT.

4) Asides comedy and entertainment, what do you do on the side and how do you balance them both? 

WELL, I WORK A 9-5 JOB...AND BALANCING HAS BEEN CRAZY. I FEEL LIKE A STRUGGLING  OCTOPUS SOMETIMES. BUT YOU GOTTA DO WHAT YOU GOTTA DO.

5) What do you like most about your comedy career?

THAT FOR ME IT JUST SEEMS TO COME NATURALLY...I COULD DO IT ALL DAY, EVERYDAY FOR AS LONG AS I LIVE.

6) What do you like least? 

PEOPLE TAKING ADVANTAGE OF YOUR GIFT AND NOT BEING TREATED ACCORDINGLY.

7) What was growing up like? 

HMMMM!.. WELL DAD WAS STRICT, BUT IT WAS FUN, TRAVELLED ALOT, GOT TO EXPERIENCE NEW THINGS. APPARENTLY I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN FUNNY....AND I HAVE ALSO ALWAYS  BEEN GOOD AT MIMICKING  PEOPLE

8) In your opinion, are comedians born or are they made? I.e would you say being funny is a natural ability or can a person learn to be funny? 

I WOULD SAY "BORN" BECAUSE IT HAS TO FLOW NATURALLY AND THAT CAN PROBABLY ONLY HAPPEN WHEN SOMETHING IS INNATE. I DONT KNOW IF BEING FUNNY CAN BE LEARNED PER SAY, BUT I GUESS ONE CAN LEARN TO IMPROVE ON AND DEVELOP WHAT ONE ALREADY HAS..

9) It is known that you speak about 5 different languages including french german and spanish. How did the love for linguistics come about? 

EMMMM,NO GERMAN OH... NOT YET LOL!  I SPEAK HAUSA, IGBO, FRENCH, SPANISH. I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED LANGUAGES AND THE ABILITY TO PICK UP LANGUAGES EASILY IS ANOTHER GIFT I BELIEVE I HAVE BEEN GIVEN. AT A POINT, I HAD STARTED LEARNING ARABIC AND SWAHILI. 

10) WOW! very interesting. please tell us a bit about your fashion sense and style. How do you like to dress and are you much of a trendy person? 

I CALL MINE... "COMFORT CHIC"... I LIKE TO BE CUTE BUT COMFORTABLE... RECENTLY DEVELOPED A LOVE  FOR SNEAKERS, ESPECIALLY CONVERSE ALL STARS.. I AM BUILDING A COLLECTION..AND YES INDEED!!...

11) As a comedian, do you usually have problems with people taking you seriously? 

SOMETIMES!!!! ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO MY OTHER TALENTS LIKE SINGING, PEOPLE ARE QUITE SHOCKED BECAUSE I GUESS THEY CANT SEEM TO RECONCILE THE CHIGUL VOICE WITH CHIOMA THE JAZZ SINGER.... AND (DONT MEAN TO TOOT MY OWN HORN, BUT CHIOMA IS A PRETTY GOOD JAZZ SINGER).....toot toot!!!

12) Lol you seem to have loads of talents - singing, acting, comedy..how do you handle all these?

NNE! DARRIS WHAT IS CALLED 'DIVERSIFICATION OF YA "MAKATE"  AND CHIGUL IS ALL ABOUT THE "MAKATE"  

13) LMAO! I totally 'GATE'ITI...But how do you react if someone tells a bad joke? Do you laugh to be polite?

YEAH!! BECAUSE NO ONE LIKES THE SOUND OF "CRICKETS" LOL

14) Who's your favorite comedian?

AHHHHH. DEM PLENTY OHHHH. BUT IF I HAD TO PICK ONE, I WOULD SAY THE LATE GREAT BERNIE MAC

15) They say Laughter is the best medicine. What do you say?

I CONCUR!.. IT IS ABSOLUTELY THE  BEST MEDICINE AND THE ONLY DRUG I PEDDLE...

16) If you could go back in time to change something about yourself, what would you change.

NOTHING! BECAUSE IT MIGHT AFFECT MY LIFE NOW AND I DONT WANT THAT TO HAPPEN.

17) Are you presently seeing anyone?

NOPE!!!!!

18) what's your idea of an ideal proposal?.

HAVE ALL THE PEOPLE THAT TRULY LOVE ME PRESENT, GET ON THAT ONE GOOD KNEE AND POP THAT QUESTION BABY!!!!

19) Aww lol..How cute!. Are you all about Big weddings or small ones?.

SMALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

20) What 5 tips would you say are essential for living a happy life. 

GOD, LOVE, LAUGHTER, TRUTH AND FORGIVENESS

Thank you very much Chioma, it was nice having you on board. This was definitely one of the best interviews for me. I did enjoy every bit of it and you certainly did that which you know how to do best: Crack my ribs!

On behalf of our readers and sophsinspirations.blogspot.com, we wish you the very best.

until next time guys,
Enjoy the rest of the week.

BEAUTIFUL SCARS!!!!

Hey guys

Happy beautiful Sunday. I hope you all had a lovely weekend? I did myself. As a matter of fact, I wish the weekend could go on forever but a girl must work. Any plans for the new week? Two things for me this week though: Give more and pray more. I haven't been so active with my prayer life of recent and most times when this happens, it affects the best aspect of me. Most especially, I get so disorganized and distracted, which in turn, affects my productivity. So I really need to step that up real good.

I was listening to a sermon on TV yesterday when the preacher referred to God's love as being 'aggressive'. I dint quite understand the aggressive bit of it until I was in the shower this morning when I noticed a scar around the left side of my ribs. I knew I once had an injury there but I dint think it left me a scar.

As I felt and rubbed on it softly, I remembered the incident that led to the scar. It was one of those hot weekends when my brothers and I decided to go swimming with our neighbors. I am far from a good swimmer but I can do well at the shallow end. On that faithful evening however, my brothers and friends decided to set me up on a challenge. I was dared to swim all the way to the deep end and then, return to the shallow end. I was a bit skeptical but then I felt I was up to the task. On getting towards the end of the deep-end, I began to loose balance and panic set in. water got into my mouth. I swallowed some. I couldn’t keep my head above water or my feet on the pool floor. I felt my self gradually sinking, and then, I began screaming as I struggled. My brother who was all the way at the shallow end, rushed towards me, and in attempts to push me up and out of the water, griped me fiercely around my lower waist. Within short intervals of trying to grasp some air, I could feel the passion/aggression with which he used in trying to get me out and at the same time, trying not to drown, from his fingernails digging into my flesh. Luckily for us, I was able to reach the pool stairs after some vigorous movements and we both got out but with a bit of deep scratches which ended up living scars.

We all have scars..maybe not from fights or drowning but from our past. A painful past, a bitter experience, a traumatic episode, a major loss and many more. Some of those scars have caused us sleepless nights, some have caused us pain, sorrows and deep regrets. But some scars my dear are beautiful scars that remind us of God's aggressive love for us..so aggressive that he wouldn't let us go even in the fiercest situations. He's always there in the midst of our struggles holding on to us and trying to make us rise above the storm. Though the pressure might be much but he'll never let us go. Embrace your scars today, because the reason you survived them, is because God loves you so much that he did not and would never let you go.

I hope this inspires anyone going through a hard time. Never forget that you are not alone and God loves you aggressively.

Have a blessed week ahead.

MY BLOGGING BLUNDERS!!!!

Hey guys,

How has your week been so far? I hope we're all meeting our targets and deadlines? I'm pretty far from meeting my target sales for this week but I'm very hopeful because the week started off well. At least, 'I don get alert #Godwin' lol. I hope it ends better than it started though..do I hear an Amen?

Okay so I got a long email from a fellow blog reader, expressing his fascination and admiration for my blog, suggesting that I take it to the next level which I believe would be setting up a personal domain?

Truth is, I am far from the "perfect blogger", that's if there's such a thing as one. But i'm sure you get my drift. If you don't, you will in a minute.

In other to get to the next level or any level in life, there has to be some sort of analysis, most importantly, a 'self analysis' which enables one discover and study his/her mistakes, or the mistakes of those who have gone through similar situations.

I could give you a list of things you should or shouldn't do as a blogger, but seeing as I don't have it all together, I've decided to come from the other end of the spectrum. I will share with you the blunders I have made/i'm making as a blogger so you can learn from them, these are blunders that may or may not have affected the growth of my blog.    


NOT ENOUGH PUBLICITY

Asides Facebook, which is pretty much an automated promotion/publicity, and a little Instagram publicity, I do not publicize enough. I have no twitter handle, can't be bothered with SEO (working on this soon though), hardly bother with any manual promotions, barely send out links or link the blog to other social media, all because it just seems long and feels like I might be bothering people. But I guess publicity is key. You've got to bother people to get them bothered about what you all about.


VERY FEW BLOG ROUNDS

I don't know how Duru and Blogoratti do it. They are probably the kings in this aspect. Lately, I've discovered loads and loads of amazing blogs and I keep discovering more. But the problem is keeping up. I know how many blogs I have discovered from comments left on my blog. I should be doing the same, and so should you. With blogging, being a friendly blog neighbor is very important and shouldn't be overlooked.

NOT SO CONSISTENT

'A good habit is a bad habit if not consistent'. Ever heard of that? Well, I just made that up.
Asides from the busy bee I've become, laziness is one of the things I'm seriously praying against these days. It seems to have really taken a hold of me. I get lazy to think up words to write or flex my fingers but I'm presently working on this by having a topic schedule, mapping out possible blog topics ahead of time and also typing my posts ahead of time if possible.

POOR BLOGGER TO BLOGGER INTERACTION

Oh dear!, this is one of my major blunders. I hardly interact with bloggers via comments on their blogs, on my blog a few times, or emails and that's just #bad behavior. You should interact with your blog readers often, make them feel welcomed and show them you appreciate them.

And those are all my blogging blunders. *whew!*

Have you got any blunders?

DISCOVERING MY NEW SELF!!!

Hey guys,

So I'm we're live on the radio this week with Naija life, on 92.9 kapital FM Abuja, Friday afternoon, 3.30pm prompt. Please tune in for some nice interesting radio series which entails a fun radio drama and only lasts for about 10-12 minutes long. Don't be late guys cos you just might miss it.

Lately, I've been using a simple strategy to help make a few healthy changes in my life and so, I thought to share it with you.

Usually, we tend to make choices, set new goals, make major decisions, meet deadlines, change old habits, make new rules, implement new ideas and face new challenges. But two questions you should ask yourself when taking an important action or decision should be this:

what would my old self do? 

What would my new self do?

I would imagine the best answer to be an action from the 'new self' to take a new step or fly to new heights but then again, I might be wrong so correct me if I am. Take for instance, your old self, whilst in search of a job, would normally sit at home and send out loads and loads of resumes in hopes of getting one positive feedback but nothing ever comes through. However, you discover that by asking questions, your new self would rather go out and network which of course, stands a better chance of yielding a positive result. Now, let's get back to me.

A 'typical me' loves the word 'YES' why?, Because I have a hard time saying 'NO', not just to others, but also to myself.

Recently however, I discovered that saying 'yes' to everything, all the time, was making me more of a people-pleaser and less of myself. On one occasion, I was surpassingly busy with work and had planned that instantly after work, I was just going to head home and hit the sacs being that I was going to get home pretty late from a hectic day. Shortly before the close of work, I got a call from a friend asking if I could go pick up a parcel that had arrived in her absence and needed to be received on her behalf. I knew I was going to be closing late, exhausted from all the day's work, with more work the following day, and yet, I just couldn't get myself to say 'no' as I felt obligated to say otherwise, so I don't com off as being mean or wicked. I set out to pick the parcel and on getting there, it turned out she had sent someone else to pick up the parcel just in case I decided to disappoint her. To make matters worse, the parcel in question were two little makeup kits which had been forgotten at a friend's house over a party weekend. I felt really stupid and disappointed in myself that I had to go all the way, irrespective of the state in which I was and the distance involved, for not even an important document but for a makeup kit. I ended up finding a hard time locating my way back, getting everyone at home worried and having a very short night of sleep. All thanks to saying yes.      
Well, the good news is that 'NO' has been a common response for me in the past few weeks. And guess what? Its pretty easy. Saying No isn't the problem, its how you say it that is. I know that as humans, it’s easy to feel obligated to say yes to things that we’d rather turn down so that we don’t come off as cold, rude, or insulting.

But when done well, saying no can be far from mean, especially when we use the friendly 'no' responses like: 'Not this way' 'Not right now' or 'No thank you'. Its not the 'word' but the 'attitude' with which you are delivering the 'word'.

My old self would rather say 'YES' to the request of shutting down this blog but my new self would say 'No thank you hunnay, you should get one yourself'. :D

What would your new self do?

Have a blessed week ahead :)

A FEW INTRESTING THINGS ABOUT MAY!!!

Hey guys,

Happy new month. Before I dive into the subject matter of the day like I always do, I'd like to tender my sincere apologies for my little hiatus which has been quite reoccurring of late. I wish I had an explanation, but let's just stick with busyness and a bit of laziness. I'm back now though and hope to be a bit more consistent even though I know I've said that before lol. Anyways, April to me seemed pretty fast. It was one of my busiest months. I'd say probably the busiest of the busiest if that makes sense. But hey!, May is here and there are a few interesting facts about this month for me. Let's start with the first shall we?

Remember the music album Shine like gold by Olaedo which I spoke about in a previous post? Well, its official now guys *woop woop*!.

Her first album lunch would be on the 24th of may at 805's Esquire Lounge & Bar 817 Old Kent Road, London SE15 1NX at 6pm sharp. Entry is free. However, you will have to pay £10.00 to get the CD. Please feel free to bring family & friends along with you. The more the merrier. Hope to see you all there and please remember, dulling is a Taboo so don't engage in it *wink* *wink*.

On a second note, I'd be getting into stage two of my book writing process this month. Yeah, I've been working on a book for some time now (officially began in April) and as we know, this is done in stages.

The first stage which was 'finding a voice', involved me writing until I really started feeling and “sounding” like myself. This meant working through the 'trying to sound smart season' and the 'trying to be funny season' and getting into the true voice that will feel authentic and true to the readers. And for this month, I'd be hitting the next stage which is 'finding a subject'. From the look of things and from my little research, the best books ever written, were about nature, childhood or personal life experiences and I see mine heading towards a mix/touch of all three of them but mostly around personal life experiences.

Also, a very good friend of mine, Susan, more like a sister I never had, would be getting a year older this month.

I'm super grateful to God for having known this lady for 6 good years of my life. She's been a major support system, a shoulder, a source of inspiration and an encouragement to me and everyone around her. And If I had to give a detailed description of her heart, I'd probably exhaust this space but I'd stick to one word: Beautiful!. I'm specially wishing you sis, a beautiful year ahead. And if you ever feel old, just remember that I'm growing old along with you. Love you to the moon and back hun...
Okay moving on from the mushy-ness.

The next interesting fact about may is children's day.

If you know me well, you'd know that my love for kids has no bounds. I love them like Duru loves hot chili or better still, Ribenna lol. Most celebrations/festivities are usually not complete without kids for me not to talk of children's day in itself. And no matter how old I grow, I love to keep in touch with childhood memories and retain my view of the world through the eyes of a child. Hence, I love to spend time with them. So, come 27th may, I shall be spending the day with my kids probably the night with them too.

Finally, let's all join hands in thanking God for strength, perseverance and divine favour in miss Soph's life as she'll be moving from one hierarchy to the next at her place of work come worth May-end..can I hear an Amen! Somebody? Lol

God is indeed faithful and only him could have seen me through the hustles and bustles of life. I trust him and I believe that my journey has only begun. He that has started this marvelous work, is more than able to see it through till the end. And on that note, I just want to end this post by saying Thank you lord!.

Enjoy the rest of your week :)