Thursday, August 26, 2010

TARI EKIYOR : AN INTERVIEW




“Growing up, I was never the girl with long flowing hair, who got the best grades at school and everyone liked and wanted to hang around.”

At that first line I was hooked!

The above quote is from an article called “The Making of Tari Ekiyor” written for the entertainment website Bellanaija.com by the writer of the same name, that article was my first encounter with the force of nature that is Tari Ekiyor. The honesty and sincerity of that piece was unbelievable and as I read every line I cringed inwardly at the way she laid herself bare for audiences whom she had never seen to rip apart. We all have our embarrassing adolescent stories that we would rather forget but to see someone not only reliving those experiences but relating them on such an unimaginable scale was beyond my comprehension.

Blogger, columnist, screenwriter, media content developer, Tari Ekiyor wears many hats and on a sunny Sunday afternoon at Café Royale over glazed doughnuts and strawberry margaritas we dished on life, love and lipstick.

Her writing career started with What’s New Magazine, after which she then put together a portfolio of her articles and shopped them round to several media houses, they all loved her work but unfortunately were not willing to publish. In the meantime she busied herself with projects such as ‘Dragon’s Den Nigeria’ and ‘The Apprentice Africa’ and is the screenwriter behind the animated Youtube sensation ‘The O Twins’. She also produced the radio show ‘The How-To Class’ on Top Radio 90.9.

She started her blog, tariere.blogspot.com while waiting in an office a couple of years ago, but due to pressures from work was very infrequent with posts. On hiatus however in August 2009 she decided to concentrate on developing her blog content and within a very short time she had gained an immensely popular following. Its success propelled her to seek out other projects which culminated in a weekly column on bellanaija.com, 360nobs.com and ayakaonline.com and also as a contributor in the Elan section of 234next newspaper.

INCLUSION OF HER PERSONAL LIFE INTO HER ARTICLES
“I am really freaked out by how much of my personal life I put into my articles. You know the Bella Naija articles come out every Wednesday and most Tuesday nights I’m counting down till the next morning, thinking how will people react to this? What will they say? What kind of person will they think I am? By Thursday, it’s all over, my life has been dissected by faceless readers and it’s on to the next one. I learned that these things are fleeting and being able to put down my experiences and share them with people on such a public medium has strengthened me beyond belief. It has made me more confident in whom I am because I have laid everything bare, I basically have nothing to hide from anyone, and my whole life is an open book. I personally think it gives me an edge because nobody can use my past as ammunition to hurt me.”

BALANCING CHRISTIANITY AND SEXUALITY
“I wrote an article once where I mentioned sex as a sideline, it was not related to the theme of what I was writing about at all and someone commented on it, saying they were very disappointed in the fact that I profess to be a Christian and I can talk about engaging in sexual activity. I was very hurt by that comment because the person refused to view my article as a whole and focus on the journey within, rather that person chose to highlight a part of the article that was in no way important and draw attention to it in a very negative light.

My Christianity is not defined by whether I’m having sex or not, it is defined by my relationship with God and with the people around me so why someone would choose to tie these two things in completely baffles me. I am celibate right now and have been for a while because I have chosen to explore this path in making a deeper connection with myself and in my relationship with God, which I know I can’t reach while being sexually active outside marriage.”

HER GROWING REPUTATION AS A RELATIONSHIP EXPERT
I don’t think of myself as a relationship expert, that whole thing started because I did a series of articles in my column S.I.R. (Strong, Independent & Relevant) on 360nobs.com where I basically gave labels to the different levels of relationships between men and women and to my surprise there was a lot of positive feedback. The things I write about are culled from personal experiences, therefore every label I talked about; the scrobo, the booty call, the friend with benefits, the side chick, the main squeeze; I’ve lived through, and I was merely recounting the lessons I’d learned from having gone through them. Therefore I’m not an expert in any sense, I’m still learning myself, still experiencing.

On this note I put down my pen, shut my notebook and I and Tari launched into a proper gossip and amebo fest which was fortunately off the record. After an afternoon with Tari Ekiyor, I can authoritatively say that I found her to be a beautiful person both inside and out and extremely friendly with an infectious personality. Her personal journey has been shared by thousands of people and has also become theirs too and as she counts down to Wednesday mornings when another part of her would be laid bare, she doesn’t do it alone.
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13 comments

  1. Yeah I think she is a great Person *just frm reading her blog* and definitely a great writer. Kudos to both of you! x

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  2. TWP you are really pretty! i like this pic much better. As for Tari, well she's a breath of fresh air...and i'm glad u did this piece on her!

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  3. Tari really rocks, i follow her and i must say am quite appreciative of the way she tells her stories, straight laced, and can pack a mean punch sometimes too...Go Tari.. you rock!!!!!

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  4. Thanks you guys! She was a fabulous interview subject, definitely someone that practices what she preaches.

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  5. n they r both QC gals.....I lov u both. n ur blogs.

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  6. I read her blog like everyday!!! I love how effortlessly smart she comes off in her articles as well as in this interview. God Job Daks! great Interview

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  7. What a great snippet into her mind. I can totally relate to her dealing with christianity and sexuality. I've found that people judge you to a whole other if you engage in sex outside marriage but we're not all righteous either. body no be wood. I'm also with her on that vow of celibacy, I think it's been good for me.

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  8. Go QC gals! LOL! iFollow and iLove both blogs!

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  9. I love Tari, I read The Making of Tari Ekiyor on BN and I was amazed by her honesty, I don't know If I'd have the courage to open myself over and over again, and there were some stupid commentators that I just wanted to slap,

    I think I fell in love with her more when she spent her birthday in kirikiri with the female inmates, THAT is selfless

    Good Job Daks

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  10. Tari tari tari....wat can I say, I tell her over and over again that she is a rear gem,
    She knws her stuff and she got style. Meeting u babe was awesome, keep keeping on!

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  11. Congrats on your piece in next, this interview with Tari is awesome. I saw her modelling some clothes in the TW or was it Genevieve mag? She's def going places. I love reading her articles on BN.

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  12. I am not even a naija girl.im from uganda but i just started following her because i relate to her really easily. mbabaziannet.blogspot.com

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