Life With Shukky Ep 14
...everything eventually adds up at the end
The Journey
I often say that I have paid my dues to get to where I am today, not in a bid to toot my horn. Still, instead as a way of showing the ones coming behind me that my life might seem put together now, but there was a time it wasn’t and I had to put in the work to get here, which isn’t even my destination.
Sometime this month, I had a call with a founder, and that call was a reminder of how much work I have put into my journey of becoming The Sukurat Lasaki. And to think, I almost canceled at the last minute because I was tired and wasn’t in the mood to yap.
I have had quite an interesting journey if I do say so myself. During my second year at Uni, a friend at the time had a vision to build a digital agency, and his approach to it was to start a blog (blogging was a thing in those years). He asked me if I wanted to join him as a fashion blogger. As you already know I am a fashion girl and I like to write, even though I have never done it before, I jumped on it. Before then, I read several fashion blogs, so I knew what the fashion corner of a blog should look like. I started fashion blogging anonymously because I was unsure and scared if people would like it. In no time, the traffic on the blog came mainly from people who enjoyed reading the fashion corner, and eventually, my friends were able to convince me to reveal my identity. I enjoyed doing it, got popular within my school for it, and kept doing it for years till life got busier and it gradually faded away. I also gave fashion styling a shot, again I love fashion and just wanted to explore my options.
I found joy in styling friends and family for special occasions and I did it for free and got lots of compliments and advice from people to start a career in fashion styling. I remember following Yolanda Okereke (a renowned stylist) on Instagram years ago because I loved and appreciated her work and hoped to learn from her one day. Fast forward to 2020, during the heat of COVID-19, I thought it was a good time to revisit blogging but this time do it differently. I started my blog, curating work wears, and owanbe looks, taking pictures, and posting on my blog with interesting writeups analyzing the look. Anyway, I couldn’t keep up because I had a very demanding job and I was building my career.
As much as people around me thought I could make money out of my passion, I didn’t exactly feel that way. I didn’t want to do fashion full-time, if at all I were a fashion entrepreneur, I wanted it as a side hustle. I majored in Animal biotechnology at Uni and I was so intrigued that I wanted a career in biotechnology. I researched a lot about biotech firms/labs in the country that year but I gave up when it looked like I wasn’t going to make money anytime soon 🌝. I am a firstborn daughter so it was very important to me to get a good-paying job or at least one that had prospects.
Fast forward, I found myself in the International trade department of a bank. Right from day 1, I knew I didn’t have a future there, however, I also knew I had to excel there regardless. I put in the work, I gave it my all, you would think I had a vision to become a renowned trade officer in 10 years. In my books, mediocrity isn’t a word so what is worth doing at all is worth doing well. I did so well that my bosses couldn’t make sense of it when I decided to move to tech.
I stumbled on tech not like I followed the bandwagon. I was a trade officer keen on making a difference while at it and got an opportunity to automate a process. I took the task to heart and while at it, the product manager I was working with said “You’d make a great Product manager” and that was the beginning of today…
I found my purpose, I settled with building a career in Products and embracing fashion as my passion. After years of pouring into growing my career, in 2024 after resuming a job I got poached to do, I got the validation I needed that I was doing something right with my career. However, something was missing, I had suppressed my passion to grow my career. So I decided it was time to build a personal brand. Show the world what Sukurat Lasaki is outside of being a career woman.
That journey birthed this Newsletter, led to the rebirth of my love for reading, and put the spotlight on fashion again. So imagine the look on my face when the founder said I checked you out online and saw you had two different worlds, the Sukurat Lasaki on LinkedIn is different from the one on Instagram. I felt seen, it felt like a mission accomplished. Co-existing beautifully in my different worlds. I did pay my dues to be the Sukurat Lasaki you see when you search on Google and the journey hasn’t ended, it’s not a sprint.
February in lines
I have worked full-time on-site since the start of the year and I didn’t believe I could survive for this long, the last time I did was H1 2022. Nobody tells you that it gets tougher as you climb the corporate ladder, because now you are in the position to answer the questions you were asking someone years ago.
I ticked off major boxes in February, got emotional and said to myself “I am living in answered prayers”. 2025 is the year I turn 30 and it just feels surreal that God chose this year to check some boxes. February was me finishing up the stuff I started in January and managing to stay afloat from the shege work is showing me. I just want to wrap it up, I’m tired of waking up with tired eyes day in and day out. I’m just a girl abeg, I deserve pampering, only that I am too proud to allow poverty to win🥴 so a girl gonna do what a gonna do to fight that ugly head called poverty.
Randoms
I started reading again, as you know I took a forceful break last month. I completed Only Big Bumbum Matters Tomorrow by Damilare Kuku and the realization that although the book is fiction, the story is a true representation of the life of an average female in Nigeria over the years didn’t sit well with my emotions. Anyway, Damilare made it bearable with her sarcastic storytelling tone which I love.
I am super pumped for the 2025 LWS Children’s Day party. Our sponsorship memo is ready to be shared. We have a meeting with the community leader of the community we’re visiting next weekend, and I’m so glad to see everything falling into place. I must confess that I felt some kind of way when my people said we must have a social media presence. I felt like a mother trying to shield her baby from wagging tongues and wicked hearts. This project wasn’t birthed to show off or all that stuff, I just felt every child deserves to experience the joy and love that comes with children’s day. I wanted a Children’s Day for all, but I agree that for sustainability and continuity's sake, a social media presence is necessary. I promised to share updates here because you all make this space feel safe. So allow me to ask for a favor, please follow our Instagram page.
I felt the need to share the surface level of my journey, just maybe it encourages someone out there, to keep at it, and be diligent while at it with your best foot forward always, everything adds up in the end I promise!
I had a project that never saw the light of day “Chitchat with Shukky” It was birthed for young ladies who needed guidance and reassurance as they journeyed life. I’m putting this here because I’m considering a rebirth and I tend to do things once I announce because of shame 🙈.
Cheers!
Shukky (Chief storyteller LWS)