Ladies of Delight Blog

Hello lovelies! Trust you are doing amazingly well! Excited much to bring to you this interview series after a while. 

Guess who featured this month!!!

The amazing and inspiring Chisom Ogbummuo. Chisom Ogbummuo is the founder of the Conversation Cafe ,a safe space for people to interact, learn, share and converse on alternative education topics and issues to engender personal and societal development. She is also a UN Ambassador and a film producer.

In this interview,  Chisom takes us through her childhood experiences , her passion for social development and shares with us the process of producing her first and recent movie, HER.

Enjoy guys!

LODF: How would you describe Chisom ? 

Chisom Ogbummuo: Chisom is a sweet , focused, principled and very playful person(Lol). I am a principled person as well as the life of the party!😃

LODF: LOL!  Tell us about growing up. What was growing like for you?

Chisom Ogbummuo:  Growing up was a mix of a lot of things. To start with, it was really fun as I grew up with my extended family. I had older ones that I looked up to, and it was fun watching my elder ones find their path. 

One of my older cousins played volleyball and I watched him play at the stadium. During holidays too, my mum usually made us go for swimming classes, cooking classes and the likes. It was fun!

LODF: Wow, that's interesting. What was your biggest ambition/dream as a child? 

Chisom Ogbummuo: Honestly, I was more of the "sitting on the fence" child, but regarding what I wanted to be, it just changed as the days went by. 

However, I remember vividly a day my dad took me to the bank, and there was a lady I saw and really admired as she looked nice and commanded so much presence, so I just said to myself that I was going to be a banker😂.

  I also wanted to be a journalist, because I really admired media moguls like Oprah Winfrey, Adesuwa Onyenokwe and others anytime I sat down to watch the TV. 

LODF: Amazing😄 So You have led a number of initiatives relating to social issues and have been actively involved in the promotion of the SDG Goals, what has been the motivation?

Chisom Ogbummuo: I am deeply inspired by my environment and the quest to become better and do more. I know I do not want to remain in the position that I am , so, for me to move forward, every other person has to move forward. 

Again, the experiences I had growing up are like my biggest motivating factors to the route I chose. Education, Girl Child Advocacy and living in a conducive environment are all dear to me.

LODF: You own a platform, The Conversation Cafe, what influenced the birthing of the safe space like you describe it?

Chisom Ogbummuo: This also brings  me to talk about environment. In a country like Nigeria where there are a lot of human capital resources  and we're passive about a lot of things, birthing the Conversation Cafe was out of the passion as a Nigerian who wants to express herself. 

It was birthed to give access to people ,a safe space where people can come together and communicate on gender and social development issues either through conversations or activities . The overall goal is to foster social development.

LODF: Is the dream for Africa or do you envision it going beyond the confines of Africa?

Chisom Ogbummuo: It is beyond Nigeria or  Africa but just like the UN(United Nations) says, "whatever it is you are doing, make sure you focus on your locality. So firstly, we start with Nigeria.

LODF:  Yeahhh, you produced a movie recently, HER ! Such a big move! What inspired the story?

Chisom Ogbummuo: Yayyy😊 First of, by the grace of God, I am a creative person so I had  always known I was going to create a body of art , but I just didn't know what it was going to be. 

However, a week before I traveled to the United States for a period of months, I had an encounter with a teenage girl that was on her period and she didn't have a sanitary pad.

 It was just too much for me to bear, of course I knew such things existed but I didn't know it was so close to me. That was one motivation for me, together with the fact that prior to that time, having the girl child equipped with the needed resources for maintenance of her health is something very dear to my heart.

LODF: Wow. So what were there challenges in the course of  production? How did you overcome them?

Chisom Ogbummuo: There were a couple of challenges. Firstly, this was my first movie, so there was the challenge of lack of experience in a way. There are a couple of things that I know now that I didn't know then. 

Of course, I must say that the team did an amazing job as we put our 100 into it, but if I knew somethings I know now, it would have been much better. 

There was also the financing challenge. Catering for  the cast and the crew members. I was able to overcome by God's grace and I also believe that whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well. Resilience also helped.

LODF: That's great! What  does success mean to you?

Chisom Ogbummuo: Success simply means Peace to me. I can't trade it for anything.

LODF: That's profound! Is there someone you look up to? A mentor, a role model?

Chisom Ogbummuo: There are people I look up to. I will start from bottom top. Every girl child in her classroom, her room, aspiring to become better inspire me because I believe we are all on the same journey.

 My parents are also my biggest inspiration as they have inspiring stories and everyday I pick new things from them. 

In the sense of people we call mentor, there are a couple of people I admire and look up to. My aunty, Adesuwa Onyenokwe, Malala, Michelle Obama.

LODF:  Do you think the common hashtag #womensupportingwomen is just a cliche and there's really nothing as such?  How do you think women can support one another?

Chisom Ogbummuo: This "women supporting women" has existed even before we were born. There are a lot of instances to cite but I will mention one, which is the biblical story of Ruth and Naomi. 

Imagine what would have happened if they didn't support each other, the power that originated because the two of them came together regardless of Ruth losing her husband and Naomi, her son. 

So when we all realise the power that comes with women supporting each other, we won't cease to.

LODF: Thank you! What do you do at your leisure?

Chisom Ogbummuo: I eat, I play , I sleep. Just being joyful and enjoying the moment.

LODF: What's your favourite quote?

Chisom Ogbummuo: Well I've got a couple of them. That include: Nobody can pressure you without your permission. I also believe that we need to stop belittling ourselves. 

One of my mentors also tells me , "It's not what you don't have that limits you, it's what you have that you don't use".

LODF:  If your life was an hash tag, what would it be?

Chisom Ogbummuo: Hahaha😀 Okayyy! That will be #SoldOutForChrist.

LODF: Hmmm! Any final word(s)for our readers?

Chisom Ogbummuo: That will be , for everytime and season you are in, regardless of how difficult or easy it is, keep living and hold on to your truth and what is most treasurable for you.

 For me, Christ is the  most treasurable, so through thick and thin , I am constantly learning to lean on Him because He has given me rest on all sides.

LODF: Wow Wow Wow!  This is huge! Thank you so much for your time ma'am! We are honoured.

Chisom Ogbummuo: Thanks for having me.

That's it people! Trust you enjoyed every bit of it! Do well to share your comments in the comment box.

Cheers to a great weekend!