“But, it is impossible. You cannot live up to society’s expectations of you. They don’t know you, they never will, they don’t live with you. They have a perception of what they imagine your life entails. They don’t imagine I go to the loo (or wee or bath) like everyone else. So I don’t try, I learned earlier on that I can never live up to their expectation, I am not perfect. I am completely flawed but then that’s what makes me human”

“I’m not perfect; I have never wanted to be perfect. But they imagine this perfect being with perfect beauty, perfect this and perfect that. No, that isn’t me – that is a figment of their imagination that is so not me”

“I have come into my own a little bit, since getting married because I’m living with a man that basically helps me fly, who helps me be a better version of me, the more laid back version of me. He has helped me deal with all my insecurities, do you understand? When you are with a man that loves you, your flaws and whatever, you know; flaws and all, you grow, you realize you don’t have to be perfect”

“I learnt that it takes Love – a special kind of love for you to be that way. So I have never been too concerned with their imagery or vision or ideas or ideals of how my life should be, because they have never known me”

 -Nike Oshinowo expressing herself in a recent interview with Dammie Amolegbe of HIMAGAZINE. Photo by TY BELLO,MAKE UP-BANKE MESHIDA