We were lucky to catch up with Adaihu Ononuju recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Adaihu, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
Resilience. It is hard for me to think of myself as resilient. However, sometimes I do have to take a step back and realize that I am. After all, I’ve chosen a path in life that is anything but clear. As someone born into poverty, one would think that I would choose a more stable career path. A path that would cause me less anxiety. A path that is guaranteed to be lucrative.
It could’ve been really simple, go to college, get a student loan if necessary, get my BSN ( bachelors in nursing), complete my clinicals, get a job working as a nurse, pay off my loans, buy a house….simple. Clean and cut.
But I chose not to. I chose to become a model. I think that is because, I wanted to, obviously, but there is so much proof that one can do the thing that they love, and still survive. Better yet, they can use the things that they love doing to survive. There are so many people who have chosen the path of the black sheep and have made it through. Those same people impact our society for the better.
And I am proof to myself that it is possible to accomplish a difficult goal despite the odds.
I have overcome a lot throughout my short period in this world. Throughout all of those intense moments, I have chosen to smile, to be understanding, to be receptive to knowledge, to combat negative bs. I’ve chosen light over darkness, Or better yet, I’ve chosen balance, equilibrium if you will.
I see how beautiful the world is and can be, and I guess that energizes me to jump over an obstacle or two.
So overall I get my resilience, from my need to live a beautiful life and I use some of the people in our world who have overcome adversity as motivation.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I am a full-time model, lucrative no, but getting there yes. I used to go to school for nursing but I gave all of that up so I could use all of my time and energy for the sake of modeling. I can keep my cozy roof over my head by doing delivery services on a bike. All of my money goes into my rent and modeling investments. Recently I was signed to a New York agency, Marz Management.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Although the journey is far from over, I think my intellect, athleticism, and optimism. I would advise people to be aware of themselves the good, the bad, and the mundane, and know how to differentiate between necessary and unnecessary pain.
If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?
There is, I am working tooth and nail to make sustainable money from my modeling career. The investments are difficult to make, and I feel like I’m running out of time, but I’m still kicking.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://adaihuononuju.squarespace.com
- Instagram: @adaihu_o
Image Credits
Emiliano, Jum, Josh, Trevony, Myron
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
