Meet Feyintoluwa Ekisola

We recently connected with Feyintoluwa Ekisola and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Feyintoluwa , really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?

Honestly, God. We’re in a weird time where Christianity is equated with right wing conservatism so I don’t often speak about my relationship with my God and the hard lessons that I’ve learned in stepping away from His/Their/Her path. After graduating high school I took a year off. I kept auditioning and getting cast in local shows trying to find a way to take the leap of faith over to New York City. My parents begged me to go to college and I did to make them happy, but honestly college made me miserable and I strayed pretty far away from my beliefs and convictions trying to fit in with the crowd. When I was connected to my church and trying to get to know this entity that is God. What makes Him tick through the stories in the Bible, who He says He is, who others say He is. That’s when I was in full flow and alignment. When I was doing things for others I always found myself unhappy and outside of my purpose. Thank God I was able to make the most of it, but my purpose has always been in God and his purpose for me and I believe that is to be a light in the darkness.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Hi! My name is Feyintoluwa Oluwabusola Ekisola, Tolu for short. I am an actor and educator in the Twin Cities area. What brings me joy lately is the development of my television network, The Wakeup Channel. At this point in my career I am trying to build up my reputation as a strong and reliable actor, producer, and community advocate. This means putting my time and energy into auditioning, writing grants/proposals, and organizing. Right now, The Wakeup Channel is a creative space on Instagram for me to share my work as an actor, my thoughts on the state of world, advocacy, and the arts. In 20 years, I hope that TWC will come to life with a fully fledged broadcast station that brings families together with stories of African history, culture, and modern day experiences keeping people informed and entertained. I’m trying to follow in my dad’s footsteps with that. He founded the first independent radio broadcast station in Nigeria. I’ve always found that Americans are curious about African culture and I see it as a creative opportunity to bring that knowledge forward.

Secondly, my non-profit CAARE (The Center for Advocacy, Advancement, and Resources for Empowerment) collected thousands of items that need to be washed, sorted, and then offered to members of the community in need during the winter. We’re always looking for volunteers, so if you are a reader from Minneapolis or St. Paul, MN and you are passionate about housing equity, environmental justice, and/or the decriminalization of Black and Indigenous peoples then this is a great, low stakes opportunity for you to get involved in your community!

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

My mentors and advocates made my life 10x easier. That’s the advice I give to every budding artists. Find a great mentor whose life and career mirrors your goals. Do your due diligence to make sure that they are looking out for your best interests. Unfortunately, there are sharks out there who want to take advantage of young artists. Set a boundary at the appearance of the first red flag. Notice how they react to a boundary. If they get angry or in a huff then I suggest you move on. Their interest may have been more self serving than for your betterment.

Okay, so that’s the scary part of the industry. On a more positive note, the skills that really helped me along were a good attitude, curiosity and a passion for what I do.

A good attitude brought me 3/4ths of the way to my goals. I get along with people. I’m generally well liked. I’m easy going and personable and I work hard which makes me a great person to have in the room. I’m not perfect, I can’t say I always have a perfectly positive attitude, but this industry is about the positive relationships you build with those around you. Having a reputation as someone difficult or hard to work with can make it harder for you to succeed no matter how talented. Now I will say that sometimes “difficult” and “hard to work with” are code words for others conscious or unconscious biases, underlying racism, misogyny, ableism, or phobias, but my advice to any artist is to walk in integrity and do your best to stay grounded. You have no control over another person’s perception of you.

Finally, passion keeps me going when discipline and hard work fails. You can work so hard and be the most disciplined person in the room and still not get the role or opportunity. My “why”, my passion for the arts and advocacy is what keeps me going when I face rejection which is any artists norm. Develop a strong and grounded “why”.

What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?

Deciding to let go of certain disciplines that don’t serve me anymore has been a difficult journey as I get older. I’m on a teeter-totter with dance. I grew up dancing and it’s still one of my favorite things to do, but the girls who have been dancing since they were in diapers are leaps and bounds (pun intended) more nuanced in the field than I am now. Learning to let go has been difficult.

I’m not sure that I’ve figured out a way to overcome this yet. I keep showing up for dance calls. I keep a good attitude, but soon perhaps I will accept that I’ve been able to incorporate what I know and the more technical parts, the parts that are actually someone’s job (e.g ballerina) no longer have to be a core element of my own artistic practice. That’s a helpful thought today.

I do tend to be hard on myself, so I will let directors and casting agents be the judge of my work not my ego or self doubt.

I do love what I do whole heartedly. I’m so grateful to have opportunities to do it every day. It’s a practice of accountability and self assurance being an artist. Thank you to my supportive family, friends, and mentors for pushing me forward and believing in my work.

Thank you for spending some time with me today!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.toluekisola.com and www.madewithcaare.org
• Instagram: @thewakupchannel and @madewithcaare
• Linkedin: Feyintoluwa Ekisola
• Twitter: toluekisola

Image Credits

Logo by Nick Exum Art and Brielle Deshee.