Meet Obatola Layiwola

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Obatola Layiwola a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Obatola, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.
In 2025, I began designing and fabricating bicycles under the guidance of Steve McGuire, a professor at the University of Iowa and founder of the Design, Build, Ride program, a top handmade bicycle curriculum nationally and internationally, where we collaborate with students across several departments, including mechanical engineering and physics, to solve technical fabrication challenges. Under Steve’s tutelage, I have learned the value of interdisciplinary collaboration in solving real-world problems, and the art and science of Tungsten arc welding, AutoCAD drafting, and metal fabrication.

My digital design background has further enriched this experience, as I document my processes in navigating the technicalities of fabrication and engineering. By the end of this semester, eight other students and I will have designed and built custom bicycles—bikes that we will use to commute across campus, Iowa City, and eventually Iceland, where we will contribute to the upcoming Iceland Global Education Initiative.

Additionally, I serve as an art juror for the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards for the Iowa and Midwest regions, and occasionally contribute to non-profits through runway modeling shows.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
Since I was a teenager, I have continually engaged with the arts and humanities. A recent highlight is my contribution to the Fall 2025 Paper Engineering in Art, Science, and Education exhibit at the University of Iowa’s Main Library Gallery, where I collaborated with the Digital Scholarship & Publishing Studio (DSPS) team:  Matthew Butler, DSPS senior developer, and Alyssa Varner, DSPS creative coordinator, to design an interactive screen merging video production, 3D design, User Experience, and software development. The project challenged me to integrate multiple skill sets into a single cohesive user experience, ultimately making me a more adaptable and resilient designer. Under the mentorship of Donna Brooks, DSPS interim director, and Anita Jung, professor of printmaking, I have produced several short-format artist spotlight videos in collaboration with the Stanley Museum of Art. Additionally, I used my multimedia skillset to create a promotional video for the DSPS Summer Fellowship Program and mentored a DSPS summer fellow, which strengthened my interpersonal skills and broadened my understanding of interdisciplinary research.

My journey extends beyond the university as well, as I volunteered with Habitat for Humanity this fall, alongside Design faculty members Serina Sulentic and Suzanne Bradley, to help build affordable homes for underserved communities—families and minorities who face housing barriers through hands-on construction projects in the community. Learning how to build while contributing to initiatives like these adds to my design repertoire and reminds me of the tangible impact design, labor, and teamwork can have on the community.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Design thinking, emotional intelligence, and resilience—hands down. Those three skills take the cake.

As a bonus, I shared something similar in a 2022 Dakota State University Career Services alumni feature: Never stop learning; the end is just another beginning. I’ve worked and studied at the same university for nearly two years, and I still work on projects that make me feel like a freshman—that’s my metric for growth.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
Always. I’m open to collaborating with anyone who brings good intentions, thoughtful ideas, and effective systems—any effort that makes the world more enjoyable and equitable.

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