Oluwamayowa translates to “God has brought joy” in Yoruba and this is something I like to think I do with my work- whether it’s charting the stories of Nigerian creatives and entrepreneurs on Overnight Success and My First Million, or adding my quota to the male podcast industrial complex on Submarine and A Roach.

The goal is always to bring joy by sometimes documenting the undocumented, demystifying the complex, and creating a platform through which people can gain knowledge and a surer perspective of the contemporary.

I’m a Nigerian journalist, media entrepreneur, and lawyer. I currently work as the editor-in-chief of Culture Custodian- a popular culture website with varied digital assets that reach a significant (read “ginormous”) audience in the West African youth demographic. I also work as a lawyer at the Creative Law Practice. 

I co-founded Culture Custodian while studying Law at the University of Kent. After that, I attended the Nigerian Law School so I could qualify as a lawyer and send threatening letters to my client’s opps. In my role at Culture Custodian, I have held a ringside view of the Nigerian creative renaissance and helped document this growth. I have interviewed a range of actors across the popular culture divide. They include Davido, Daniel Kaluuya, Melina Matsoukas,  Alex Iwobi, NSG, Simi, Sarz, Lojay, Boj, Darey, Kah-Lo, Magicsticks, Coodie, and Chike, and a host of others. I also produce Afrobeats Decoded- our series of lyric breakdowns of your favorite Afrobeats songs.

I was shortlisted for the BME Young Columnist of the Year award in 2014 and also came 3rd in the My Corruption Free Africa writing competition in 2015. My writing has been featured in The Culture Trip, The Republic, The Continent, Stears, and the Nigerian Guardian. In 2021, YNaija put me on a list of the 100 most influential people in Nigerian media. Chude Jideonwo has also named me on his list of most interesting people in the culture two years in a row- 2022 and 2023. Some people have also thought I know enough to be one of those talking heads on radio and TV.

In my spare time, you can catch me listening to a podcast, supporting Mikel Arteta’s Red Army, or compiling evidence to validate my theory that Mad Men is the greatest show to grace our television screens.