1. Who are you and what makes you cool?
My name is Ebube Emodi; most of my friends call me Bube or Boobs.
I'm currently in my final year of Law at the University of Exeter, as well as a Creative Director at E|E Events, an events management company that I started with my sister, Emma.
2. Where/why/how/when did start?
I guess it's fair to say that we both started planning events in High School; coincidentally both of us were Social Prefects (for me, this was from 2011-12). This "hobby" continued when I started going to school in England, and it was my 18th and her 21st birthday that made me realise I really loved planning events and had so much potential to be good at it. So in November 2014, we decided to make it official. I created our logo
and the website, which was so much fun to do... and we thought the name "E|E Events" was the best representation of our shared passion, simply because it stood for "Ebube & Emma" lol, and it was also my initials as well as hers. A few people thought it sounded a little cheesy but I still think it's so perfect. Genuinely don't see it ever changing, even when we get super big by God's grace.
3. Where do you hope to get?
I find it really hard to talk about the plans I have for E|E Events, plus, I guess I don't want to jinx it :P So without giving away too much, although I'm very grateful for where I am ATM, I'm also aware that there's a tremendous amount to be learnt, especially from the very best in the industry. So I'd love to work with some of these professionals, in the hope that these experiences would inform my role at the company as it continues to grow. I also hope that I'm able to bring fresh, innovative creations to the events industry, particularly in Nigeria. So many people have started doing incredible things, and it's so exciting to see, so I hope to become one of these game changers in the near future.
4. What challenges have you faced/are you facing and how did you overcome them/hope to overcome them?
I think the biggest challenge that's come with starting my own thing has been getting some people to take it seriously. It's very easy to sense when people doubt your abilities, and a lot of them can't help it tbh, but that's not for me to concern myself with. Thankfully, I am getting me to the point where my work now speaks for itself. So rather than focus on what anyone thinks I cannot do, the only way I overcome this is by staying humble and accepting that whilst I have this amazing talent as well as a lot of potential to succeed, there's always something new to learn or improve upon, for the next client's benefit. Most importantly, I try to never lose sight of my goals and the bigger picture, and I'll never stop working towards them. Anyone who knows me knows that I literally have the craziest imagination,
and the same applies to my baby, E|E, so the excitement that comes from thinking about where I believe I'm going get some day is what really keeps me going.
5. Do you think any of your challenges relate to being a women? If so how do you think we can prevent other women from facing similar obstacles?
I'm not sure if this challenge relates to me being a woman, probably not. But I'm still Nigerian, still black, and also still a woman - so to a very large extent, many other challenges exist in light of these realities - however, I like to think that I'm privileged to live in a time were, although very little, some progress has been made with regards to women, our status in society, opportunities available to us etc. So the only advice I have to anyone in a similar position is: just do your thing, do it well and keep doing better than last time, so as to make your mark! This has made it relatively easy for some of the people in my life to fall in line, especially my parents and their support means everything to me. So I really just plan to take advantage of the fact that women don't have a glass ceiling per se in this field, plus it's a female-dominated industry, which is a great thing I guess?... nonetheless, the limitations placed on us as women should never make us lose sight of what we know we're 150% capable of achieving, however long it takes, and the same should apply for any young lady hoping to make her mark as well! :)
