"I CAME UP WITH SEVERAL STORYLINES WHILE I WAS YOUNG AS AN ESCAPE MECHANISM AND IT WORKED SO MUCH." - MORAANUGBA.

 NCB: Helloooo.Good evening, how are you doing?

Moranugba: ★Hi. Hi. Hiiiiiiiii,Good eveningggggg.Ayam fainnn, you nkor?

NCB: I'm okay. How did your day, go?

Moranugba:★Adupee.My day went well.How did yours go?

NCB: It was great and productive. What's a Moraaanugba without her signature style of writing?I was really hoping you would use the lexemes of us laymen. Looks like our editor would have to publish a paper titled" A stylistic analysis of Moraaanugba's lexemes as used in her interview with NCB" alongside this interview

Moraanugba: It has become a part of me.

NCB:And we loveeeett

Moraanugba:★Much appreciated.Ouuuuu.Thank youuuuuuuuuuu. 

NCB: Many people know you as Alluring, or Moraanugba and when I got to know that the Moraanugba was not your real name..I was shocked, to be honest. We still understand that Alluring is the name of your brand.bHow did you come about that name?

Moraanugba: The shock eez understandable, fr. Btw, which eez your kwestion referring to? How did I come about Moraanugba? Or ALLURING?

NCB:Oh, I'm sorry for the confusion. Moraanugba, to be precise.

Moraanugba: Eez fainnnn. Ohhkayy. When I was in secondary school I loved names— Yoruba names to be precise. So I named myself different names at different points— Temilade, Shindara, abbl. When I finished secondary school and wanted to open a different Facebook akaunt _(forgot the password to the former one)_, I was stuck on which of the names to pick.So I remembered my regular prayer to God _“God please lemme receive mercy from man and You”_, translated it to Yorùbá and it sounded naisssss so I started using it.nBecame a permanent fixture from that taim.

NCB: Woww! Knowing that there's actually such an interesting backstory to that name makes all the sense.

Moraanugba: ★I know righttttt.

NCB: Fill us in on your actual name, please?

Moraanugba: ★FAITH OLUWASEUN OYEDOKUN.The name on my birth certificate eez *FAITH TOLUWANI OYEDOKUN*, tho.

NCB: Faith, do you need us to do another naming ceremony?

Moraanugba: I din mind.You know, free food.

NCB: We'll discuss that later.

Moraanugba: Wamless.

NCB: If someone came to me and asked me to describe you in a few words, I'd mostly likely use these words ; Confident, Business oriented and Free spirited. Do you think these words are close to describing who you are?

Moraanugba:Am I being stalked? Yeahhh, I know they are.

NCB:Fear not, my lady, thou art not being stalked.

Moranugba: I'll hold you to your word.

NCB: So, do you think my attempt to describe your personality is close to accurate?

Moraanugba: My personality eez kwait complex just as we humans are, however your attempt was an impressive one.

NCB: I for sure know that, but please, do us the honour of introducing you to us.

Moraanugba: suddenly doesn't know how to speak. Well, well, welllllllllllll. My name eez FAITH OLUWASEUN OYEDOKUN, stubborn friends call me FAITH, the normal ones call me MORAANUGBA and sabi people call me ALLURING. Ayam a final year _(omg, this feels soooo good to say, fam)_ student of the DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, OAU. Apart from eating and creating imaginary scenarios, I sell. I sell products (fragrances as well as fashion accessories) via my brand *ALLURING SCENTS AND ACCESSORIES*, I sell and offer services through my design brand *THE INITIATIVE CREATOR* as well as my writing skills and I create under the *moraanugba_antics* brand._“A jack of all trades, master of some.”_, a quote from a friend, btw._mhen, eez getting too long so I would leave the honors to you. Oh, I would love to add the fact that my love for confidence in people eez one of the major reasons I still sell fragrances as well as fashion accessories.

NCB: My Goddd!bSee as talents dey cryyy. That's a lot of things to be. Well done

Moraanugba: To whom much eez given…Thank youuuu.

NCB:Hmm. That's how it is with most confident people. They just want to help others achieve the same.I mean I'm one and I also love doing that through dressmaking .It is apparent that confidence is not a word far from you. What would you say makes you confident?

Moraanugba: I know rightttt. Wait, you make your dresses? They're always sooo pretty and stylish. What makes me confident? Hmmm. A lot of things but the foundation lies in the fact that I believe in myself so much; I love telling myself that ayam not small.The way one believes in God eez the way I also believe in myself. I meannn, even God referred to us as gods and ayave never seen a god with no belief in their self so hereee we are.

NCB: Yhh, it's very important to always remind ourselves of our identity in Christ. We thank God for that. “Alluring” ,If I heard that name mentioned in 2022 , fragrances would immediately come to my mind. Overtime, jewelry and accessories became a part of the brand. And If I can remember correctly, you were also selling data and airtime then too. My question now is when exactly did you start to sell( I'm not referring specifically to any of the above...I'm asking generally)nWhen did you start doing business?

Moraanugba : Yessssss. Ohh, I started selling in secondary school. Started with *Living* ChinChin _(this brand's chin chin tasted soooooo good)_ and *Oselen* ChinChin. Whenever my aunt or grandma visited us, they would give us money and I would use mine to buy a pack of ChinChin to resell to my siblings, neighbours and classmates. Then one day I went to the market with an adult and saw those raw groundnuts in pod— the ones that get boiled and measured with cups. Oh, also used to market liquid soap to shop owners for people interested in getting. So yeah, started selling in secondary school.

NCB: I knew ittt. I just knew that this level of capacity I'm seeing didn't just start. Amazing!

Moraanugba: Thank youuu.

NCB:Permit me to call you a serial entrepreneur. Then,If my guess is right, you ventured into selling fragrances when you got admission into OAU, right? 

Moraanugba: Yeahhhh. Not immediately, tho. I was still focusing on data and all when I gained admission. Twas when we went on strike _(remember the 8 months strike?)_ that I started selling it to my colleagues at work and some people I knew at home.

NCB:Ohh! That strike was a lot, thank God it's in the past now.Why fragrances, though? Looking at your CV, one would have thought you'd continue with edibles since you already started with chinchin.

Moraanugba:★Girl, I know rightttt. Wellllllllll, sentiments won, I guess. Grew up as a shy girl who endured unfair and false critiques from a particular person, it further pecked my inexistent confidence away. However, there was one thing that constantly made me happy — *COOL BREEZE*, the bodyspray, my aunt used to get for me and NIVEA ROLL-ON. The bodyspray eez still one of my favourite, btw. Anywayyy, made me soooooo happy everytaim I wore it to school, people often complimented the fragrance too and it sort of always made me float. Just wanted to recruit others into that sweet feeling. NCB: Whattt? Did I just see shy? Alluring, shy?? What a discovery. That shy girl is far from what we know now and we're happy about that. Oh really, thanks to Cool breeze, we now have the one and only Alluring Scents.

Moraanugba: Amazes me so much, ICL (I Can't Lie).The difference eez soooooo wide. 

NCB: So, how did accessories come to be a part of the brand too?

Moraanugba: An act of rebellion. Wasn't allowed to wear jewelries as a result of the doctrine of the church I grew up in. However, loved it and the feeling it gave was similar to that of fragrances. That confidence boosting feeling. So it just felt right for it to be part. Btw, the goal from the beginning was the two however as a result of funds, started with. 

NCB:It's not that much sha but I just wanted to say that the person that was making those unfair and false critiques no try at all. Please help me tell the person I said so. Anyway, God used them as a blessing to the world sha, because how would we have had Alluring scents.

Moraanugba:★One day I'll tell the person.Thank youuuuuuuuuuu. I know rightttt, it led to something beautiful so we thank God. 

NCB:Moving on with our gist, as we already know, life always has its ups and downs? What were the challenges you faced when you started Alluring scents?

Moraanugba:★Fundsssssss. Idea without money eez stressful. Also, networking with people — even though I wasn't as shy as before, I still maintained a kwayet personality. However, that personality and selling didn't go hand in hand so I had to fully come out of my shell.Took a while before I fully did.

NCB: My dear, I can totally relate. Owo ni keke ihinrere (apologies to the non- Yorubas that will read this interview) I mean money is the engine that keeps things moving literally. Yeah, I'm learning that too, now. I barely market my skills to people only few know I make dresses but I've started speaking up now.

Moraanugba: ★Girlllllll, you get it. Money speaks louder, fr. Btwww, please keep marketing yourself o. You're your biggest marketer. May it be easy.

NCB: Let's talk about your creative side. When did you decide that you'd begin to express yourself through content creation, design and writing?

Moraanugba: ★Hmm. Ayave always been a writer; that was the first thing I knew how to do. I came up with several storylines while I was young as an escape mechanism and it worked so much. Kept writing but for some reasons, couldn't make it a commercial skill. I still haven't. Design? Learned it from a friend sometaim after secondary school and had lots of fun with it. Wasn't consistent with it but I decided to do something about it this year. The content creation thing started with creating content for ALLURING. I loved the way the cam made me feel and I realised I had so much to say. So much to tell. Stalled for a long taim and did lil experiments in the past so I decided to give it a proper shot early this month and so far so good, it has been fun.

NCB: I might have to beg my Editor in Chief for another interview with you. I'm learning a lot about you, fr and I'd love to hear more. One thing that I've noticed and always loved about you is your consistency. I always admire how you always broadcast your brand flyers, how you always advertised yourself and your business shamelessly day in day out. I know it is definitely not an easy thing to do. How have you been able to keep on showing up?

Moraanugba: Thank youuuuuuuuuuu. I would be lying if I said it has been easy all through.There are days I honestly ask myself who sent me. However, I realised that I love selling; not just ALLURING alone. I love coming up with words and captions for stuff to convince people to get stuff. It makes me feel happy. So even though it can get frustrating at taims, doing it makes me feel fulfilled. That feeling of fulfilment makes me try again another day.

NCB:Hmm. As long as we get satisfaction from what we do, it just makes it a lot easier.

Moranugba:★It really does. It does.

NCB:Before we wrap up this interview, let's talk something a little personal

Moranugba;★Why does this sound ominous? Oyaaa.

NCB: I'm personally curious about this question and I'm sure I'm asking the minds of many people too. It's about your hair. When you first shaved it, omo rumours were flying. Ọmọ, I heard thingsss. I'm not going to lie I almost believed some of them. First of all, why did you decide to cut off all your hair? It was really shocking then as it came all of a sudden.

Moraanugba: ★Sort of curious on the _“many things”_. To be honest, it was an impulsive decision. Not entirely impulsive, tho. Was experiencing series of emotions at that taim and needed to do something so I did it. It wasn't even meant to be a long-term thing however I sort of fell in love with it and decided to keep doing it till I get fed up.

NCB: Woww! I no fit impulsively cut my hair o, I go cryyyy, but you're pulling it off, my dear.

Moraanugba: ★I haven't seen someone a haircut doesn't fit, tho. Thank youuuuuuuuuuu.

NCB:Before we call it a day, what tips would you give to anyone who wants to venture into the fragrance business, accessories or any business at all?

Moranugba: I would generalise it; don't do business on vaibs alone _(make sure you learn the required things)_, tek it seriously, market your brand shamelessly and loudly, and do it with whatever God you serve. I used to think this last sentence was a mere one until I started asking God for help concerning my brand, it works a lot. Dazzol. I think that's one thing most young people who are into any kind of business or trade should learn. We need to start treating our businesses like it's some full blown company and not just a side hustle for urgent 2ks.

 NCB: Alright, I hope you enjoyed speaking to us as much as we did? Thank you for heeding our call, thank you for your time. We're looking forward to the next time we'll be having this kind of conversation. Till then, take care.

Moraanugba: ★Eez fainnnnnn. ★I enjoyedddd it too. Thank you soooo much.