Dami is a media associate at Eden Life. When she’s not making stuff happen in the Growth Team, you can find her taking extremely beautiful photos of food and restaurants.
What’s your name?
My name is Oluwadamilola Bankole.
What do you do?
I am a Media Associate at Eden Life
What does a Media Associate do?
Well, my role is kind of a generalist role, but I basically produce the videos, the photos and most of the creatives that go out on our app and social media pages. Things like our food pictures, the weekly menu etc.
We have a food production unit that needs photos every month. I’m in charge of making sure we have pictures of all the meals we’re serving and upload them to the app so customers can see what the meals they’re picking look like.
I also direct some of the videos that we shoot for ads and I work with the content team to create content for our social media channels.
Can you walk me through a regular shoot day?
Okay. Whether it’s videos or photos we want to produce, we start with a shot list. This shot list is a summary of everything we want to do; what angles we want to shoot from, the things and people we want to shoot, the props we need for the shoot and things like that. If it’s just meals we want to shoot, we have a sheet where we list all the meals and combos that we have to shoot.
After that, we get the cameras, I check if they’re charged and ready to go. I also ensure that the other media associate, Promise, is up to date on what needs to be done. Promise is a videographer and photographer so we always work together. If it’s a video with people, I invite them to a short virtual meeting and give them a rundown of what we plan to do before sharing the script.
That seems like fun. What did you do before becoming a Media Associate?
That’s a very long story. I’ll try to keep it short. I always thought I wasn’t going to find a job and end up as an entrepreneur. When I was in my 4th year of school, I knew I wasn’t going to work with my degree. I studied Quantity Surveying at UNILAG and it just wasn’t for me. I never really wanted to study that.
Before that, I had already studied Electrical Engineering at the National Diploma Level. I didn’t want that either. I tried to like Quantity Surveying too but it just wasn’t working for me. I knew I wouldn’t be a surveyor so I turned to something I had a passion for, food. I became a food vendor.
Wow
Yes. I was always cooking for my friends, I had an oven and a big apartment space so I decided to start a food business.
Interesting. How did that go?
It went well. If you check my old tweets from way back, you’d see a lot of food pictures that I used to advertise my business. I used to be like “Come and buy this, come and buy that.” I’m cringing hard right now.
After that, I started baking cakes. I made really good cakes. I was doing that on a very low scale; 2 customers a day, 5-7 a week and then special orders during parties and events.
The business wasn’t so profitable and I needed something to give me enough money to stay in Lagos because I didn’t want to go back home to Ogun State after graduation. So I got a job in a lingerie store on the Island. We sold female underwear and I was managing the store. Then Covid-19 happened.
What changed?
I had to go back home since I had graduated. Naturally, the business stopped and I lost my job.
That’s Sad.
Yes. I guess. But it turned out fine.
How so?
During the lockdown, I spent most of my time looking at food pages and just food content generally. That’s how I discovered food photography. It caught my interest as a career option and I just went into the rabbit hole. I was researching how to become one, how they made money, etc.
What did you do next?
I decided to take it up as a hobby and started learning. I watched tons of youtube videos and took a few courses. When I came back to Lagos, I threw myself into food photography proper.
For any meal I made, I would take fire pictures with my Iphone 7 and just share them on my Instagram. My friends and followers would be like “Oh Yummy, This looks nice.” So that gave me a lot of validation that I was on the right path.
That year, I wanted to go for NYSC but they posted me to Borno. I just decided to skip it and find another job while I continued with my hobby.
NYSC in Borno is wild. Did you find a job?
I spoke to a friend that had a store in computer village where he sold phones. I started helping him out with customer service. Customers would always call in and I would attend to them. I was taking an average of 30 to 40 calls per day and it was stressful.
How bad?
Let’s just say people can be crazy. After a few months, I realised I wanted more than that and I left.
So what next?
I had always been active on Twitter and I saw that the tech ecosystem and community were expanding. I knew I wasn’t going to be a software engineer because I wasn’t that tech-savvy. So I started applying for the only other thing I had experience in, which was customer service. I sent a couple of applications. Most of them came back as rejections.
Ouch.
Everything looked bleak until I stumbled on Google’s Digital Marketing course and I started learning more about digital content creation and marketing. Then, one of the tech people that I followed on Twitter, tweeted something about Eden Life. I checked them out and I was like “oh, Eden sells food, I like food. They might be looking for someone. I started stalking their Instagram page and saw all the things they could do better.
I liked the concept of Eden Life. I liked what it was selling. It was giving vibes, a great lifestyle, and the good life. It just appealed to me. When other tech companies rejected me, I was fine, but with Eden, I wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
I started reaching out to everyone I knew that worked there. I was entering the DMs of everyone with Eden in their bio. I also asked other tech people about the company and the product.
That’s very bold.
Yeah. My friend, Lola, convinced me to put out a tweet. She said it was like a cold email but only this time, it was in the public.
So I made a tweet and tagged everyone taggable. Eden Life, Prosper, Nad etc. I mentioned that I was a food photographer and that I could take better photos of the food and make it look more palatable. I got like 20 retweets, then radio silence.
One random night, I was awake and I saw that Fu’ad, the head of growth, liked my tweet. I was like “Hmmm. That’s sus” The next morning, I got a message and he asked if I wanted to discuss about the tweet and I was like “yes! yes! Yes!” He asked for my email and he sent me a Google Meet invite, we met several times and I got the job offer eventually.
You really said it was a long story. So what do you find most interesting about your job?
My job allows me to collaborate with a lot of people and I like that. I’m not exactly a people person but when you make videos and pictures with people, you have to make them comfortable enough to give you their best. I really enjoy doing that. Another thing I like is that it helps me tell stories. I like that very much.
What do you find most interesting about Eden Life?
The culture. This is my first tech company but I’ve always said I hope the culture is like this everywhere in the tech industry.
Trust me. It isn’t.
Eden Life is like a community. Everyone is always willing to help and make you succeed. If they can’t help, they will definitely direct you to someone who can. Everyone here is so helpful and considerate. It just sets you up to do your best work. There’s no abuse of power or oppression. It’s just great. And then, there’s the free food.
What has been your proudest achievement since you joined the company?
That has to be our service day in March 2022. I ideated and organized the event. I didn’t know I could do all of that. I had to utilize my project management skills. I was calling vendors here and there. It was so stressful that I fell very ill just after the event but I felt like I had purpose. The rush was crazy. I like making things happen and the event was a total success. I had to organize and fix stuff during the event but the adrenaline made me feel good.
I remember. I think I saw you on Okada.
Exactlyyyy.
So, if you weren’t doing media, what do you think you’d be doing now?
I honestly don’t know.
Oh, no childhood career dreams?
Not really. I never really had any “I will be a doctor” moment as a child but I think I wanted to study Architecture at a point.
You also mentioned something about Electrical Engineering. How did that happen?
Yeah. After failing my first JAMB, my parents didn’t want me to spend an entire year at home so I got into a Federal Polytechnic at the last minute to study the only available course, Electrical Engineering.
I see. And Quantity Surveying?
After my National Diploma, I tried to get Architecture again but I ended up doing Quantity Surveying. So I don’t know exactly what I would be doing.
When I was a kid, people thought I would be a doctor like my dad, but I was like “I can’t even stand the sight of blood. Why do you think, I’ll make a good doctor?” Thankfully, my parents never forced anything on me.
I can totally relate. What do you see yourself doing in 5 years?
To be honest, I’m not really a plan-for-the-future type of person. As I’m here, I don’t have any plans for 2023, let me survive 2022 first. In 5 years, I would probably still be creating content and doing growth marketing stuff. Maybe as a content strategist or manager. I also have a food photography business so I believe that would also be bigger too. You can find me on Instagram here.
So what would you say to someone that wants to work as a Media Associate in Tech?
You need to show up and put yourself out there. Create content and just post it out. Have something to show for your work. That one W will change everything. Don’t let your Ls stop you.
Personally, I don’t create a lot of content for my business because of bandwidth issues, but whenever I do, I find that I get more customers and attention than when my page is just left bare for long. It doesn’t even have to get a lot of engagements. Let it just be out there.
You have to keep creating because people are watching and you need to help them know where to find you. One like, retweet or DM can change your life.
You can also read other Eden Life stories here.