Olusola Sanusi is redefining journalism as a 21st century woman, wife, mum and boss lady
- Olusola Sanusi combines being head of entertainment news at Legit.ng, with being a wife and a mother of three
- For 20 years, she has practised journalism, and honed her skills in the media by undertaking many training and grasping developmental opportunities.
- Olusola leads a team of editors who are very familiar with Nigeria’s entertainment terrain, and their audience is forever grateful for the exciting and unique reporting skills they bring to their news stories
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Olusola Sanusi warmly welcomes the ‘Top Media Amazon’ profile development team, as we prepare to learn about her career growth story.
“Thank you for the recognition. I am elated to be nominated for this profiling and I can’t wait to share my very interesting story. Perhaps my readers would also be able to pick a thing or two,” she says as we begin our interview.
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Olusola begins her story by letting us in on her childhood. She reveals that her love for journalism stemmed from the reading culture in her home as a kid. She talks about her dad and grandpa as having significant influence on her love for journalism, and how they discussed some of the news stories she read from their daily supply of newspapers and magazines.
“I grew up in a home where we received a daily supply of newspapers and magazines for my dad and grandpa. I read them too, and I also got to discuss some of the topics with my dad. When I went to university, I studied English and chose to pursue a career in media,” she says.
Listening to Olusola speak, it is evident that she values family. When she talks about her immediate family - husband and three children - there is no doubt that we are listening to a passionate woman who balances her love for family and career.
Our conversation with Olusola marks the end of our special edition and dedicated series to women in the media - Top Media Amazon. Like every other woman and story that we have celebrated in this international month of women, Olusola’s story is no different. She inspires!
A glimpse of our woman in media
Olusola shares more about her personal life with us. She tells us about her husband and children and how she launched her career in the media.
“I am a wife and mother of three. I have been practising journalism for 20 years and still counting. I launched my career in journalism when I joined City People Magazine in 2003.This was where I cut my teeth in covering entertainment and celebrity news.” she says.
Olusola describes her journey as one that has been smooth but didn’t fail to reference the rough patches she encountered in the quest for growth and success.
The difficulties of a mother in the media
We ask Olusola about the difficulties that she has faced in the course of getting to the top. She says combining the homefront with her career, especially when was still in the child-bearing phase, was quite challenging for her as a woman in the media.
She attributes her ability to overcome challenging moments in her job to her supportive husband who stood by her and helped her concentrate on her career in the media.
“The major challenge for me as a woman is combining the homefront with my career, especially when I was bearing children, thanks to my supportive husband. I also had a good and reliable support system that made me concentrate on my career despite having children. Their assistance made it easy for me to travel on assignments and achieve success on the job,” she says.
Casting a wistful glance at us, Olusola talks about women who have not had the privilege of spousal or family support and have had to abandon the practice.
“Remember, this is a career I have known even before meeting my husband and thanks to him, too, for not discouraging me or asking me to stop it after we married. I know a couple of women who had to abandon practising journalism at the request of their husbands.”
She says she is grateful that she didn't have to choose between her family and career. For her, that is a major win as a mother and woman in the media.
Support systems beyond family
Olusola speaks about the opportunities that life brought her way and things that eased her career path in journalism.
With a smile plastered across her face, she describes journalism as a people-centred profession. She reminisces about her early days in the field and talked about people who willingly helped her despite being a rookie.
“You know journalism is a people-centred career. I have met many people who willingly helped me learn the ropes as a rookie journalist. Maybe if they were not there for me, then, I might have quit, especially when on the field gathering facts and reports,” she says.
Olusola also attributes her success to her amazing colleagues who became friends in the course of her career advancement. She says they made the job easier to do.
“I have colleagues-turned-friends who have made the job less strenuous as they are always ready to render assistance when I need it,” she says.
On unequal opportunities in the media
We ask Olusola what equality looks like in the media and tell her to touch on the specifics - gender divide, pay gap, e.t.c. She seems to mull over this question for a while but she finally speaks up.
“I have been lucky to work in gender-friendly organisations, but I have heard of cases of women not being promoted to top positions in the media just because of their gender and the accompanying natural responsibilities that come with it. But we have seen women like Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a wife and a mother, climbing to the top of her careers and even contesting against men to hold powerful world positions. If being a woman did not stop someone like Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, why should it stop women in the media?”
On equality and her stance
Olusola says that she believes that women should own equal responsibilities like their male counterparts, and be able to deliver the same way. She shares her personal experience on equality and how she was discouraged from taking on certain tasks earlier in her career journey because her male counterparts thought she couldn’t do it.
“When I was switching from print media to digital, a colleague told me I couldn’t cope, and I told him bluntly that some people are doing it, so if they can, I can too. Here I am, still waxing stronger. I believe if anyone can, then I can do it too,” she says.
A strong believer of excellence and breaking the barriers, Olusola believes that as long as there is no gender disparity in studying one’s choice programme in tertiary institutions, then women shouldn’t be deterred from doing the things that men do in the media.
On embracing equity
As the world advocates embracing equity in the International Women’s Month, Olusola agrees that women should embrace equity. She advises women to be comfortable within their area of strength, to thrive within the resources available to them, and to enjoy what they do without comparison.
“While we keep advocating for equality, I think we shouldn’t also lose sight of equity and its importance to us as women today. Let us appreciate our uniqueness and strength. This makes us special. With equity, we can achieve all we set out to do with the right resources and support, and without casting aspersions on men for not doing all the things they do.”
Navigating challenges and almost giving up
As we go further into the conversation, Olusola shares some pointers on navigating challenges as a woman in the media space. She describes challenges as a necessity in life, and also shares more details about how she handles them.
“Challenges are part of life, and how one handles them determines if one will go further in life or not. I always take a deep breath and re-examine myself to know the root cause of the challenge so I can tackle it and know how to avoid such in the future,” she says.
On almost giving up, Olusola says she felt like giving up on her passion for journalism after working under the most horrible conditions at two media companies.
“I felt like switching careers after I had worked at two media companies and was owed salaries ranging from six months to one year. I switched for a year, but the passion, and urge to write and be read pushed me back to journalism.”
The rainbow after the storm
Olusola reminisces on exciting times in her journey to becoming and talks about how they defined her career. She talked about awards won and proud nominations.
“Another defining moment for me in this career was becoming the head of my team. I even went ahead to win awards for my managerial skills. Nothing beats that,” she says.
Speaking about how her achievements make her feel, Olusola says:
“My achievements make me feel honoured. They make me feel important and tell me that I am doing things right.”
Parting words for the ladies
As we wrap up the interview and bring the month-long series to an end, we ask Olusola what her advice would be to our young female readers who are trying to find their way in the same career path. She says you can be whoever you choose to be.
“With hard work and dedication, you can become whatever you choose to be. At every opportunity presented to you, prove your worth.”
Catch our previous profile of another Top Media Amazons for IWD 2023 - Julia Majale, Managing Editor, Tuko Media (Kenya). She shares her inspirational story about being one of Kenya’s youngest Managing Editors, and encourages women to thrive in their greatness. Read here.
Source: Legit.ng
