Dr. Tewa Onasanya: Celebrating  the Power of Resilience in Women

Dr. Tewa Onasanya, an entrepreneur and philanthropist with over 20 years of experience,  while studying Pharmacology at the University of Portsmouth, UK found a gap in the market for magazines that cater for black women. In 2003, she launched the pilot edition of Exquisite Magazine, a fashion, beauty and lifestyle magazine for black women with the vision and mission to celebrate, inspire, motivate and empower women. On her return to Nigeria, Onasanya found out that a lot of women were unaware of cervical cancer so she decided to use Exquisite Magazine as a platform to increase awareness of cervical cancer while offering free screening. She also started the Exquisite Ladies of the Year (ELOY) Awards in 2009,  the only female award in Nigeria using the platform to celebrate women of excellence in different fields while she continues to raise awareness for cervical cancer. Today, the ELOY has become the most sought-after award for women in Nigeria with every woman looking forward to it every year. As the 2023 edition of the annual ELOY conference and awards is held on November 24th,  Onasanya in this interview with MARY NNAH, reminiscences on the journey so far,  her passion over the years in empowering, inspiring and motivating people, particularly women,  to be the best version of themselves 

You hold a BSc in Pharmacology. So, what informed your decision to deviate from medicine to writing and publishing a fashion and lifestyle magazine?

The decision to deviate into publishing and writing was just a natural occurrence. It just happened naturally. Yes, I am a pharmacologist, and I went into pharmacology because I felt like I needed to do another degree in medicine. When I was younger, I wanted to become a doctor. And the reason I wanted to become a doctor was because I wanted to take care of people, and things like that.

Little did I know that I would end up becoming a doctor, not of medicine but an honorary one, and also I would get to help people via my platforms. When I started Exquisite Magazine, it was just because in the area I used to live in England, I couldn’t find any magazines for black people and women of colour. And, true story, on my drive home that day, I just said, you know what, instead of complaining about it, do something about it. You love fashion, you love writing, you’ve been writing since you were young, you might as well just go for it. That’s how Exquisite Magazine started.  I did a bit of research, learned on the job and then was able to bring people together to start the magazine, and here we are today, twenty years later, still running, still relevant in the market, one of the biggest magazines in Nigeria, and it’s quite exciting to tell these stories.

Writing had always been something that I had been doing from when I was young. I love reading and writing, so it was just like a natural progression. I think that we just have this idea of what we want to do in the future and how we want to get there, but God always has a way of letting us get to where we want to get to but in different directions. I’m always encouraged by the fact that, yes I wanted to care for people as a medical doctor, but I am still doing that now as an honorary doctor using my platforms to inspire and empower other people and help them.

Tell us about life as a writer and publisher of the renowned magazine.

I would say my life is exquisite to God’s glory. My life is good, I can’t say otherwise. Every single waking moment is a moment to be thankful for, and a moment to continue to pursue my goals. I would say that it’s a great life. I wake up every day doing what I love to do, what I enjoy doing, and I feel like I am so blessed. I feel like I am God’s special baby.

We started Exquisite Magazine in 2003. Eventually, we grew up a little and started the Exquisite Magazine Annual Cancer (EMAC) Foundation walk for Cervical Cancer Prevention, and then we grew another year and started the ELOY awards.

Because my aim and goal had always been to inspire people and to empower people to be better versions of themselves, that is what I wake up doing every single day, and the funniest thing about doing this every single day is, yes I’m inspiring and empowering other people, but in return I’m being inspired, motivated and empowered as well to become a better version of myself.  

Before we used to say, we would empower just ten people. Now, we’ve been able to empower thousands of people, and with that, it means that I have grown to become a person who has the capacity and ability to do these great things as well. I can wake up every day doing what I love, and I can see the massive impact that my work and my team’s work are imparting on the world. I would say I am very thankful that I am waking up every day to do what I love to do. Making a massive impact whilst making an income.

Exquisite Magazine is about fashion, wellness and lifestyle. It’s about just bringing out that confidence and style in women, and we do that every single day and it’s so exciting.

The ELOY Conference and Awards will be held in a few days. What are you doing differently this year?

The ELOY Conference and Awards is on November 24th, and we are all looking forward to a great learning and sharing experience at the conference, and celebrating women of excellence in different fields at the awards, that same night. Every year, we tend to bring in new categories that we’ve probably never celebrated before, and the reason we do this is because, every year we want to be able to showcase women succeeding in different careers that ordinarily won’t be in the forefront of everybody. We aim to showcase these women, celebrate them and show the world and other women that women are doing excellently well in these fields as well.

The new categories this year include the category for catering. We’ve never had that. We’ve never had a category for technology as well, so that’s come up this year and we’re so excited about that. Another thing that we’re doing this year, because it’s our 15th year is that we are celebrating all our past winners, and congratulating them as well as celebrating all our nominees for this year.

For the ELOY Conference, the theme is sustaining “Women Empowerment Through Technology and Innovation” and we are going to be giving people actionable skills and tips for them to be able to achieve their goals, now and even in 2024. So those are the unique stuff that we bring to the table. And at the ELOY Awards this year, we are calling this our year of resilience. We want to showcase the power of resilience. We want to celebrate women who have fallen nine times and gotten up ten times because they have that “I can’t quit” spirit. Those are the things that are unique about this year.

Those are the things that are unique about this year, and this year, we want people to know her name, to know that she is exquisite, she is inspiring, and she is motivated. She is an ELOY Woman, an exquisite lady of the Year.

What is it about your growing up that influenced who you are today?

I would say it’s the fact that I grew up in a very fun family. I am the first of six girls and we are a very closely-knit family. My sisters are like my best friends, even though I am older than all of them. I think one of the big things that influenced my life today is that when I was younger, my Mom hounded us and always said this to us, and even now, I’m still guided by that. She always said, your education is your property, no one can take that away from you, so make sure you study, make sure you are learned.

She was all about education. That’s why I love acquiring knowledge. She taught us that it’s not just about acquiring knowledge alone, it’s also about applying whatever you have learned. That always stayed with me. Everywhere I go, I am always looking for that next opportunity to learn something. Even now, I read every single day, because I just want to acquire some form of knowledge, to be a better person than I was yesterday. I would say that informed my person today.

Another thing that informed my person today is my Dad. My Dad is a very calm, calculative person. When they say that you should be slow to respond and eager to listen, that’s my Dad. He’s meticulous like that and I learnt that from him, to be able to dissect a situation and build on from it. And also, to not think everybody is against you, but work with the mindset that everybody is for you.

My parents taught me that whatever it is that I want to become, I can become it. I can do it. They never made us feel like because we’re girls, we couldn’t do anything else. I only realised that girls and boys were segregated when I became older, and I saw that boys were doing some things that girls were not allowed to do. In my household, we didn’t even know that. If you’re a girl, yes you’re a girl, but you can do or be anything you want. That kind of informed me growing up as well, and up till now, I feel like I can do anything. It doesn’t matter if it is male-dominated, we can go in there, and women can go in there as well.

You also went into a cervical cancer awareness campaign. Was there a particular reason for this?

I became a cervical cancer prevention advocate because a few years ago when I started coming to Nigeria often, I realised that a lot of women didn’t know about cervical cancer. And then, moving on from that knowledge, I decided to do research into cervical cancer in Nigeria, and the reason being that I always went back to England for my cervical cancer test, my smear test because they made it important that you have to go for your test.

And, I was wondering if it’s so important that they call and write you letters to come and do your test. So I started thinking, why is it so important for them in England for us to do this test? I did a bit of research and I found out that cervical cancer was killing women at an alarming rate, and that it kills one woman every hour in Nigeria and it’s one of the few cancers that is one hundred per cent preventable.

We just thought that at Exquisite Magazine it was unacceptable for women to be dying from a form of cancer that is one hundred per cent preventable, and because Exquisite Magazine is a magazine for women, who better to raise awareness for cervical cancer prevention than us?  Every year since 2010, we have been raising awareness for cervical cancer prevention. We have been offering free screening to women in different parts of Nigeria.

The only way to prevent it is to do regular screening. That’s why we advocate for that because one woman every hour is unacceptable for cancer that is one hundred per cent preventable.

You appear to be a very quiet person but breaking boundaries.  How have you been able to do the many things you do successfully? How are you able to talk people into buying into your various ideas and get their support?

You are right. I am a very quiet person. Sometimes I say that I’m a shy person, but people are like how can you be shy and then you get on stage and you’re like a rocket that has just been let out of its can.

My quietness is there. I am very reserved, I am shy to an extent. But when it comes to work, I can project myself and project my voice so that I am heard. I am so blessed that I am working in a field where I am very passionate about what I do. And so talking about it and getting people to buy in comes naturally to me. I learned about delegating as well, knowing about what my strengths and weaknesses are, so I can bring people in to support my weaknesses, and then we grow together.

How much influence would you say you’ve had on women with your various platforms so far?

I would say a huge influence. Even though we’re not where we want to be. We’re still like a drop in a massive ocean. Because, many people are still dying from cervical cancer, and many people are still underserved in terms of women in business – they don’t have access to the resources they need to build their businesses.

We are always working to do more every single year. In terms of women in business, since 2020, we’ve been able to actively empower over 150 women on the ELOY Sustainable Empowerment Programme. And so far on the ELOY Awards Foundation, we’ve been able to reach thousands of women. I think so far, we’ve reached almost five thousand women on the ELOY Awards Foundation, through our different activities and events.

How have you been able to achieve your foundation’s goals considering the present economic condition of the country?

Through God. That is what I would say, but yes, I do agree that the economic situation of the country is the way that it is. But we cannot afford to focus on that, because I am of the strong belief that whatever it is you focus on is what you get. If you focus on the negativity of the economic situation, then you’re going to attract more negativity and more negative experiences. What we do is, yes, the economy is the way it is, but we move forward. We look for avenues and opportunities to be able to still do whatever it is we do. Our aim is sustainable women empowerment, and to make women more economically independent. Our vision and our mission still have to go on despite the economic situation. It will not always be easy, there will always be challenges, but we’re able to still do this regardless of what the economy is saying. We’re looking forward positively and still going ahead positively. Because we know that with God everything is possible. And I always say this as well, no matter what it is, we are in God’s economy, so we will thrive if we decide to thrive. We have to make the decision that we want to thrive and not give up.

Can you recall the most challenging moment in your journey as a publisher and cervical cancer advocate and how you were able to overcome it?

There have been several challenging moments in my journey. For Exquisite Magazine, I recall that there was this particular year, I think in 2006, that we couldn’t print a copy of the magazine. I had used up all my savings, I had been working on the magazine for years, not making much money, but using my savings for my work as a manager. This particular year, we couldn’t print a copy, and it was so demoralizing. I thought of giving up. But eventually, something changed the game.

After about ten months, we were eventually able to release a copy of the magazine. I remember sitting on my terrace crying, wondering if I was going to have to stop doing this. For the EMAC Foundation for Cervical Cancer Prevention, I would say maybe the most challenging part of it was going into areas that we weren’t familiar with and being able to convince the husbands of some women that screening for cervical cancer was important. There are certain places that we go to, because of the cultural thinking and ideas, some men don’t want their women being seen or screened by doctors and things like that. I suppose that was a big challenge because we needed to convince their husbands that what we were doing was good for their wives and they needed to be screened.

For the ELOY Awards Foundation, I suppose the most challenging period was probably 2017 or thereabout, when we were hosting the ELOY Awards, and it was such a tough year to raise funds for the event but now we’re still raising funds and we occasionally hit challenges and roadblocks, but we’re now able to move better with it.

I guess we’re able to overcome everything we do by just looking at the bright side of life and still forging ahead. Because we know the impact we are making and we know that it is necessary, and our results speak.

What words of encouragement do you have for women, especially regarding the present economic realities?

This is what I say to myself as well. It is that our vision is God’s word for us, and God’s words do not return to him void. The only reason we would not hit the goal that we desire to hit is if we give up. So you can’t give up. For us to even think of the idea in the first place means that it is possible for us. So yes, the economy is the way it is, but don’t give up.

You can change the direction you get to your goal, but make sure that the goal is still your focus. And there are so many ways for us to achieve that one goal. Let’s be solution-oriented. Let’s make sure that we’re not focusing on the challenges or the problems but on the solution.

I would say this to everybody, and I say this to myself as well. Life would give you as much as you give life. So give life enthusiasm. Give it positive energy, give it optimism give it excitement and it will return that to you.

You can’t give up because your vision, your business, your idea, your career, and your goals were given to you for a reason, and only you can execute your ideas and vision. So my word of encouragement is to keep going, you will succeed.