Journey to Beautiful: Oreka Godis

Few weeks ago I published my interview with Chioma Obii-Obioha, the creator and editor of the Love.N’Words blog for her series ‘Journey to Beautiful’.  Last week, we also featured Wana Udobang’s interview for the series. According to Chioma, the series aims to showcase African women celebrating their own beauty, defining what is beautiful for themselves, embracing the journey to total self-acceptance, and living on purpose. We LOVE LOVE LOVE Chioma’s blog and the other women featured on the series have been super amazing. Oreka Godis is one of such women, check on her interview below. Also make sure you check out Chioma’s Blog! It is UBER Cool and inspiring

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NAME: Oreka Godis
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN/HERITAGE: Nigeria, United Kingdom
LOCATION: Lagos, Nigeria 
WHY YOU HAVE TO KNOW HER: Oreka Godis is a Jill of all (media) trades, if there ever was one – but not in the I-can-do-it-all-but-am-not-very-good-at-it type of way. No way!!! Oreka works hard at mastering her craft, and being the very best she can possibly be. Let us count the ways …

Last year, she starred in the critically acclaimed Nigerian stage adaptation of Ntozake Shange’s iconic stage play, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf, by gifted playwright Wole Oguntokun, as the Lady in Yellow.

As a gifted actress on the large and small screens, she has starred in movies, including this year’s When Love Happens, and Dear Avalon; short films, like the upcoming Timothy; and series and mini-series, including T.A.B.L.O.I.D., and Dowry. 

Originally introduced to audiences as an On-Air Personality for 99.9 The Beat FM’s weekday radio show, The Morning Rush, she may now be found on EbonyLifeTV’s nightly show, The Love Lounge, talking all things love, sex, and relationships.

Not one to be put in a box, Oreka has also taken on such feats, as interviewing the Nigerian President, producing a documentary on ongoing restoration work in Nigeria’s Bayelsa State, and hosting MTV Base’s pro-voting campaign via their program, Choose or Lose.

Whether she’s interviewing the President or Chiwetel Ejiofor, talking politics or relationships, producing documentaries or starring in productions, Oreka is committed to one thing: “being a Storyteller, using any medium necessary.”

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WHO DO YOU SAY YOU ARE? 

Well, that’s a loaded question! I can answer that in part with the an extract from a larger free write of mine:

iAm 
Girl 
Lost, not found.  
Unclaimed emotions in unsafe territory.  
I am open wounds made raw, fairytales turned nightmare. 
I am disillusioned naive beliefs… 
I am hopeful, 
I am fear. 

I am complications made messy by my unacceptable approximations of my own uniqueness 
I am fragments of disappointed moments made whole 
I am joblessness found solitude in anxiety 
I am poverty, 
I am Peter 
I am Paul. 

I am ambition, unexplored, creativity hindered 
I am colour blind with eyes open to prejudice 
I am all ears full of hurt, disappointed moments, tugging 
I am consciousness, unsteady  
I am all mouth, all hunger, all nerves 

I am stock. Unseasoned, rushed, flavourless, all liquid no punch. 
I am ashore, washed up, passed over.   I am youth, I am age, I am backtracking retrospect full of introspect 

I am Black British, devoured, Nigerian Girl. 
I am hobo chic, Nigerian Girl, descendant of the Otaro and Ekarobome lineage of Ogori, a small village (of) people who for centuries have followed the beat of their own drum.  
I am a voice 
I am Oreka Godis 

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE PHYSICAL FEATURES?

My skin. It doesn’t always love me back: I’m covered in spots and scars, but I love my skin.

Sometimes, I catch my reflection in the mirror – just the lower part of my face – and marvel at how God blessed me with lips that look like they belong on someone far more worthy. My top lip is quite dark and my bottom lip quite pink in comparison.

I’ve always been obsessed with my hair. It used to be the only physical feature I liked about me, but now I see more things about me that I love – like my nose, the stretch marks on my buttocks, my fingers and the nails that adorn them. My nails grow with a natural French tip, no matter what diet I am on or supplements I take. I used to get teased about that; people have pointed at my nails as being an indication of all kinds of deficiencies. But since the day I cottoned on to the fact that this is a part of me that I cannot change, and also that some people pay good money to have theirs look like mine at nail bars, I have come to see it as one of my beautiful defining features.

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“Sometimes, I catch my reflection in the mirror – just the lower part of my face – and marvel at how God blessed me with lips that look like they belong on someone far more worthy.”

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WHAT NON-PHYSICAL TRAITS DO YOU MOST LOVE ABOUT YOURSELF?

My spirit.

WHAT PHYSICAL AND NON-PHYSICAL TRAITS HAVE YOU MOST STRUGGLED TO ACCEPT? HAVE YOU OVERCOME THAT STRUGGLE?   HOW?

Definitely my arms and no, the battle rages on. Not keen on my legseither, mostly because I am very prone to getting ingrown hairswhether I keep the hair on or off. I always feel like a walking, talking, dimply, plucked bird. I’ve tried treatments, scrubs and home made remedies, but the turkey legs refuse to smoothen out.  

HOW HAS YOUR FATHER INFLUENCED THE WAY YOU SEE YOURSELF?

My mother’s been far more influential in the way I see myself. As regards to my father, though, from him, I’ve learnt the need for sacrifice and the importance of keeping your family and loved ones close. 

WHAT ARE YOUR GREATEST FEARS?

It used to be failure, but I let that go. I can’t think of anything that scares me now. Besides snakes. Does that count? 

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“I feel most beautiful during that one day or two where your hormones and body hit homeostatic perfection – your stomach is not bloated, your skin is glowing, you are having an excellent hair day, your confidence level is through the roof and you are so comfortable and happy to be in your own skin that, for once, you look in the mirror and think makeup would do a disservice to what God’s already perfected. “

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WHAT ARE YOUR GREATEST JOYS?

Clean face (not a lick of makeup), clean hair (head wrap optional), comfortable sofa, a glass of anything (water/Simply Green Juice/tea/alcoholic beverage), a full stomach and a mouth full of conversations and laughter with friends and family. 

WHAT ARE YOUR GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENTS?

I don’t feel accomplished yet.

WHEN DO YOU FEEL MOST BEAUTIFUL?

At the end of a good wash day, when I’ve also had a thorough body wash. When my skin and hair just look kissed by God, especially if it falls in that lucky window between Aunt Flo’s departure and ovulation time. You know, that one day or two where your hormones and body hit homeostatic perfection – your stomach is not bloated, your skin is glowing, you are having an excellent hair day, your confidence level is through the roof and you are so comfortable and happy to be in your own skin that, for once, you look in the mirror and think makeup would do a disservice to what God’s already perfected. 

HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE YOUR OWN VERSION OF “BEAUTIFUL”?

I am very laissez-faire with the way I look in comparison to the “Lagos Big Girl” standard, but then again, that’s not my aesthetic.I’m such a hobo and that, to me, is beautiful – just being happy to go about my business however I see fit.

WHAT DO YOU DO TO STAY BEAUTIFUL, AS YOU’VE DEFINED IT?

By caring about what I put into and on my body, by working on maintaining a healthy state of mind and staying connected to my spirit. 

WHICH “BEAUTIFUL” WOMEN INSPIRE YOU MOST?

My mother. My grandmother. My sister.

Jessica Alba – especially for her great job with The Honest Company.

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Stay updated with everything Oreka by following her here:

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/Rhecks 

Instagram: OrekaGodis

Twitter: @Rhecks

Website: www.orekagodis.com 

Source: LuvnWords.com