On Thursday, the 6th of July, to Friday, the 7th of July 2023, the Selar Creator Summit took place. It was a two-day virtual event that 19,000 people from over 23 countries registered for, and it was well attended by guest speakers like MI Abaga, Josh2Funny, Fisayo Fosudo, and many more. It was by all accounts a success, but behind the accolades from people on social media, and the fact that we trended on Twitter, there was a marketing team of six people that handled the entire event.
When my manager and boss, Milton Tutu, told me to take the lead on the project, I was stunned. For one, I am still relatively inexperienced, having only worked as a Marketer for a year. And then the plans tabled before us in terms of the number of registrations sought and the calibre of speakers we were looking to invite felt too big for our little team to pull off. I knew we had budgetary constraints, and in meetings, we’d share the names of the guest speakers we were looking to invite, and I’d feel oddly amused. I wanted so badly to ask, “Can we really get these people whose names we’re mentioning to speak at our event?” But being the visionary he is, Milton was not phased, and we kept pushing.
Sending pitches was a very daunting process. There’s this meme currently trending on Nigerian Twitter about how “you go explain tire,” and as funny as it is, it’s true. We got multiple rejections and had to change the names on our lists several times. But the more I wrote emails and got a mixed bag of responses, the more I realized the value of trying. Many times we give up in our minds before we even give ourselves the chance to try. We act like mini gods, making conclusions on behalf of the recipients of our requests: “They will say no,” “They are too big to attend our event,” “They will ask for money, and we don’t have,” etc. By doing this, we unknowingly limit the possibilities that exist for us out there because we have chosen to determine what the outcome would be.
The weeks leading to the event were the most stressful for me, following second-semester exams and having to jump back into work. But everything worked out in the end, and this experience taught me so much about life.
I learned the importance of biting more than you can chew; of shooting at the stars even when the only tools you have in your hands are catapults. And so when MI agreed to speak at our event, I nearly cried because I realised just how easy it would have been to miss out on that opportunity if we hadn’t tried.
I also learned the value of teamwork and having kind, resourceful people on your team. There was nothing we didn’t innovate. From creating a makeshift teleprompter during a particular shoot because there was a lot to say and not enough time to memorise it all; to designing a virtual volunteer programme that was ideated and managed by my amazing team lead, Lydia — a programme that was instrumental to all the organic ‘noise’ that made us trend on Twitter. Writing this, I feel inspired afresh because I saw first-hand just how far resilience and positive stubbornness can get you if you’re willing to lean into it.
The Selar Creator Summit was a massive success because we were blindly optimistic, and we put in the work. I am thankful for the opportunity to have worked on the team for that event. It has given me wings, and has expanded my willingness to try.
