Alma Asinobi Gives Us a Glimpse into Her Life in this Edition of “Doing Life With”

Doing Life With… is a new BellaNaija Features series that aims to showcase how people are living, working, travelling, journalling, taking care of their families and… everything in between. We aim to document the lives of all people and ensure everyone is well-represented at BN through storytelling. 

Last week, we had a conversation with Abiodun Sule, a stay-at-home dad for our Father’s Day special edition. Did you miss it? Read it here.

Today, we’re doing life with Alma Asinobi – a tech sis, marketing copywriter, and travel entrepreneur, and she has loads of fun things to share with us about her life. Alma is good vibes, so you’ll enjoy this short and light read. Grab your popcorn and have a good weekend with us!

Hey Alma, tell us how you’re feeling right now in 3 words

It’s the weekend and I just got off work, so relieved, chill and happy. These are probably the blandest words you weren’t expecting but capitalism has drained all my energy 😩

We’ll manage that, haha! So… Alma Asinobi in 3 sentences?

Alma Asinobi is a content creator, travel entrepreneur and world citizen currently on a mission to visit every country in the world. She’s a foodie who forgets to eat, and a free spirit who always finds her way back home. Alma is Spanish for soul so regardless of what she does, you can always count on her to bring her fullness along.

What a bio! You’re in marketing, tech and a… travel consultant? Tell us all about your career journey, the choices you made and the decisions behind them

If I started to tell the whole story of my career journey, it’s probably my grandkids who will end up concluding this piece because it’s loooooong! But let’s just say I’ve proactively sought out opportunities and stayed prepared for them when they came.

I have 3 degrees in Architecture, but by degree 1, I already knew I wasn’t going to practice within the Architecture space. You’d wonder why I went on to get second and third degrees. Well, how do I answer this without sounding like the kid in class who used to remind the teachers to give us homework? 🤭

I like school. I like the structure, the race against time, the living on the edge, and most importantly at the time – the allowance.

Being in school gave me a safety net and financial freedom to experience different ideas and explore my different passions without worrying about whether or not those passions could pay my bills. Thanks to the most supportive parents in the world, I knew at the end of the month, I would receive an allowance.

During the years I spent in school, I started an online business, started a blog, tried my hands on photography, and even modelling. The experience I gathered from these helped me find my most marketable skills and hone my craft without worrying about money.

It was my background with my online business and social media that got me my first job in tech. My blog transitioned into my social media content as you know it today. And before you ask, Architecture school trained my design eye too, and that gives me an edge and helps me deliver excellent work in everything I do, so it’s not a waste haha.

My career journey has been one of constant reiteration and evolution. I believe my fluidity is my superpower.

What’s a typical day like for you?

A typical day for me is the same as the next, except for when it’s not. My morning alarm goes off at 7 a.m. and you won’t believe how much I want to say that the first thing I do is head to the gym. Unfortunately, *insert vivid imagination meme* I do not.

When I wake up – usually on my couch, where I fell asleep while watching Big Bang Theory for the 6th time – I stare into space right after I have sat up for a few seconds, just to confirm that my legs still work. You never know. 

I use that time to make a mental note of what I want to achieve that day. Next up, I have a quick worship session while I do any chores and just get ready for the day. Everything that happens afterwards is pretty much vibes and largely depends on what part of my work is finding full expression that day – tech babe, travel creator, or business owner.

I usually forget to have breakfast until late in the evening when I think of calling my mum and I know she’d ask me what I’ve eaten that day.

I’m an introvert, and the only time I don’t miss my bed is when I’m in it. So every time I have to go out, I grumble just a little bit, but sometimes I end up having fun, especially when I have my friends with me.

An introvert and travel creator? How does that work?

To be honest, when I’m travelling, I’m in full explorer mode. So most of my routine stays the same, except that I go out more and grumble less about it.

One travel experience that will forever be etched in your memory?

My first trip outside Nigeria by plane was a solo trip to Senegal. I had scraped my savings together and taken the biggest bet on myself to begin my journey around the world.

Once the pilot announced that we were beginning descent, I looked out the window and I could see the airport we were approaching, and my eyes started to water. Once the tyres came out and we touched down, I burst into tears. I was weeping and sobbing like a child.

Words cannot express how I felt in that moment. Surreal is an understatement. Something woke up inside me that day, and it has stayed alive since then. I’ve gone on to have many beautiful travel moments, but I can never forget that one.

It wasn’t my first time on a plane but this one was different. It’s why one of the programs I’m working on in my travel company is to give underprivileged and terminally ill children their first flying experience. Everybody needs to feel it!

Awww, love that! Let’s talk about the challenges of running a business as a young person, do you have ‘Oh! No’ moments? How were you able to navigate them?

Everyone has “Oh no” moments regardless of their age. The only advantage you have as a young person is time to try again over and over until you get it right. One “Oh no” you’ll never hear from me is “Oh no, I give up.”

I’m a we’ll-always-find-a-way girl, and it’s abundantly clear in the risks I take. I honestly believe there’s a key to every door and will stop at nothing to find it. I don’t take no for an answer.

This mindset helps me in business as much as it does in every aspect of my life. I manage my “Oh No” moments with as much optimism as I can, then keep trying till I get an “Ah yes”.

Tell us how you cope with stress or setbacks in your life you know, inflation, shaky economy, bad govt. policy – in short, everything the average Nigerian goes through

I’m no longer 100% based in Nigeria, so things are a little different for me now. Even before I moved, I spent most of my time travelling anyway, so I was hardly in Nigeria.

You know the thing about Nigeria everyone needs to understand? You can’t run from it. It will always catch up with you. Being Nigerian is almost like a tattoo on your forehead. You can wear a fringe bone straight wig all your life to cover it, but one day a pigeon will fly from nowhere and yank it off your head. And alas, you’re exposed. From the airport in that fancy island country where you show your green passport, to the website that won’t let you check out because they don’t accept naira cards. 

I deal with all the stress by shutting off and spending time with myself, sleeping, watching my favourite series, and talking to my little sister. Calling home keeps me grounded and refreshes me. It’s one of the few things in my life I really look forward to that never gets old.

What’s been your proudest moment as Alma Asinobi 

It’s not exactly a moment, but one of the things I’m most proud of – as Alma – is my handwriting. It’s gorgeous! And I don’t miss out on any opportunity to show it off.

We’d love to see it! What are the little things that bring you joy, get you excited or make you feel alive?

Being by the ocean, he colour blue, striking conversations with complete strangers in a new country and finding out we have so much in common, Capri-Sonne orange, seeing a dress that I already love and finding out it has pockets, finding 1000 naira in my back pocket that I totally forgot was there, lukewarm showers, running errands, going grocery shopping with my friends and sneaking Hershey’s chocolates into their carts while they’re not looking, petrichor, being picked up from the airport, late night conversations with my dad.

That’s a long and wholesome list. If you could do one thing when no one was watching, what would that be?

I don’t know. Scratch my bum? 😂

We promise, no one saw that. One thing you believe Nigerian youths must experience in their lifetime?

A trip to someplace you’ve only seen in movies or read in books.

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Before you say ‘Oh, BellaNaija, this is not a short read na,’ we know! We’ll try to make the next episode shorter! Thank you to Alma Asinobi for having this conversation with us and answering all our questions – and swiftly too, we must add.

Do you love this content, have any feedback for us or want to be a BellaNaija Features contributor? We’ll love to read from you. Shoot us an email: [email protected]

Join us on Saturday for the next episode!