We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Christina Oshinuga a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Christina thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.
My parents were born and raised in Nigeria. They came to the United States in their 20s leaving their families behind. My parents knew they wanted children and they wanted us to have the opportunities they did not have. My mom told us when she was pregnant with my oldest brother, that they were poor and one of the only things they could afford to eat was cereal. So she ate that throughout her pregnancy. The interesting thing is, I never felt poor growing up because my parents did everything they could to make sure we had everything we needed.
Because of what my parents did for us growing up, it always made me want to do my best in everything I pursued. I knew I wanted to be a lawyer at a young age and I knew that I would work my hardest to make that dream a reality. It also allowed me to pursue things that they did not have the opportunity to pursue—like being creative, making videos, exploring fashion and starting my fashion blog.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
I always knew at a young age that I wanted to be a Lawyer. I was actually watching a Lifetime movie with mom ( LOL). I was young, maybe 6 or 7 and I can’t remember everything about the movie, but I do remember it was about a lawyer and I remember feeling the passion he had defending his client. I told my parents, at that moment, I wanted to be a lawyer.
My reasons have changed beyond that movie. I knew I wanted to help people/businesses and ultimately ended up becoming a Workers Compensation Defense attorney. While pursing law, I ALWAYS loved fashion. It came so easy to me.I could just see something that looked like nothing, and put it together. I never liked dressing like everyone else. I went to a high school that required we wear uniforms but I would always throw my own spin on my outfits, whether that was wearing Moccasins before they were “in” or sporting a oversized jacket before that was even a thing.
I decided to make law my main thing so it could fund my fashion. If I could fund my love for fashion, I knew that my content could be truly original meaning–I had all creative freedom.
Now it’s my goal to show people you can truly do anything you want in life–Truly. I want to show people that you can be a full-time attorney while also pursuing other creative goals. I want to share fashion inspiration, affordable tips and tricks and really break the mold and show that fashion doesn’t have to end when you turn a certain age. Fashion is truly limitless.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I think with me I had the idea that I wanted to be a lawyer and never considered failure.
In order to practice law, after you graduate from Law School you have to take the Bar which is a pretty intense test. When I took the bar it was a 3 day exam which included essay writing and multiple choice questions.
I studied for months and I took the exam and failed. I was devastated. Failure had not been factored into my plan. I let myself wallow in self pity for a few days and after that, I told myself, I would not quit until I pass this test, no matter what.
I studied again, for 6 months and passed. Looking back,I think I needed to fail. I needed to see that sometimes you can try and plan for everything, but not all things in life can be planned. Life will throw you curve balls, what will you do when your plan fails?–For me, it taught me, If I want something enough, I will not stop until I have accomplished it.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
In regards to my Fashion, My audience is not huge by any means. But for the people that follow me and engage with my content that is the most rewarding. I have built this community that enjoys fashion and also enjoys seeing my day to day life as an attorney.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tinaoshinuga/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8_Z6TN_AqNKgQYAV_1v83g