We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lilian Ademakinwa a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Lilian, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

I truly believe every creative and entrepreneur should have a story behind their mission

On social media page, I go by Lilylightss. I grew up when it wasn’t cool to be a dark skin girl. And I realize that every time I got in rooms, I would shrink and not say much because I knew that someone would always make fun of me because of the color of my skin and the way I speak.

When I started social media, I knew that I wanted to represent that part of me. For everyone that encounters me whether in person and on social media, I want them to feel like they belong. I want to be a reminder for them to never have to hide but instead unveil every single thing about them and shine. I talk More about this in my book: Switch Up: Unveil your inner self, Boost Confidence, and Crush Your Goals

Out of that mindset, I have created a brand called Daraani. It means it’s good. I.e you’re good, you’re desired, and you’re a accepted

We want our customers and people that aspire to wear our brand to know that they good enough to wear it. They are apart of us. They belong to our community and we want them to be seen and feel worthy.

For the way I felt back then, I never want anyone to feel that way. So I created a brand that would make people feel good!!

We are the feel good brand

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Lilian Ademakinwa also known as Lilylightss.

I started creating YouTube videos at the time I didn’t know anything about content creation. I’ve always had issue balancing being a content creator and pushing my life goals when it comes to being a student, a wife and now mother.

But with the help of my husband, I have been able to start content creation seriously in the last 2 years. Without that I’ve created a brand Daraani

Daraani is my invite to people of every work of life to join a community and a people that will never see them as less than. It is an invite to always feel good, feel enough, feel worthy.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I’m unlearning that I cannot do everything all at once.

The fear of being the woman that conquers in every area had made me feel the need to excel in every area.

I felt like I needed to be the best mom, the best wife and the best social media creator.

I am learning that with proper planning I can prioritize whichever needs my help the most.

It’s not that I stop being a good creator but I devoted more time to my son that needs more of my time. So instead of creating my usual content of 3 a week, I can cut down to one a week and spend more time being a fabulous mom and wife.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I built my audience by simply showing up as myself and offering a solution to a problem area

I’m a plus size woman. A lot of times, plus size clothing are more tailored towards what an order woman would wear

I learned to dress myself as the young millennial that I am instead of an older woman.

While doing so, i showed my true self and offered people ways to do so as well

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @lilylightss
• Youtube: Segun and Lilian