We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Toluwanimi Obiwole. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Toluwanimi below.
Toluwanimi, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
One of the most meaningful projects I have worked on is one I am currently helping with. I’ve been in Costa Rica for the past few months, reconnecting to myself and nature and opening myself to new ways of living. My first week here, I met a woman who was running a storytelling circle in Cahuita (on the Caribbean coast). She happened to be telling the story of how her diving team of indigenous youth discovered, in 2013, the ruins of a slave ship that crashed off the coast of Cahuita in the 1700s. Her storytelling was incredibly captivating and the story itself amazing. After the session, I introduced myself and eventually asked her to be my mentor. She agreed and gave me my first assignment. She asked me to copyedit a letter she had written as the foundation for a summer symposium on archeomythology, citizen science and myth preservation as part of sea preservation. I was blown away by how affirming her words and work were. She has now brought me on to be a storyteller and organizer on her project team. To be able to work with someone who aligns with my values of defending and living alongside the earth, celebrating indigenous identity and data equity in research is such a blessing! I get to work with indigenous Costa Rican youth to amplify their work and stories!
Toluwanimi, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Toluwanimi Obiwole or Toluwa. I am a Nigerian storyteller, multidisciplinary artist, consultant, data enthusiast, scholar, daughter, sister, friend and lover. I grew up in Colorado, raised by Denver’s deep-rooted poetry communities and nurtured by the city’s dedication to supporting the arts. I found my voice competing in slam poetry competitions, later becoming the city’s first Youth Poet Laureate. I co-stewarded Denver’s longest running Black poetry open mic, Nuba (shoutout Ashara Ekundayo) for years, hosting and supporting poets from around the world. Storytelling by performance and spoken word, opened and evolved into my visual and sonic art practices. I tell stories through crochet work, mural art, poetic essays and more. I create and teach workshops combining creative expression with community organizing and personal justice.
After publishing and getting published in several anthologies including The Breakbeat Poets Vol II: Black Girl Magic, I began teaching poetry workshops and seminars including a long running poetry residency with Aspen Words. I learned I was really good at guiding people to connect with the stories and histories they carried with them everyday. I am proud of how I can curate the environment for folks to discover and be confident in their voices and ultimately trust themselves more, living fully. I have worked with everyone from kindergarteners to the elderly and have written and heard thousands of poems and stories as a result.
Now, I work with a few different niches of storytelling. As a data analyst and project manager, I work with the stories that data tell and carefully keep the story of an idea blossoming into its material form. As a grant writer, I turn passion into supported movement. As a creative professional, the tangible art I make, stories I create and histories I preserve become cultural artefacts; the records of how some humans healed, loved, grieved and ultimately became new.
I love working with people who are working within their purpose or seeking to do so. When someone brings me a project they are passionate about, I get excited. I think those are the only clients I have ever attracted. I am open for new clients ranging from those who want custom art pieces to those who are bringing to life creative and socially engaging campaigns and other creative projects.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I have had to unlearn perfectionism and the idea of needing to feel like the most qualified person in the room! I did not know that this was a phenomenon for Black women until recently, but many of us feel as though we need to keep collecting degrees and certifications in order to consult or feel fully qualified to go for what we want. Much of this stems from the very real threat of racism and gender-based violence. There were so many projects and plans I delayed simply because I felt that I needed to prove my expertise with yet another certification. I was allowing the fear of someone questioning my intelligence, keep me from standing in my wisdom and power. I am gaining confidence by standing in what I know and taking risks in going for things despite my fear. Be scared and do it anyway. If I fail, I fail forward always.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
My mission is to provide a solid foundation for myself and the communities I work with and in to heal and experience a full spectrum of joy and connection. I create and curate the world I want to live in and hope to be living proof that others can do the same.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.toluwaobi.com
- Instagram: @toluwaob
- Linkedin: Toluwanimi Obiwole
Image Credits
image with yarn and artworks: Halle from Free Energy Collective