Toyin Lawani: Unusual Look

 
Controversial celebrity, businesswoman and stylist / designer, Toyin Lawani, has always chose to be weird in everything she does, from having her second child for a much younger lover, having over a dozen business under one roof to making the most bizarre red carpet attires.  Recently, on the occasion of her 32nd birthday in Lagos, she chose to do the unusual again, by birthing a foundation, I Rep for Hope, a charity organisation formed to cater to the needy. In this interview with Mary Ekah, she speaks about the reason for establishing the charity organisation and why her outfit, Tiannah Place Empire continues to be a hub for her businesses.
 

What is I Rep for Hope all about?
I Rep for Hope is actually a charity organisation that my sister, Abimbola and I established after we lost our mum to cancer. My mum was 46 as at that time she passed on four years ago. So my sister and I have decided to set up the organisation to help people in need. The organisation is really big in America, because that is where we founded it but I am trying to do something with it in Nigeria and for Nigerians.

The kind of cancer my mom had was weird and she died in a space of two years.  We knew she was going to die but it was too fast and there was nothing we could do about it. We never understood the kind of cancer that killed her till toady.  So we are doing this to create awareness for people that have that kid of cancer; it is called thyroid Cancer. To the people that ignore when they have that fat on their neck and say, “it is thyroid, it is nothing”, some of them actually can be cancerous. So after like a few years when we found out that she had it, she took it out and they said it was gone but all of a sudden, she woke one day and found that she had pains on her legs and by the time we took her to the hospital, we were told that the thyroid gland went through her system and chopped up the bones in her legs and so she could not walk.   So they had to put irons on her legs to get her to walk again and for two years she could not walk, she was on the wheel chair and then one day she started walking and announced to all who cared to listen that her cancer had gone.  And then she started planning for a thanksgiving celebration at church and even went to the extent of picking a beautiful “Aso Ebi” for the ceremony.

We were due to travel like a week before the event to join her in the cerebration, only for us to receive calls from the hospital that she was ill and in the hospital again throwing up blood. And they found out that the cancer had put holes in her lungs and that was it! They said she was going to die in three days and there was nothing we could do.  When we got there, she even spoke to me lot a about helping and all that before she eventually died. There was nothing we could do about it but it is good to create awareness for people that have this kind of cancer, so that they would know what to do about it on time. Obviously there were no lungs to replace my mom’s but if we had known how to go about it on time, she would have lived longer. Even though, she had been complaining about pains on her legs, we never took it serious and that is how people just pass on with serious ailments without knowing it.

How do you go about creating this awareness?
We have not done much on cancer for now in Nigeria, but today, which obviously is my birthday, is being used as an avenue to give back. I have two members of staff, Gladys and Marceline, who have hearing and speech impairment. Gladys has been trained for over four years. Gladys is skilled in the art of tailoring and some of the kids’ designs in Tiannah Place Empire are actually made by her. While I do the designs, she makes them.  And the other lady, Marceline, joined the team eight months ago. She is being trained in the skill of hairdressing.

Gladys and Marceline are under I Rep for Hope and in Nigeria, this organisation is going to help people like these who can neither hear nor speak to train them for two years.  I am trying to reach out to the public and private organisation and right now we have some companies that are helping out and I am trying to reach out to the government as well to support us.  We are trying to show them what we have done with Gladys and Marceline so that they would see what we are trying to do for the public. So far, we have put it out there that the scholarship is there and they would send us candidates, which we would decide who is actually right for the scholarship because I really want it to be people like Marceline and Gladys and not people with any other form of disability because I would only be able to train you if you have hands, legs and eyes too.

What has it been like training Gladys and Marceline so far, considering their peculiar challenges?
To be honest, I am still going through the challenges today and it has not stopped. Gladys for example does not need to speak to anybody; all she needs to do is to work on what I design for her. Gladys is very good in making whatever designs you give her as long as you give her the sketch and sample. All she needs to do is to take measurement, which she does perfectly. She understands me better than any of my staff because a lot of my staff cannot communicate with her like I do. I communicate with her a lot with signs and I show her what I want her to do.  I don’t know how it happens for me; but I just find myself describing things and she understands. For Marceline, it is still hard and I am going through a great ordeal with her even though she is so talented and very fast and in fact, she did my pink braids and even the white braids. People like her need to deal with my client on a day-to-day basis and it often difficult when it comes to relating with a client. 

I have experience it a few times.  There was a day every body went upstairs for a meeting, so while we were doing the meeting, she was the only person left in the saloon, because obviously she is not going to hear what we are saying in the meeting and so we don’t bother involving her in the meeting. So a client came in and was like, ”I want to perm my hair and blablabla… she said all tones of things to Marceline and she was just looking at her and the client got upset that she never got any response from Marceline upon all she had told her. And all Marceline did was to just utter some inaudible words and immediately the client knew there was something wrong and then decided to walk out and just then I came in. And I was trying to talk to her like, “excuse me, what do want to do? All she said was, “No, no, no, I don’t want to do anything here and she left. We have so many people like that who cannot tolerate this kind of people and do not even want these people to touch them. Once they find out that they have a disability, they would just behave as if hey have disease.

For God sake, they are humans as well, just that they can’t speak nor hear and that does not mean that they are not useful nor do not know what they are doing. I also have other clients who come and are like, Toyin tell the girl to do my hair and after she might have done it, they are like, “wow! This girl is so talented. So I really want people to pay attention to this set of people, and put them to use. We have parents with kids like Marceline that are left at home; they don’t even want people to see them or mx with them. They don’t even know that there are schools like my fashion school or my beauty school that can train people like this and give them a chance to grow. Not that I really wanted to train Marceline and Gladys; it just happened for me. 

Their mom can speak and she has five kids who are all like that. Both parents are very okay but all their kids are like that. Marceline was actually in Togo and was brought to me eight months ago. Gladys is the one that does all my kids line now and now I am trying her on my adult’s line. And apart from training them, I am so involved in their personal lives.  Right now, Gladys is going for African Fashion Week, Nigeria. It happened that when they saw the designs she made, they said I should create a collection for her. So she is going for African Fashion Week, Nigeria. So what I am doing now is actually for new set of people that I am trying to reach out to. When we choose these two people, I am going to train one in my saloon and the other in my fashion school. And after two years of training them, I should be able to open up small shops for them.

What drives you?
My passion for my business, my fashion and beauty, and apart from these, is my mom.  My mom was an entrepreneur; she had a big beauty supply shop abroad, which is still running today. She had a saloon, a fabric store; a spas and she was selling cars and gold. She was also into catering as well and she had a hotel.  She was doing any business that was done at that time. While growing up, I got all the idea for my beauty products, Tiannah Globe products, from my mom. Fashion, beauty, entertainment and food have been my life. That is what I grew up knowing. My family was all in business since when I was young so it is not new to me. And it is something I am doing for the passion but I believe that apart from the passion, your parents must also support you and that was what my mom did all along.

How did you go into fashion professionally?
I had passion for it since when I was young. I have always been stylish since I was in school. As per the fashion aspect of it, I really wanted to turn it into money but since I had so much passion for it, I started by just selling in boutiques. I will put things together for people for special occasions and all that. And then a friend told me I was so talented and that I should start doing my designs myself rather than taking them to the tailor and then I thought about it. I started styling for Complete Fashion magazine and then one day I started with a piece, which someone else wore, and I was like, I don’t want to do anything that anyone have had in this life and that was when I took my designing serious.

I have been designing since I was young but I never took it serious.  I just used to do it for little change.  The first outlet I opened was a spa and boutique and a little supermarket in my hostel then in University of Lagos. So when I saw my design won by somebody else, I started designing by myself to style. Every piece I style now, I design it myself. Any red carpet my client is going to, I make sure I design it.  I don’t buy. Today, Tiannah Place Empire has kicked off fully.  I am a stylist, a designer and in fact, I hate it when people call me a stylist. That is one of the talents I have. I am a stylist but don’t limit me.  You can call me an entrepreneur or a business mogul.  Everything I do, we have clients for it every day.