Metallic Inc. founder Grace Ladoja MBE and Irene Agbontaen who is the founder of TTYA London, recently got a feature in fashion publication Jendaya about their rising careers, being disruptors in the creative space, and how sisterhood has made their journey to success much easier.
Read excerpts from the interview below:
On working as UK grime artist Skepta’s manager
Grace: My work with Skepta has all-round been amazing. He’s the best person to work with; he’s got an amazing vision… it’s really amazing and inspiring to work with him every day
On the importance of shining a light on their Nigerian heritage and on African culture in general
Grace: I think that Africa’s always had its own voice. If you look through the ages, it’s always been iconic movements, shifts, [in terms of] music coming from Africa. I think the difference now is that the spotlight’s on it because it’s big business for the West. D’you know what I mean?. Our main thing is that we as a collective community make sure that we highlight and push the right message of the people that have actually pioneered things, the people that have done all of the groundwork. There are so many people that have done so much work in Africa to get it to the point that it is [at]. So it’s so important that when this ‘boom’ happens, they are at the forefront of that. And that’s what we’re all responsible for, through any collaboration.
On friendship and collaboration being important ingredients to their success:
Irene: A lot of people ask us, ‘you guys seem like you’re in a clique; what advice would you give [on getting into the London scene?’ And I always say that it all starts with your own personal network and how you grow that organically. Align yourself with people that have similar goals. I call Grace crying about things all the time, but we [also] sometimes exchange words with each other where we can uplift each other, we can empower each other. [Grace and I have] just been talking in the back just now about next moves and December and what each other is working with, and [asking] ‘how I can help with what she’s doing [and vice versa]?’ I feel like that’s why we’ve always aligned with each other; we have a similar skill set but [we] also have similar objectives. So in that way, no-one feels like someone’s taking more or less [out of the friendship than the other person].
Read the full feature on www.jendaya.co.uk
Credits
Shot & Directed: @tracd_
Photographer: @philippraheem
Stylist: @_feliciabrown_
Styling Assistant: @the_coolgenius
Makeup: @ifrenchkiss