Banana Island Living Podcasts

With nearly 30 years as an international civil servant working with the UN, Yewande Odia has been in all the hotspots - Somalia, Haiti, Goma, Tchad and yes, even New York (the original hotspot)!  

In this episode, we discuss:

• UN or bust - how to get your foot through the door;
• Trevor Noah, Chris Rock and the attraction of the educated comic;
• Theatre arts, school band, UN? Not the most obvious of career paths;
• Dangerous situations and intense friendships - the correlation;
• Korean dramas, Old school R & B and the turgid book that doesn't bear finishing;
• The bucket list - and yes, even Yewande who has done it all and seen it all still has things to tick off.

Yewande finds a joke, a pun that needs some thinking about but that, surely, is the point. This episode will get you thinking about resilience, perseverance and the changing nature of friendships as we grow older.

As if Sarah Boulos’s backstory (past imperfect?) was not epic enough, her present continuous one merits its own Hollywood (or is it Nollywood?) biopic. Born in Burkina Faso, schooled in France and US, Lebanese father and  French mother; living in Nigeria for many decades, Sarah has truly bloomed where she was planted.

Vibrant, passionate and a muse, Sarah’s life has been one of great highs and horrible lows, heady peaks and shattering troughs, filled with sublime moments and truly ridiculous phases. And still she rises.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Being white in Africa - privilege or albatross?;
• Yes, trust fund babies also cry;
• Losing multiple family members within 24 hours;
• That epic marriage cum merger - yes, that one;
• The soul preserving discovery of faith  - for Sarah it’s all encompassing;
• SPAN (Society for the Performing Arts in Nigeria) and finding your purpose.
• The bucket list - step aside Oprah;

Between Chat GPT and Google’s Bard, Sarah tells a joke, or rather, finds a joke and tells it sweetly. This episode will give you a whole new respect for that delicate high wire oxymoronic space between supreme confidence and touching humility. Yes, the future is conditional.

Blessing Adesiyan established WorkLife Africa, a think-tank focussed on transforming the continent's workforce and work spaces. She has made quite a journey from tech to care, not the first pivot that springs to mind  but as the mistress of making lemonade from lemons, she now sits comfortably in her own skin.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Finding yourself pregnant in Uni and making it work;
• The incredible power of a loving father;
• Growing up in Nigeria, being fearless and that unquantifiable super power;
• The squeezed middle, the never ending care giving age and the sheer soul sapping burden of care;
• Japa, japaing and japadaing - hmmm;
• The pastor's daughter way to spirituality (and no, it doesn't involve church);
• Powerlifting, weights and we are in awe!

Blessing tells a joke, actually a true story but an absolute cracker.  This episode is a close up of a mega motivated person and one that just might get you lifting weights.

Ugoma Ebilah is a polymath - she has been an economist, successful financier, clothes designer, art dealer and now, one word which might just work when trying to box the unboxable would be 'creative entrepreneur'. 

In this episode, we discuss:

• The corporate lane, having an eye, wanting more and the side hustle mission creep. 
• Clarity vs choosing not to know.
• The indefinable attractiveness of being light.
• The secret dream job, the Mercedes Benz dream car and that most un-pc of creatures - the petrol head.
• London, the Barbican, then and now.
• Women vs men - and a new take on the us/them dynamic?
• Nina Simone, Davido and Wike - from the sublime to the ridiculous?.
• Mbari Mbayo - Mbayo + Kola = Mbari Kola; clue - it's members only.

Only the paranoid survive! Only the paranoid survive? 

Yes! Tokunboh George - Taylor lives by that mantra and she really should know. She is THE foremost PR strategist in Nigeria and founding Managing Director at Hill+Knowlton Strategies, Nigeria. Served her and her clients well (very well) and in this episode, we discuss:

• branding, self branding and positioning;
• that line between branding and pushiness;
• knowing what you want and getting ready to get it;
• Ikoyi Club, Golf and strategising;
• Charity work and image laundering;
• Korean dramas (help - can't get away from them);