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Gaya

Believe it or not, it has been ten whole years since Maraji picked up her phone and started making videos online. The decade-long stint starts in 2016, back at her parents' home in Lagos. At the time, Maraji was a huge fan of the YouTuber, Lilly Singh, who inspired her to start making what was popular in that era: lip sync videos and dances on Musical.ly (now TikTok). Soon, she tried her hand at comedy with a simple sketch, and to her surprise, it got a virality that none of her other lip sync videos had. She speaks about it like it was yesterday, saying, “I was really shocked cuz I thought the songs and dances were what were bringing people in, just for me to try doing my own authentic content, and people actually really preferred it to what I was doing. The response was what encouraged me to just keep doing what I like.”

Since then, her comedy has taken a life of its own, with her voice and format being instantly recognizable by nearly 3 million fans across her social media platforms: Sharp and witty observational humour that is as relatable as it is natural, multi-character skits, one face, several personalities.&nbsp;

“It doesn’t even feel very long to me, honestly,” she says of the decade that has passed since that first skit. “I naturally just gravitate towards my own kind of content. I’m still very excited to create that kind of content. When I create something I like, it makes me want to keep doing it cuz I enjoy it.”

&nbsp;&nbsp;In today’s creative economy, where trends expire in weeks and virality is fleeting, Maraji’s&nbsp;career has stood steadily. She built a brand based on her voice, her standards, and diligence through the changing tides of her life.&nbsp;

“I pretty much do everything,” she says. Her husband, a filmmaker, assists with filming (especially during pregnancy and postpartum seasons), but the creative architecture and backbone remain completely Maraji’s. Though many may expect her to have a full-blown camera crew and team, Maraji still is her own creative lead and director: She still writes her scripts. She still edits. She still fine-tunes pacing, transitions, and character shifts.

&nbsp;“I respect my audience,” she says. “Even when I work with brands, I’m not going to just put out anything because I’m being paid. I’ll try it. I’ll test it.” It is a simple standard, yet rare. Maraji’s experience and success is telling of how the creative economy works and who it favors; not just those with high views, but people who have credibility.

Perhaps the most surprising revelation is that the woman behind the flamboyant and hilariously opinionated characters is, by her own description, deeply introverted. “I’m actually an introvert,” she says. “I don’t do well in social gatherings. I love being indoors.”

Her introversion has also shaped the way she navigates collaboration with other skitmakers and creators. While there have been multiple conversations and plans, they all seem to fall apart at the last minute. “I went to Nigeria last year. I was supposed to collaborate with someone, but I couldn't do it because of my daughter. She was just 2 months old at the time when I left, and I was full-time breastfeeding.” Currently living in Ghana and raising children with her husband, Maraji’s focus is now work and her growing family.&nbsp;

Speaking more about the impact of this new stage of her life, she recalls when her first son was born, and the inevitable critiques and comments came in about her slower work rate and output. Many tweets and comments brashly insisted that she had “fallen off” and even though some of her loyal fans argued that all moms deserve grace, it certainly wasn’t easy to navigate: “Motherhood was new to me. It was a lot,” she says.

Ten years in the game, however, she is no stranger to criticism. Speaking of the first time she had actually received hate and criticism from viewers online, she shares, “All I had received prior to that was a lot of love for the kind of content I was posting. But then, with subsequent times that people had different opinions to me, I just kind of got used to it and just understood that that was the nature of my job and that if I was going to be authentic to my audience and they were going to get to know the real me, they would have to disagree sometimes with it.”

“I’m very opinionated,” she says, almost amused. “My opinions might be controversial or not, but I'm somebody who likes to deep dive into conversations and understand why people think the way they think.”

In a digital culture that can often backfire, expressing firm opinions often feels like stepping into a pot of hot water. But for Maraji, authenticity is simply a part of who she is. “A lot of people have not come to terms with the fact that you can disagree with somebody and not have negative opinions about them. But I feel like that's something the internet will learn with time. I wouldn't say that anybody would have so thick of a skin to not feel any emotion when someone hates them or doesn't like them for the opinion they share. But I feel like with time you kind of get used to it and accommodate the whole situation and move along.”

Maraji’s radical authenticity just goes to prove that talent and charisma may open the door for opportunities, but it is authenticity, diligence, and grace that keep it from closing. And while the internet moves fast, audiences still recognise sincerity and stick to their favorite creators because of it.&nbsp; On her astounding success over the years she shares that God’s grace is the hugest reason for her success while adding that “the way the internet works in my opinion is that you can't tell when you're going to make this much money or make that much money and so you are not going to be able to tell your audience how to perceive your videos. You're not going to tell brands whether to reach out to you or not. And so I feel like I'm just going to keep being diligent with what I'm being given and see where life takes me.”

With the grace of God and diligence in her work, Maraji is also hugely inspired by her own community of fans, followers, and colleagues. She shares, “When I see other women with so many jobs as well as motherhood and stuff like that...&nbsp; I'm so inspired, and that really pushes me. You need to be diligent with yourself. It can't be easy. It's hard. But I am always trying to encourage moms, especially. Nobody's going to hand it over to you. So yeah, with my content and some of this information in some of my vlogs, I try my best to make sure that I'm encouraging women and young people.”&nbsp;

When asked about advice for upcoming talent, she shares that everybody really just has to do their best to find out what works for them; however, “authenticity and just respecting the people that choose to follow you is very, very important because these are the people that will stay. And so numbers are not as important as people might think, but people actually understanding that you bring value is very important in my opinion.”

Despite her massive success in the realm of social media, the sky is still the limit. The comedienne shares that though her focus is to continue her current work while juggling motherhood, she hopes to try her hand at the silver screen once her children become more independent.&nbsp;

“I love films, and so it's something that I really want to do. But I'm not putting pressure on myself to when I will do that”. For her inspiration, she cites people like Kemi Adetiba and says, “She's an icon. I like the way her mind works. And so she's somebody that I really look up to when it comes to the movie industry in Nigeria. And so I'm just working at my pace and seeing what I can do when that time is ripe.”&nbsp;

It is this type of calm certainty and trust in the diligence of one's work that has contributed to Maraji’s decade-long success. For her final words of advice, she lets us know that as a creator, you just have to start: “Sometimes I go back on my old videos and I see my lighting setup or the equipment I was using then, and I'm just like, 'Oh my word.’ Like, who was even watching this nonsense? But yeah, nobody cared at the time. They enjoyed it. They thought it was great content. But now I'm seeing it in retrospect,&nbsp; and I can see how I could have changed it. And I feel like that can be anybody. Like just post. Just do you. You would thank your stars that you actually did, because you would see how much you have grown. You'll be better than you were when you started.”&nbsp;

And look at her now: Ten years in the game, and she is miles away from where she started. From her parents' living room to her own home and budding family, as well as a dedicated community of fans, followers, premium brands paying for content, and surely even much more in the years to come. 

Gloria Oloruntobi Mensah aka Maraji, speaks about the unwavering authenticity that led to her success as one of Nigeria’s most recognizable female skitmakers and creators. With work, motherhood, and steady momentum on her plate, she’s a blueprint for consistency and longevity in today’s bustling creative economy.


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