Shaffy Bello is a Nigerian film actress and singer. She first shot into the entertainment scene when she featured in a 1997 hit song by Seyi Sodimu titled, Love Me Jeje. Bello grew up in the United States, where she completed her education. Her first major film was Eti Keta, a Yoruba film. In 2012, she starred as Joanne Lawson in the TV series, Tinsel, and as Adesuwa in Taste of Love. She has since featured in several Yoruba and English language films and TV series including, When Love Happens, Gbomo Gbomo Express, It’s Her Day, Ovy’s Voice, Chief Daddy and Elesin Oba, The King’s Horseman. In this interview with IJEOMA THOMAS-ODIA, she speaks about her mentorship masterclass, ‘What I Know’, which embodies her experiences in the industry which spans over almost two decades.
Why did you choose to go in the line of mentoring?
It is simply because that is me, that is who I am. That is what my ‘source’ (God) has brought me up to do; that is what has been instilled in me; and it is what I was called to do. For example, Bovi is a comedian, his purpose is to make people laugh, and he impacts people with laughter; I impact people with this, and this is my own calling and I have to work in line with it.
You are well known as an actor and singer, why did you choose to show this side of you now?
I think it is God’s time. I think I was being prepped to do this. After I became an actor, I realised that I have an audience now and I have done acting for so long now that it is time to do something else. I knew within me that acting is not my purpose, it is simply what I do, and I love doing it. I love what I do, but impacting people is my purpose. Obviously, I am going to be juggling both now because that is where my passion lies.
How long have you been nurturing the idea of the ‘What I Know’ masterclass?
After my 50th birthday, God dropped it in my heart to do this. I had been nurturing it because I was scared of coming out to do this, I was scared because I wondered if I was truly ready, if there was time and if people would show up. I actually planned to do it for free, but then everyone around me insisted that value must cost something, so, we decided to put a price on it. I just really wanted to impact people and ignite something within them. I thank God that it happened this way and people were impacted.
What are your plans going forward?
To take this all over. I want this to become a national tour. That is what I would like and I think that is where we are going. We are going to make this a national tour, and we will go to different states and inspire people. It is not about money for me, I have gotten to that place that all I am looking for is sponsors so they can lighten this weight on me and I won’t have to keep spending my money to do this. If I get people to back me up, I can get very far and reach more people.
What do you hope attendees are equipped with?
Fulfilment and a hunger to do something different. If you have been doing the same thing and it is not working for you or you need some change, I think with the things that we talked about in class, if you practice it every day; which takes a lot, I honestly think that everybody can achieve what they want.
How are you finding balance with creating impact and being an entertainer?
The beauty of it is that we can set dates for the classes, and everything I need to speak about is in me, I carry that with me everywhere. So, in reality, one does not affect the other. I am shooting films and I take the time out to go and do what I love to do and create impact. After that I come right back to what I do best.
During the class, you said when you are done telling people what you know, many will not like you. Are you worried about the reception of what you have to say?
Do you really think I care what other people think? The people that I care about are the people who are going to give me money to give back to people; the people that will make this easier for me, the people that will sponsor me to take my message on a tour so that thousands of people can access it instead of hundreds of people. There is a lot going on in the social media space, and we want our children to veer back to where they want to be. This is one of those channels.
What lessons have you learned from this masterclass that you plan to apply going forward in future editions?
I am not going to rely on people to help me make it bigger. I have to have the funds and sponsors to do so. You cannot keep relying on people, you have to rely on yourself. I had to rely heavily on myself financially to do this and I cannot keep doing that.
