I Had To Deal With Being Told No Multiple Times – Temi Otedola

Nollywood actress, Temi Otedola has come out to detail her experience since she launched her fashion blog in 2014.

She recently had her say via a new lengthy post on her Instagram page, and fans have been reacting.

According to her, she had to go through a lot of stress to become successful, and while people only tend to see the glamourous parts of her work, a lot of painful effort goes into them.

Temi added that she had to deal with moments of imposter syndrome, failed projects, many bad outfits, and being told no multiple times.

Her words, “I never post things like this but December 19th marked the 10 year anniversary since the start of my career. When baby 17 year old Temi started building jtofashion.com running between university classes and photoshoots she didn’t really have a clue where this was all heading but she was determined. I wish I could hug that girl and tell her all the hard work would pay off!!

What started as fashion blogging turned into writing, presenting, event hosting, modelling, creative direction, stage acting, film acting, singing, podcasting – I took every opportunity I could!! There was also so much trial and error in my journey: Failed projects. imposter syndrome, NO’s and many bad outfits.

I never usually give myself the credit but this first week of 2025 I’ve been a bit nostalgic and have looked back over the countless photoshoots, rehearsals, emails, meetings, pitches, auditions, 5am call times and missed opportunities, I’m proud of myself for never giving up on my dreams and staying consistent throughout my 20s.”

WOW.

Nollywood is a sobriquet that originally referred to the Nigerian film industry. The origin of the term dates back to the early 2000s, traced to an article in The New York Times. Due to the history of evolving meanings and contexts, there is no clear or agreed-upon definition for the term, which has made it a subject to several controversies.

The origin of the term “Nollywood” remains unclear; Jonathan Haynes traced the earliest usage of the word to a 2002 article by Matt Steinglass in the New York Times, where it was used to describe Nigerian cinema.

Charles Igwe noted that Norimitsu Onishi also used the name in a September 2002 article he wrote for the New York Times. The term continues to be used in the media to refer to the Nigerian film industry, with its definition later assumed to be a portmanteau of the words “Nigeria” and “Hollywood”, the American major film hub.

Film-making in Nigeria is divided largely along regional, and marginally ethnic and religious lines. Thus, there are distinct film industries – each seeking to portray the concern of the particular section and ethnicity it represents. However, there is the English-language film industry which is a melting pot for filmmaking and filmmakers from most of the regional industries.