It wasn’t one of those days when you would wish you never came out of the house, either because of heavy traffic congestion, hot weather, rain or the sombre clouds to darken your mood. The weather was just ideal!
In less than twenty minutes I was at the venue for my meeting, Four Points Hotel. I made my way up the spiral staircase and was welcomed by a gentleman, well dressed in his fitted grey suit, spotless white shirt and wine tie that matched perfectly. He walked me to the table and in no time, my guest came in, gracefully dressed, with a welcoming smile that adorned her face. The closer she came to the table, the brighter she glowed. We exchanged a warm embrace and the gentleman made sure she was okay and later called the waitress to take our orders. He was indeed polite but always made sure my guest was okay, gently dabbing the sweat off her forehead.
It was obvious the gentleman was related to her. I wasn’t surprised when she introduced him to us saying, “I am sure you have met him already but let me introduce you to my best friend and husband, Aniekan Willie.”
“Whao! That explains it all,” I thought. They were so much into each other I had to ask how long they had been married and when she told me twenty years, I couldn’t help but admire the closeness, love and sincerity of companionship they shared. I asked her the secret of the success of their relationship.
“Genuine friendship is key to marriage; it provides the foundation from where companionship rests. My husband and I have been friends long before we got married and that has been helpful in our marriage,” she tells me.
Edak Willie is my Leading Woman for this week. Edak, the CEO of First Impression Design, a fashion outfit in Lagos, holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from the University of Lagos. She attended Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) training school and was also trained as a TV presenter in London. She was formerly the executive producer and presenter of ‘Rays of Hope’, a television programme that strives to create awareness by tackling the most frequently asked questions.
Edak, a mother of three, is from Onna in Akwa Ibom State and is now the executive producer and presenter of her own health and lifestyle show called ‘The Edak Willie Show (EWS)’ which currently airs on NTA, Silverbird, and other terrestrial stations in Nigeria.
Edak grew up in a loving family with both parents as teachers. However, as a child, she was somewhat sickly and had to undergo many rounds of treatment but her best and enduring relief usually came from natural remedies, and so, her interest in natural remedies developed naturally from there.
“I like natural remedies and have spent some time researching and studying it in order to understand its application. I have travelled far and wide to research on it. You can’t go wrong with anything natural but you must understand how to use it so you don’t abuse it. This is very cogent,” she says.
Shedding more light on EWS, Edak says, “We have repackaged the show to deliver needed information and awareness to our audience, especially in the area of healthcare. We aim to enhance the packaging and delivery to make it more informative as well as entertaining. I also realise that many people do not have information about common ailments and the helpful home remedies that abound. And so EWS hopes to fill this gap.”
Constantly being in front of the camera for recording can be demanding. How then does Edak combine work and family duties? “I have a very supportive family,” she tells me. “We do things together so there is involvement from all of us in the project, and that way no aspect is neglected.”
Edak’s show is quite different from what generally obtains on health programmes and she explains how and why. “We complement what is already out there in a uniquely different way through our style of delivery. We have direct approach that our audience finds easy to connect with. The main focus for us is health but again, lifestyle flows naturally from a healthy people,” she says.
The Edak Willie health and lifestyle show is a compelling eye-opener and a life-transforming thirty-minute TV show designed for our contemporary everyday lifestyle barricaded by unhealthy practices. But Edak simply tears down the barricades by enlightening her viewers and helping them to balance health and lifestyle. Through this show, she hopes to effect positive changes in the society through the medium of television broadcasting and in so doing dispel myths, that inhibiting factor to every human attempt at progress.
KEMI AJUMOBI
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