An Open and Personal Conversation with Teni Makanaki on #WithChude!
Teni the Entertainer gave me an exclusive interview about her life, her greatest fear, the moment in 2020 that broke her and why music gives her so much joy.
There were tears, there was laughter, and there was truth.
I don’t think you’ve seen Teni this open and personal, before.
Teni Speaks on Self worth and being Confident!
My Father singlehandedly chased Armed Robbers away from Isolo. If you go to Okota and ask who my Father was, they’ll tell you. My father died for the people. When armed robbers will come around, he’d go out and chase them away. He helped a lot of people and gave people Free Education. So coming from that kind of legacy, it’s only right to be confident.
Growing up, my mum would tell me, “Don’t forget the child of whom you are – You were born for success. Be yourself. You’re perfect the way you are. Be good and respectful to people”.
I grew up with my parents having a lot of staff. Then I remember one day, my mum stopped the laundry people from doing our laundry; so we had to do our laundry by ourselves. So, sometimes I’ll bribe them. But on this particular day, I had to wash my uniform by myself. Our house had a lot of dogs. So if you ever forgot your clothes on the line, the dogs would bite them. I woke up in the morning and remembered that I forgot to pack my uniform from the line, I ran downstairs to the back. I didn’t know my mum was right behind because she had to get to work early that day. I ran passed the cleaner and forgot to greet her. My mum noticed and said, “So you’re the one paying their salary now, that’s why you can’t greet them. I pay their salaries and I still greet them”. I explained to her that it wasn’t intentional, I just had to rush to get my clothes.
My mum disciplined me and for two weeks, I was packing the faeces of the dogs, cleaned the gutters, and was made the cleaner of the house. She didn’t care if I got to school late. I was always flogged when I arrived late to school.
So I learnt respect for Power. No matter powerful or successful you become, you have to be respectful. So it was never that kind of confidence that would bring others down. It was the lesson of knowing who you are but still respecting people. So there’s a difference between you just being confident and trampling on people’s person and knowing who you are and still helping others find out who they are.
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