Taking a Leap of Faith to Find Your True Passion With Tola Lawal

YOU TRANSITIONED FROM ENTREPRENEURSHIP TO EDUCATION TO ENTERTAINMENT. WHAT IS THE TOP FOR YOU? 

Tola: I don’t think I’ve gotten there yet. I’m trying to figure out how to marry my two passions of the youth consumer and marketing and branding. I think my next role in my career is going to be a youth consumer marketing position somewhere. If I have to create it or jump into a company with my data and say, “Hey guys, you’re missing this and this is what I can do,” then that’s what the next thing will be. Transitioning from one industry to another can be difficult, but I didn’t have a choice. In undergrad, I was president of everything and I would create all these activations for my friends and bring events to campus. I always remember how excited my friends would be when we would have events on campus because college can be boring sometimes. When I graduated, I said I was going to work in a college relations department at a label, but they don’t even exist anymore. I’ve always just had that passion for working with students. When I was at BET, I actually did a tour for Carol’s Daughter and I hit six HBCUs in five days. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life. Just the response was amazing. The girls at FAMU were jumping over tables for hair products. I was like, “Wow, this is serious!” I was so excited that the were excited. 

WHAT’S THE BLUEPRINT TO TRANSFER TO ANOTHER INDUSTRY?

Tola: You just have to pay attention to the signs. I got laid off from BET. That was sign number one. As soon as I got laid off, the money really wasn’t coming in, but Black Enterprise sponsored a tour [that day I got laid off]. I hit a couple of colleges and it was just so fluid. When people heard that I was embarking on this new venture, people were willing to help, so I knew I needed to start paying attention to this. If it happens fluidly and everything starts falling into your lap, that’s what you’re supposed to pay attention to. Reluctantly I was paying attention to the signs. I was still applying to my entertainment jobs and for two opportunities that I was the number one candidate, someone came and swiftly came and snatched it out of my hand. I got two rejection letters on April Fool’s and I was like, “Alright God, tell me where I’m supposed to be.” 2015 was the roughest year of my life and I’m very transparent about that. I tell people all the time. It was a huge eye-opener for me, like I almost got evicted after one month of being late and I could understand that.  I had to reach out to my mother after a while but you know, who wants to ask their mother to pay their rent? I had to make that call and hear what she had to say.

WHAT ARE THE UNIQUE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ENTERTAINMENT AND EDUCATION?

Tola: Education is a lot more purposeful. You can see the effect that you’re having on people and students and the gratitude. You don’t get too many “thank you’s” in entertainment. Just a couple of days ago on my birthday, my eyes were watering from the texts messages from my students. When you’re in it, you don’t really feel like you’re making an impact or that they’re listening to your words, but when they start repeating things that you’re telling them I’m like, “Oh my gosh, you WERE paying attention!” It’s so much more purposeful. I love entertainment don’t get me wrong, but when you’re in an executive assistant position it’s very hard to get out of that role. Yes, I took the role because I was super happy to be at MTV but I was like, “I don’t want to be anybody’s EA for the next 10 years. I had to create my own opportunity. I created my own marketing and branding company and I would take all these freelance opportunities. My first client was Jamie Foxx and one of my friends worked for his management. I did some online marketing for him and I was always asking him and looking for freelance stuff. I knew that I had to create my own to prove that I could do it to get of the EA role.