MY EXPERIENCE AT THE SLAY FESTIVAL

Outfit Details: Denim suit, Floral vintage shirt, Leather brown belt (Styling DIY), Denim jeans/pants,Black tote bag, Black wooden clogs. 

The slay festival - a one day celebration which held last Saturday, February 17th. An event organized by ‘She Leads Africa’, a community for smart and ambitious young African women. As learning is not only for women, and with the whole hype going about the event, I knew it was some place I should also be.

I got my ticket for N5,000 in anticipation of a great experience, and I must say I had a lovely time as it was fun-filled as expected plus I also got to meet a vast number of intellectual people. In my own opinion however, there could have been more value added than seminars. With such price for a ticket, souvenirs wouldn’t be too bad an idea and a meal after the seminars to suffice, sadly, neither of those were present.

The event was slated to commence by noon. I got there an hour early so I’ll get settled on time and of course take pictures when there is less struggle and scorching sun.

I remember finding the ‘keke napep’ by ‘the yellow of lagos’ particularly interesting. The outlook was one that spoke of glamour in a beaming yellow color. I also found the ‘Maggi’ stand interesting as it redefined the beauty of the regular ‘danfo’ Lagos buses.

After an hour of getting used to the environment and scouting around observing various entrepreneurial stands as diverse items were on display ranging from food to clothes to bags, I reached for the first seminar of the day which was my last actually.

There were different seminar tents and of course it wasn’t possible to be present in all at the same time because they all took place simultaneously. It included the ‘Money and Success stage’, ‘The Art and Culture’, as well as the ‘Health and Wellness stage’. I still wonder why I wasn’t at the second tent, reason being I wasn’t even aware that there were various tents as i hurriedly found myself seated in one of the tents which happened to be the ‘Money and Success’ tent. 

Maybe, it was some place I was meant to be as I learnt a few things. Prominent of all the things I learnt was, ‘How to draft a CV’. The speakers individually explained that, your CV, also known as resume is a way of communicating with your interviewer thus posing as a ‘pre-interview’. It was explained that a CV shouldn’t necessarily be lengthy containing various paragraphs but concise enough to comprehend easily, also not too concise to lack meaning as it is expected of you to highlight your strengths in bullet points. 

It was also brought to our notice that firms now run CV’s over an application, separating CV’s containing cliché/regular keyword which has already been previously inserted into the application. Thus, in other to stand out, it is important to be articulate in your choice of words, using words that best describe your strengths (i.e skills and relevant experiences). They further offered to correct CV’s of those that were interested after the seminar.

The long but enlightening seminar of what seemed like five hours; which in actual sense was only about two came to an end. I was somewhat famished, I reached to one of the vendor’s stand and I had ‘Spicy turkey wings’ and ‘Chapman’ for brunch - it was indeed refreshing.

Concluding within myself that I was done for the day, my subconscious reminds me there are still some seminars left, I ignore him totally as it was already a long day.

I notice for the second time the tall ‘Eyo’ statute outside the square which I earlier noticed when I arrived but didn’t indulge with. I take pictures of it as I forgot to do so the other time, and there was this middle-aged man probably in his forties yelling from a distance in Yoruba, a language prominent in the Western side of Nigeria, ‘Se ‘Eyo’ lo fe ma yaa?’ translated in English as ‘Is it the ‘Eyo’ statute you want to take pictures of?’

I ignore him totally as I could already tell of his sentimental and superstitious point of view which I didn’t really want to rub off on me. I take yet more pictures as in disagreement of his gestures, I can tell he is sighing under his breath, my subconscious laughs as in mockery, I caution him yet again.

The sun was gradually returning into the sky as it was already half past five, I wish I could stay longer for the musical shows at seven pm, the thoughts of how cool that would be run through my head. I also remind myself of how exhausted I already am, and that was my perfect cue to finding my way home.

Did you have a glimpse of my experience at ‘The Slay Festival’? Were you enlightened by some of the facts shared? Let me know your exact thoughts in the comment section as I would be much delighted to read them. Thanks for stopping by!

Love, Tijesu.