Nadine Audifferen – A Breath Of Fresh Air On The Beat 99.9FM Lagos

If you an ardent listener of the various radio stations and conversant with the presenters on the shows, you will realize that there’s a slight change in the broadcasting landscape concerning the presenters. The departure of OAPs like Daddy Freeze from Cool 96.9FM and Olisa from the Beat 99.9FM could have created a vacuum in the system considering their expertise. That said; there’s a silver lining. The influx of new generation presenters like Nadine into the Beat 99.9FM Lagos is a welcome development.

With the face of a runway model and the voice of a movie star, Nadine is a breath of fresh air – she’s one of my most favorite presenters on the midday shows in Lagos. A co-presenter alongside Toolz, every weekday from 11 am – 4 pm, she also presents the Saturday Afternoon Show from 12noon – 4 pm, Nadine is witty, spontaneous, entertaining, but most importantly, her playlist is awesome. Christened Nadine Abidemi Obiomaka Olubusayo Audifferen, a native of Lagos and a graduate from the University of Birmingham where she studied Law, Nadine, brings a fresh perspective to broadcasting. I recently had a conversation with her.

Considering that your Instagram profile reads ‘Lawyer’, kindly talk about your journey into becoming a broadcaster?

She replies – “It’s a bit of a long story but I’ll try and give you the abridged version. If you scroll further down my Instagram page, there is a quote by Maya Angelou that says “My mission in life is not merely to survive but to thrive, and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style”. This has become the backbone of my life.

I have always believed that whatever I do in this life had to be in line with my God-given purpose and that it had to be something that filled me with passion. In my second year at the university, I realized that Law wasn’t it. I prayed hard, cried even and searched within myself for what my purpose could be. With the unabridged story, you will understand that God has crafted my path out with this media journey and He is leading me through it.

Anyway, in my second year at the university, I was soul-searching, praying and being very practical. I listed out every occupation I had ever dreamt of exploring – from being a chef, working in advertising, being a motivational speaker, a therapist, a human rights lawyer, and every single thing. I asked why I wanted these things and I realized media was the one thing that could encompass everything I wanted to achieve through each of these careers. So I began my journey to make it possible.

This was my second year in university and I was itching to move back to Lagos but in the meantime, I stalked all sorts of media personalities, sent out pretty embarrassing emails begging to be mentored, applied for random opportunities and whenever I was back on holiday, I harassed these personalities in person. Thank God they probably don’t remember me as that girl now.

When I finally moved back, I put in to study at the Nigerian Law School, the practicalities of living in Lagos and living with your parents set in and my media dream began to die a slow death. But God kept nudging me to revive that dream. Subsequently, anytime someone would ask what I did I would say I was a student but I was trying to get into media. Once Law School ended, I told myself I could no longer be ‘trying to get into media’ I had to be in media.

So I put it out there – in creation, to my friends and family, and the ball started rolling. One of my really good friends now, who was already doing bits in media, put a request out for an assistant. I didn’t know her but I was willing to enter this thing by any means necessary. I applied to be her assistant. I went in the first few days and we had a conversation about how I was over-qualified for the role (duh?) so she would have me on her show as a regular guest for visibility until something opened up.

Something did open a few weeks later, I was informed of an opening at the Beat 99.9 FM and I applied and I refused to let anybody in that building rest. It was the usual process – drop your voice, your CV, come in for an interview, and wait for a response, but the wait between the stages was so long at one point I started polishing my CV to apply for a legal job. Thankfully, the day after I had visited a few law firms and stared gloomily at my black and white, I got an email from HR that I had gotten the job”- Nadine

Socials

Instagram – @thenadineaudifferen

Culled from Mystreetz Magazine, Burna Boy edition