The humans of Riquesa - My magical strategists
Queen Latifah with a man that actually married a woman named Queen. My amazing teammates. (Photo credit: Ramsey's iPhone) |
It’s been an amazing year by all standards and part of why I can boldly say that is the fact that I got to work with people that know their job, teammates that challenged me to be better while I already wrote about some of them, today is for my professional next of kins, my Strategy teammates.
Strategy is the fulcrum that balances any agency, while I
always maintain it’s never a competition and each of us is as important as all
of us, I also like to throw in my all-time favorite quote: "there’s no
amount of creative execution that can rescue a bad strategy."
Strategy folks are like the traditional number 10 in
football; close your eyes and imagine possibilities, hand it over to the guys
across the room, and voila! We have a sensational experience to deliver to our
clients, so in the context of Riquesa, these humans have helped me to stay
alive.
Step forward Basi-bum bum, the savage mobile stylist that
has a response for everything with alarming spontaneity. Basirat is intelligent,
asks the right questions, and knows her job. Of course, I wrote about her in
the past, you can refer to that article for the balance.
There was Justin, another intelligent human with great
potential but extremely distracted. I remember how “the man in red” questioned
certain things then, while he was right to the dots, the lesson within remains
a part of me. It is what it is like we always say.
And then there’s Latifah Baba-Ahmed, one of my favorite ever
colleagues. Queen Latifah is lovable, smart, and happy-go-lucky. There’s a
thing about me that she has and I hope it doesn’t haunt her as it does me, she’s
not confrontational one bit and would rather sweep things under the carpet and
keep it moving.
I must have mentioned on this journey that she’s now my client,
even though she’s owing me lots of briefs, Lati remains dear to me but that JBL
she’s asking for – which I know was advised by the other witch isn’t coming
soon, not anytime soon my dear.
Finally, there’s Ese Makanaki, first of her name, “ata wewe
adugbo”, with that deceptive demeanor that makes you think she’s gentle but as
I’ve come to realize, she’s not as hard as she fronts. Opinionated and full of playful
ideas, Esegboria of Duo Libra, okay that’s strange now but change is constant.
I’ve always loved strong personalities and apart from the
other guy, every single one of these humans shares that trait and it’s probably
why I love them; all of them have precise questioning as their superpowers and
even though there’s always a place of argument and confrontations on the job,
my respect for them is intact.
I promised to write something weird about all of them so
here’s it. Basirat has her hair tinted but this woman covers the beauty with
turbans and scarves, who does that? One day, she will tell me the point of going
golden and staying hidden. Pun intended.
It’s amazing how almost every guy I know within that wall
has a crush on Latifah and she’s somehow single, looking like an architect that
doesn’t own a house or a mechanic that doesn’t have a car. She can work on
water, you must have seen her pictures working under the table, she’s that weird.
Ese is the most arrogant vendor I’ve ever met. Sell me
fabric, she said she has closed for the year and that was the 9th of
December; or how she thinks she’s from the Emirates and can slam any price she
wants on her products while blackmailing you to think you’re buying something
special, aunty it’s just a random energy drink ko getat.
These guys are magical, I’m grateful to have experienced
their individual brilliance and collective crafts (sometimes with a touch of
ment) and I will always remember them as part of the greatness we’re building
at the theatre of dreams. Thank you, sweet souls.
Hahahahahah. Basirat in da building ✌️ It's amazing working with these set of intellectuals under the tutelage of the amazing Rambo. Thanks for being a great team lead. Happy new year in advance.
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