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 9^th 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.