- I’m on a mission to transform Africa’s media into an emotional and mental safe space
Chude Jidenwo is the celebrity interviewer who finds a way to tell their most private vulnerabilities, helping them talk about their innermost passions, pains and successes. His #WithChude podcast has grown to become one of the most listened to in Nigeria and beyond. This weekend, he is set to break new records with the biggest celebrity live talk show and concert, featuring some of the biggest names in entertainment. ROTIMI IGE caught up with him recently and presents excerpts of their interactions.
When and how did you conceptualise the idea for With Chude Live?
I think 2020 was the first time, when I was watching Oprah’s Vision 2022, where she interviewed Michelle Obama, The Rock, Lady Gaga, and others. I thought to myself, “I want to do something like this.” But if people have observed my work in the past eight years, they will know that I wait until I feel like it is time.
Last year, January or February, I was coming from Badagry and I just thought, “It’s time to do this concert.” My main stage guests were confirmed since March last year. I confirmed Pastor Jerry Eze in March last year, Funke Akindele in March last year, because they’re busy people. I confirmed Bovi last year. But Oprah inspired it.
Why is it so important to tell their stories?
The reason why it’s important is two things. One, Nigerians have too many taboo topics. We’re not a vulnerable people. People will say we shouldn’t say that because people will talk, witches will do this, all of that. So, we have all kinds of culture of shame and silence. That’s why we don’t replicate success. We don’t even replicate change because we don’t tell other people how we did it. When asked, we say it was Grace. But what is Grace? Grace has steps.
As a culture, we are not a vulnerable culture, but we need to be. The reason why that is important is that people’s lives are changed more by stories than by data. I can come and give you all the data, but if I tell you a story, it becomes real. The number of people going through divorce, single parenthood, who have dealt with sexual abuse, and mail us, is staggering. And sometimes you see them in the comment section saying, “Because of this story, I’m going to take this action.” It’s automatic. A story changes your life immediately.
A story changed my life. I founded With Chude today because I watched an interview between Oprah and Brené Brown, and it was just for something I was also dealing with. After that, I said, “You know what, I want to do a show like this for Africa.”
There’s Red Media Africa, which I co-founded. When we launched this company, we said stories matter more than technology. Technology can enable, but it is stories that people use to make big decisions in their lives. When we tell vulnerable stories, it means we’re telling the truth. The truth changes people’s lives.
You have a healthy lineup of guests. Will there be a grouping system, maybe people in the music industry, influencers, content creators, actors, and writers?
Without sharing too much, the event is designed in a way that there’s music in between, and there’s magic in between. There are different kinds of things happening inside. However, there are three sets of conversations.
There’s the main stage interviews, which are one-on-one. So I’m doing one-on-one interviews with Pastor Jerry, one-on-one with Funke Akindele, one-on-one with Falz the Bad Guy, one-on-one with Bovi, and one-on-one with Chimamanda. The others are in two panels, not around particular themes or their sector, but around life issues. So it’s like, there are two major life issues we think people are dealing with, and we think these people can speak about them. We’ve grouped them into two panels.
Will you also share your own story?
Yes, I am. But it’s not going to be on a panel. My book is coming out later this year, published by Narrative Landscape, Chimamanda’s publishers. And this is the first time people are going to get a sneak peek. The book is called “How Depression Saved My Life”. So the part of my story I’m telling is how dealing with depression in 2016 led to me starting my show in 2020. So that’s the story we’re going to be telling.
You’ve built a solid virtual audience. Now that you’re going live, what’s going to happen to your virtual audience? Are they going to be able to be part of this experience?
What we are building here is a truly multimedia journalism brand focused on one individual. People don’t even know that our show is the most syndicated show in the country.
We are the most syndicated, without a doubt, but we don’t talk about it because the future is digital. All those stations already have audiences; we try to build ours. So, this is just one more extension of our community.
We want people to focus on this, buy tickets, and be blessed. We’ll announce the next step at the event.
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What do you hope to achieve after this show?
I want to contribute to transforming Nigeria’s culture into a safe space for mental and emotional health. That’s what I want.
One of the things I like about my show going viral is that people see that you don’t have to be a bully as an interviewer. You don’t need gossip to go viral. It’s very important.
I resigned as CEO of Red Media because I had some ideas. I said, let me go implement, let’s stop talking about it in Pan-Atlantic University as a case study. Let me go and show it.
The people who changed my life are the likes of Oprah, Iyanla Vanzant, all these people. Why should I be looking outside Nigeria for mental and emotional inspiration when we have people here?
Someone’s been depressed, hasn’t left the house in a week. Another’s husband has beaten her black and blue. She doesn’t know where to turn. She’s in a divorce, and her church has removed her from leadership. We have mental health issues here.
Why am I going abroad to find people whose stories can inspire me? I’m on an ambitious mission to transform Africa’s media into an emotional and mental safe space. That’s what I’m trying to do, one story at a time. The event will hold at Palms Mall, we are transforming that into a concert arena come Sunday, April 27.
and then