By Damilola Fatunmise
Reality show star, Maria Chike Benjamin gained prominence shortly after participating in the sixth edition of Big Brother Naija tagged: ‘Shine Your Eyes’, and ever since, the beautiful, light skinned superstar has carved a place for herself in the entertainment industry.
In this interview, Maria spoke about the challenges of participating in reality shows, toughest life decision and why her late father is her role model. Please enjoy it.
Outside of what your fans know about you, how would you describe yourself?
I would describe myself as a resilient hard worker, who is empathic, loyal, socially open, God fearing, money driven and family-oriented.
From being an airhostess to working in real estate and participating in reality show, and then acting; your career journey has been progressive. What are the factors that influenced your career decisions?
Watching my late father succeed in almost everything he did, and being able to always provide beyond our basic needs, I promised myself that I’d work to be like him. With the world changing extremely fast and more advanced, I find that being the best you can in whatever you put your mind to can make one achieve a lot. I’ve tried different sectors and given my best. I keep on trying each day, as I’m not my best self yet, but I am indeed thankful for how far I’ve come in life. So, I would say family is a major influential factor for me, and coupled with the fact that without money, life problems seem more difficult.
How would you define success and what are the sacrifices you’ve had to make to be successful?
Success should be defined by each individual in his or her own way. For me, success is achieving my heart’s desires. One would wonder what my heart desires are. But to me, it’s purely being happy that I’m able to help people around me – family, friends and strangers in the most littlest way I can, be it word of advice, monetary, comforts etc. But I would have to be happy within myself first before I’m able to fill others with happiness.
Your stint on the Big Brother Naija show must have exposed you to Nigeria’s celebrity ‘stan’ culture. How have you been able to navigate that and all that comes with it?
It’s quite overwhelming and a blessing at the same time. To find that people genuinely love you for just being yourself with flaws and all. I’d also like to say I’m learning each day to not get so wrapped up in it, as sometimes this love they have for one becomes controlling, and you find they want to control and dictate how your life should be lived, which for me, it’s impossible for anyone to dictate how my life should be lived, as I wake up each day and let my life’s fate work.
What’s the toughest decision you’ve ever made personally and professionally?
Moving to the United Arab Emirate would be the toughest decision I’ve had to make personally and professionally. Professionally, because I had a great paying job in the UK and there was also room for career progression. In fact, I was almost being promoted with the company I was working for at the time in the UK. But I just wanted a change of scenery and a different working environment.
I’ve never been wrong so far with my impulsive decisions. And I would say personally, because I practically had zero family or friends in this whole new continent and culture I was moving to. And I hadn’t visited the UAE prior to actually moving, I just moved. And after the first few months of moving, I was convinced it was the worst decision of my life. Until almost a year, having lived in Dubai to be specific, I decided this had been the best decision of my life. But it took resilience, hard work, dedication and so many sleepless nights of working and finding my own joy and peace that I truly started appreciating my new life.
If you have the opportunity to walk back on a decision, which would it be?
I never look back on past situations whether difficult or easy one. I’m always thankful for each encounter or opportunity I’ve ever had. I believe everything we experience shapes us for what’s to come next, and that helps our life path. This, for me, is how we grow and learn.
Who are your biggest influences professionally and personally, and why?
Till date, my late father is and will forever be my biggest influence. His love for humanity and his truth for what’s right got him a lot of hate, but he was always the last man standing. He was into politics and had his own company too. His love for family and strangers made me see his heart to the core. I always want to be like my father or maybe better.