Àaló Inception
The many first steps
You might be wondering, how does one begin a digital media company?
For this story to be, several key characters can’t be ignored. Of course, there is I, your humble main character and narrator, who believes she knows what she is doing. Follow along and meet the rest of the cast.
2022. I had just started podcasting. It was supposed to be a test run to understand the rudiments of podcasting, and I committed resources to starting it up. Alongside writing on my blog, recording and editing the podcast was my new favourite thing, and in that space, I had an epiphany. I was born to tell stories.
2023. I was fully convinced that I was going to start a storytelling company. This was after a failed attempt at starting a writing club.
Enters our first major character in this story - Mrs. Chinaza Ani. She is a TikToker, skincare and lifestyle content creator and entrepreneur, among other things. The initial phase of figuring out what I wanted to do and how I was going to do it was with her. I would write down a list of companies and inspiration for what I hoped to start, and we would have countless sessions brainstorming on how to implement it. It took a while to settle on a name, and I might not have done that without her input. She took the different tiny fragments of what I was trying to do and helped me find the company's essence, narrowing it down to what will become the tagline: stories, community, and humanity.
The second major player in this story is my friend, Mr. Emmanuel Jeremiah, a private chef, writer, editor, and psychology graduate. He was also on the brainstorming team and offered to be the editor of whatever writing or essays we had. He constantly asked for progress reports and updates on the company.
2024. I was in Owo, Ondo State, running my day job as a doctor, where I met the third and final major character - Dr. Daniel Olorunfemi. He is a graphic designer, and he started a consultation on brand image and design. We got talking about design, and I brought up the company and the idea of creating a logo. By the time we decided on a logo, he decided to partner with me and work on further design ideas for the company.
After the creation of the logo and becoming partners, we figured out our first project and went into the pre-production phase. (Don’t worry; there is an article dedicated to it.)
2025. I started working on the post-production of our first project and planning for the official launch of Àaló, which was delayed due to several factors.
And now, you are all caught up. See you in the next one.