DEBORAH OCHENI 
Based on cultural practices, women in the country have been relegated to provision of services in some fields including nursing, midwifery, and sewing, among others. With globalisation, however, they are moving into new fields as well as mastering these novel trades, reports DEBORAH OCHENI
Women are now moving into fields previously reserved for men including areas such as disk jockeying and other male dominated fields. The challenges women face in predominantly male-dominated occupations are often caused by men, the masculine cultures of these occupations and sometimes by senior women in those occupations, who may fail to give a ‘leg up’ to the women coming up behind them.
In addition to the challenges faced by females in the entertainment industry in Nigeria, an exceptional and young female disc jockey, Nanayat Abedoh popularly known as ‘DJ Nana’ said female DJs face the problem of acceptance. “One of the challenges that female disc jockeys face is acceptance. A lot of women are not taken seriously because of how society sees us. A lot of people try to dominate and take advantage of one as a woman because they believe one is not strong enough,” she said. She speaks about people who have inspired her in life as: “A lot of people who have done great things inspire me. I like Oprah Winfrey and I have been her fan since I was young.
She has had an exemplary life and is someone worthy of emulation. As a matter of fact, I don’t hang around people I can’t learn from. I’m like a sponge that soaks up everything that is worthy.” Speaking about the lucrative nature of her career, she noted that “I do well and just like every other profession I’m doing well and my choice of career is lucrative enough for me.
“As humans we always strive and want more but I’m really not wide eyed. I’m very comfortable and so far pay my bills comfortably from what I do.” DJ Nana said her background does not influence who she is now “My background has absolutely nothing to do with what I am now. My experiences did most of the job because going by my background I wouldn’t have come this far but I was able to use every situation experience to build myself.
I told myself what I wanted: I stayed away from what I didn’t want to be a part of my life or part of my story and because I started at a very tender age I was able to make a lot of mistakes, learn from them, pick myself up and build me into what I know best works for my person.” Speaking about the government’s involvement in the affairs of creative people in Nigeria, she said: “I have no idea because I’ve never had to deal with government or anything that has to do with government. I really have zero or no impute in this as I don’t speak on what I don’t know about and nothing has been attributed to me personally when it comes to government and entertainment. So I really have no idea what goes on in that part; I just survive with what I have to deal with.”
She recorded her highest achievement in the entertainment industry as “Deejaying has helped me to build a life. I have been able to plan my life in such a way that disc jockeying pays my bills. And that was why I came up with the concept of ‘DJ Nana Power Talk’ and ‘Spin with Nana’. All those are investments around my career that are bringing me money even when I’m not behind the turntable. Deejaying has elevated me from that girl that was looking for what to eat to the girl that can afford to feed people now. It has also upgraded me from living in a room to a very comfortable house right now. DJ Nana attended LEA Primary School, Wuse 2, Abuja, then went to Saint Joseph Secondary School in Lagos. She sat for the West African School Certificate Examination at Logic High School Alagbado in Lagos and afterwards did a diploma in Law at the Lagos State University.
She narrated her career journey as: “I was a dancer all through my secondary school days. When I was writing GCE, I joined the Dance Na the Main Thing group because I needed to make money. I attended a carnival around Ketu, Lagos, and that was where I saw a huge DJ stage and fell in love with the profession. Afterwards, I started telling everyone that cared to listen that I wanted to be a DJ. The biggest sacrifice I made was forfeiting my admission to study Law at the University of Abuja, in order to learn from DJ Jimmy Jatt. My sister warned me then that I couldn’t afford to fail but here I am today with no regrets.
“Being in a male-dominated industry made me have a plan. The first thing was not to expect anything from people and come up with how to get people to know me. Jimmy Jatt always looked and smelt good and I didn’t have money for that. So I bought second- hand clothes in order to measure up. I didn’t want to be the girl that was pitied and I made sure that I looked good. Sao I could stand with him. Eventually, when I started getting my own gigs, I built a name for myself. I came into the industry with a plan so I’m not in a rush. “One of the personal qualities that have got me to where I am is stubbornness.
I’m extremely stubborn about whatever I want to do. If I envision it, I would find a way to do it. If I beg anyone to do something for me and they refuse, I would find a way without the person. I pay close attention to whatever I’m doing and that has helped me professionally. I’m very time conscious when it comes to my work and I don’t see myself as a celebrity.
I reprimand and check myself when necessary. If there is a job that I think I didn’t do well, I literally won’t be able to sleep well as I would keep working on my mistakes.” She concluded that she would have been a lawyer: “If I wasn’t a DJ, I would have been a lawyer. I love mind games and tongue twisters. The latter helps you think on your feet. I was really looking forward to becoming a lawyer before the disc jockeying thing came along. I’m talkative and I love to argue and that points to the fact that I would have been a good lawyer”.
