Tobi Asah
Founder of The Confident Naturalista
Tobi Asah
“Knowing your ‘big why’ is so important in helping you push through difficult days,” says Tobi Asah. “The good news is that if you’re consistent, keep working smart, and showing up every day, especially when you don’t feel like it, your efforts pay off sooner or later.”
Founding online beauty brand, The Confident Naturalista, has been a challenging but beautiful journey for Tobi Asah, the face and founder of the Lagos-based brand. The mission: Encourage Black women to fall in love with their uniqueness and embrace their natural beauty. “So they can flaunt their natural hair with 100 per cent confidence.” To achieve this, Tobi works with an 11,000-strong digital community, that continues to grow, by distributing and reviewing natural hair products and also offering training and online courses.
The beauty of the idea wasn’t only the discovery of a gap in the market, it was something closer to home. In 2014, while studying in Paris, Tobi describes walking down the street and being overcome with awe at the sheer confidence of Black women wearing their hair natural. Now to some Tobi’s reaction might seem a little over the top. However, for decades the look and feel of Black women’s natural hair has been caught in a silent and oppressive struggle with dominant European beauty standards. The supremacy of silky straight hair in popular culture as the highest standard of attractiveness has caused Black women globally to form negative relationships with their hair, often favouring wigs and sew-in extensions that emulate European styles.
So Tobi started a personal journey learning how to care for her natural hair. “In the process, I developed a passion to teach Black women who struggle with accepting the beauty of their hair and wanted to share what I was learning about how to care for it properly,” she explains.
When it came to the practical side of getting started, creativity is something Tobi has a natural inclination for. Defining a unique look-and-feel for the brand, and merging it with multimedia design and video editing came easily. Another aspect of Tobi’s approach is what she describes as her work as a Selfie Artist. “Basically, it’s someone who is able to capture beautiful images of themselves, by paying specific attention to the details they want to emphasise, while evoking the emotions that strongly resonate with their brand.” With the likes of the Saatchi Gallery inaugurating the selfie into the ranks of fine art in their recent exhibition From Selfie to Self-Expression, Tobi is definitely on to something.
The best part? The results. “There has definitely been a big shift here in Nigeria. First, natural hair started as a trend, but I’m glad to see more people embracing their true selves without apology. I certainly feel part of that,” Tobi says. Having her efforts and hard work recognised and appreciated really helped Tobi to remember her big why. “I love being part of my clients’ transformational stories, seeing the smiles and tears of joy when they achieve their results. That to me will always remain priceless.”
The bustling and diverse creative scene in Nigeria isn’t showing any sign of slowing down. “Nigerians are very creative people in general, and I believe the pandemic has made people even more aware of their potential,” she adds.
So what’s next? “I’m excited to share everything right now, but I can’t spill the beans just yet! I will say this, with every project and future ones to come, our aim will always be to keep transforming lives, and creating excellence that will outlive us and future generations to come.”
Interview by Tega Okiti
