The Girl Behind The Words

Do you want to know the girl beneath "Asides"? My name is Temiloluwa Ruth Oyelola, but Alexandra Oyelola is my authoring name, and I’m a Gemini, a close shave to being a Taurus. As a quiet gen-z, I grew up in Malali, Kaduna State, and I spent the majority of my childhood there. I attended Future Leaders International School until my fourth grade, even though I had attended two other schools during this time. From here, my family moved to Osogbo, Osun State where I joined Olive Branches Schools from 5th Grade to 7th Grade. In 7th grade, at the advice of my aunt, I wrote the Junior WAEC Examination. {Sorry to kids like me that had been forced to jump classes} Luckily, I passed and got enrolled in Baptist Girls High School. I spent a term in BGHS before we returned to Kaduna and I registered at Destiny College, where I completed my grade school and graduated in the year 2015. I became a Dufil-Indomie ambassador in 2015 after winning their promo for that year. The prize was to visit Disneyland, alongside four other winners and our respective guardians. During the process, I visited Lagos for the first time when we went for our France visa appointment. Yet, unfortunately, we could no longer go as the visa application was rejected for two other winners, and thus we were compensated on a monetary level. {Story of my life} After graduation, I went for a three months computer appreciation awaiting my admission. However, on missing my admission to Obafemi Awolowo University, I began working at a playground center. Here, I worked for a year and some months as a caregiver. {More of Nannie jobs with a collar} Afterward, I proceeded to Lagos State to write TOEFL and SATs to prepare for my studies in the United States. I passed both exams and was to resume Southwest Minnesota State University, but my visa got declined. {Wahala for who wan Japa!} Unable to proceed and raise funds for a second consular meeting, I left Lagos and returned to Kaduna. Fortunately, I got admitted into Ahmadu Bello University, to study Human Kinetics, a four-year course study. {ABU to the save!} While awaiting admission, I also became a member of the Kaduna State Triathlon Club, after getting trained by the Kaduna State Swimming Coach, Coach Yahaya, a blind but highly talented swimmer. He became my inspiration, and with this, I learned how to swim. {Thanks, coach Yahaya} However, I dumped swimming again when I resumed school at ABU Zaria. Currently, I am a part of the Volleyball and Handball team at my school. I plan to keep this up and develop one of these sports as a side career to boost my main dream of becoming a physiotherapist. {A girl can only dream...} In the year 2020, I completed my first novel titled, 366 Days Together, and this began my story of being an author. Following this, I made my first poetry collection which I called “Our Silent Words”. I became a published writer when I self-published my e-books at the beginning of the year 2021, via online publishing platforms. Later that year, I began writing my second book, a duology and completed the first book while going to school. To keep myself busy during the strike periods, I became an intern at KadaHive Innovation and Tech Hub, where I wrote content, developed my writing skills, coordinated several events, participated in community work, and had lots of other amazing adventures. The most memorable events I’ve had working with KadaHive are participating in the global cleanup for earth day, and co-hosting an earth art festival, both in 2022. In April, I also published the first book in my duology, titled “Dominique”, and for the first time, I had it monetized. My plans are to have my books, one day, on a bookshelf everywhere in the world, and probably, have one made into a movie. After all, a girl can only dream… These and more, are the story of my life. Yet, a book is not finished until the end is realized. I’m probably still midway through my story, but as the famous saying goes “life has given us many blank pages, and it is our duty to fill them with many amazing moments that would become our greatest memories.” Jump in, and let's explore life together...

Image by Michal Jarmoluk from Pixabay