Oluwabukunmi Adeaga-Ilori, the Nigerian actress, media personality and fashion entrepreneur, who is better known as Kiekie, has shared a deeply personal testimony about how prayer and solitude reshaped the course of her career.
Speaking on the Off The Top podcast, Kiekie recounted a particularly challenging period in 2018, when, at age 28, her fashion efforts seemed stalled despite the support of her parents.
“I locked myself up for days,” she said. “No food, no bathing, no change of clothes. I was practically on the floor crying. I told God, ‘I need you to turn my life around.’”
During her retreat, she disconnected completely from friends, even telling them she had traveled to avoid being found. She spent hours in uninterrupted prayer, clad only in a pink boubou, relying on her bed and the floor as her only companions.
Kiekie said her breakthrough came unexpectedly on the third or fourth day when she received a phone call from a woman who wanted her to sew clothes.
“I hadn’t even had a bath. I just brushed and ran to Ikeja. That was the beginning,” she recalled.
She described the years that followed as “fantastic,” noting that the single moment sparked a transformation that continues to shape her business and life.
“From 2018 till now, it has been fantastic—fantastic,” she said, reflecting on the journey with gratitude.
