From taking on responsibilities at a young age and experiencing painful losses to building businesses and starting over in Asaba, BigPresh shares the journey that shaped her strength, determination and resilience.
By Wapcodehub9ja LIVE News Desk
Asaba, Delta State, Nigeria
My story is not a story of someone who had everything figured out from the beginning. It is the story of a young woman who experienced difficult circumstances very early in life but made a decision never to give up on herself.
I started experiencing responsibilities and difficulties at a very young age. While other children were simply focused on school and growing up, I was already helping to take care of things at home.
I would wake up early, cook for my siblings, help them get ready, assist with my mother’s business and sometimes get to school very late—or not go at all. Even after receiving a scholarship, circumstances made it difficult for me to enjoy my education the way I wanted.
I also experienced painful losses. I lost my father, and not long after, I lost my younger sister. Those experiences changed me deeply.
A NEW CHAPTER IN SENEGAL
At 17, I found myself in Senegal, away from the environment I had known. I knew I had to find a way to survive and build something for myself.
I started by working for someone else and learning. I eventually got an opportunity to work in a restaurant, where I cooked and served customers. One opportunity led to another.
I have always believed in working for myself. I eventually built my own restaurant business, had people working with me, and later went into clothing as well.
I learned that sometimes you don’t need to have everything before you start. You just need the courage to begin with what you have.
RETURNING HOME
When I eventually decided to return to Nigeria, I was excited because I believed I was coming home to family.
My mother had encouraged me to return, telling me she would teach me her business and that there were opportunities for me. After spending years away from my family, I imagined coming home, reconnecting with them, creating new memories and building a new life.
Unfortunately, things did not turn out the way I had imagined.
There were difficulties within the family, and eventually I experienced an incident that left me emotionally broken. I realized that the family support I had hoped to return to was not going to be what I imagined.
STARTING AGAIN IN ASABA
I left the family home and stayed in a hotel for almost two weeks while searching for a place of my own in Asaba.
Those days were painful. I had come home believing I would finally feel that sense of family again, and suddenly I was alone, trying to figure out where I would go next.
But something inside me refused to stay down.
When I eventually found a place, I moved my belongings in, bought my machines and started my hair business.
I started again.
That has become a pattern throughout my life: whenever life knocks me down, I find a way to start again.
STILL BUILDING
Today, I am still building.
I am a content creator, entrepreneur and businesswoman, and I am constantly looking for new ways to grow. I don’t pretend that I have reached my final destination. I haven’t.
But I am proud of the woman I have become.
My message to anyone going through difficult circumstances is simple: don’t give up on yourself.
It doesn’t matter how old you are. It doesn’t matter how many times you have been disappointed. It doesn’t matter if the people you expected to support you disappoint you.
Your circumstances do not have to determine the rest of your life.
I have experienced rejection. I have experienced loss. I have experienced disappointment. I have had to start over more than once.
But I kept moving.
I learned businesses. I worked for people. I built businesses of my own. I came back home and had to start again.
And I am still here, still hustling, still learning and still dreaming.
I know I am not where I am headed yet, but I believe I will get there.
And someday—very soon—I know I will look at myself and say:
“I am so proud of you. You didn’t give up.”
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