About Esther Tosin Adekeye (Cutekimani)

Esther Tosin Adekeye, a Media Doyen Changing the Industry Landscape

For a lady, to have affluence in an industry dominated by males is something that comes with serious hard work, smartness, and accumulated deeds. Arguably, this is because there’s a strong institutional bias in favour of men as against women.

Amongst the few women thriving in the media industry despite the age-long odds is Esther Adekeye. Many people have their names boldly written in the hall of fame of the industry they function in, and as it is, the highly-revered public relations expert and media consultant is one of them.

Fondly referred to as Cute Kimani by industry friends and colleagues, Adekeye does not only already have her name on the sand of time as far as media practice and popular life is concerned but has also crafted a niche for herself, such that she’s widely seen as someone making conscious efforts to change the media landscape in Nigeria, and Africa at large.

Adekeye’s educational background

Born to academic-oriented Nigerian parents, Adekeye went to Methodist Girls High School in Sabo, Yaba area of Lagos, for her secondary education, after which she was admitted to the University of Lagos (UNILAG) to study mass communication.

Growing up with a university lecturer was motivating for Adekeye, who would assist her dad (Mr. Amos Olutokun) in carrying out his daily tasks while teaching in UNILAG. In her words, “Even though my dad didn’t influence my career choice, I can’t deny the fact that watching him while I was growing up was helpful when I wanted to pick a niche.

“At that time, he was lecturing in UNILAG’s Centre for Cultural Studies, now known as Creative Arts. Being exposed to the things he was doing in the course of fulfilling the tasks shouldered on him as a lecturer, was helpful for me.”

How her career choice was influenced

Even though Mr. Olutokun was known for early morning reading of newspapers, Adekeye was not instantly influenced to want to venture into media. Who later sparked her interest in the profession was Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the incumbent Chairperson of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, whom she watched on television as a presenter while growing up.

Having identified her career pursuit at an early age, Adekeye later developed a passion for media and became steadfast in the pursuit of this lofty ambition. To her, the profession means more than just giving coverage to societal happenings. She considers media as an evolving niche she can always leverage to tell the stories of people who have made substantial changes in human history, and that of those who are tolling the paths of greatness.

Adekeye’s career milestone

Unlike many students who would rather wait till they complete their first degree before considering building their career portfolios, Adekeye thought otherwise, as she started her career right in the four walls of UNILAG.

“I was among the first set of UNILAG Fm staff. I was still a student when I started working at the radio station’s news department,” she revealed.

Even though Adekeye had to juggle working with UNILAG FM and studying for her first degree, she didn’t limit herself to just those, as she worked as a magazine editor alongside reportorial duties for another print publication. All at once? She’s no doubt an iron lady.

Adekeye was eventually introduced to radio properly with her show. On her programme, she would invite a-list artistes and other celebrities for interviews. Amongst those she interviewed at the time she debuted her radio host career, was Don Jazzy, and D’banj. “They just came to Nigeria to pursue music when I invited them for an interview on my show,” she stated as she expressed her bragging rights.

Her being on the radio was quite helpful for not only the talk-of-the-town artistes. Every weekend, Adekeye would ask even the up-and-coming artistes to send their CDs to give their airplay.

But one day, popular comedian Koffi walked up to her and wanted her to manage one of his artistes. According to her, from that time, she knew that talent management and image-making was another thing that didn’t only interest her, but the areas she could also be useful.

“Along the line, I met Olamide, whose branding and publicity I managed,” she stated.

Revealing how she sees opportunities in challenges, Adekeye said during her days in the university, industrial action was a norm for the school authorities, adding that while school activities would be suspended, she would find herself in an advertising agency assisting clients in making their dreams a reality.

By now, one would be enthused by how far Adekeye has contributed to Nigeria’s and, by extension, Africa’s media and showbiz industry. Given the jaw-dropping initiatives Adekeye has been making with his media experience and communication background, one would easily conclude that she blends passion with opportunity and creates effortless ideas that are intellectually stimulating.

Indisputably, her undying and enthusiastic passion for media and showbiz got her close to notable personalities like Dare Art Alade, and many other superstars in the entertainment industry, some of whom she met while in school.

Through media practice and talent management, Adekeye has increased her self-worth so much that in contemporary times, she’s always involved in major projects, as far as publicity and branding are concerned. Her name has become so domestic that people do not struggle to fix who she is in their minds.

How Adekeye came about ‘Cute Kimani’

During her stint as a member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Adekeye met one Mr. Gibson Lee, who headed Silver Bird at the time.

“Lee asked me to introduce myself, and I did just that. He wasn’t satisfied with the fact that I had no brand name, so he requested me to research by studying the dictionary and surfing the internet for help. I agreed with him why I needed to do that because I realized that I had many names and I needed to figure out one to use constantly for the sake of branding. I prayed about it and came up with Kimani, which means smart, sexy, and successful in one of the Ethiopian languages.

“Having agreed with me that I would stick to Cute Kimani as my brand name, I went on social media and opened my pages with it. Interestingly, Tiwa Savage was the second celebrity to follow me on Twitter,” Adekeye explained.

Cute Kimani and Estol Africa

Being someone who has always known what she would live for, her life after NYSC was quite predictable, such that she returned to her radio show on a full-time basis.

“When I returned, I started sourcing for adverts by going to meet with agency managements and pitching my show to them. With all humility, I had a lot of them come on board.,” she stated.

Revealing how she established Estol Africa, Cute Kimani said while she was hosting the show, some brands wanted her to live tweets for them, and get other people to do so. “That was pretty much how we started influencer marketing. I was doing this for a while unofficially (just plugging people into gigs) and at some point, I decided to give it more structure so I set up Estol Africa, where we would later house influencer marketing, social media management, artiste management, media buying, A&R and pretty much everything that has to do with online activations. Estol Africa has grown so much since then, handling PR and influencer marketing for multinationals,” she added.

Amongst the many brands and individuals, she has worked with so far, are -Airtel, Kenya Airways, MTN, Huawei, MTV Base, Google, Lafarge, Olamide, Harrysong, Fireboy DML, Cheque, Chorus, Bimbo Ademoye, and Chy Nwakanma.

On what motivates her, Adekeye explained that she was fond of always outdoing herself. “Whenever I get a new project, I want to be able to outdo the previous ones I have handled. I am always proud to talk about the campaigns I’ve worked on because of the amount of effort I put into them. I am very result-driven. It also helps that I get recognized often for my achievements in the media space,” she explained.