Q: What do you do exactly – do you make and sell or do you just sell jewellery?

I own a jew­ellery line which I started in 2008. I am the jew­ellery designer and I sell every­thing. They are very unique pieces.

Q: What kind of jew­ellery are you into?

We are a very high-end busi­ness. All our pieces have pre­cious stone like gold and dia­mond. And even if I use a coral piece, I always mix it with pre­cious stone.

Q: I believe your jew­els have been  adorned by a num­ber of celebri­ties – the likes of Lil Kim, Natalie Cole, Lisa Raye and Whit­ney Hous­ton. How did you tap into this mar­ket of Hol­ly­wood celebs?

I had a friend who was friends with Whit­ney, she did the intro­duc­tions and it went on from there. {Not what you know but who ey}

Q: Who was your first celebrity client?

Megan Good was actu­ally my first celebrity client?

Q: It seems like you inter­act with so many of these Hol­ly­wood Stars. How did it hap­pen and how does it feel?

[She laughs] The accent has been a bless­ing. When I meet a per­son, the first thing they notice is the accent and some­how we get talk­ing. The major­ity of them are very nice. I treat them as ordi­nary peo­ple – not like super stars. {Tip #1 ladies, when you go out there, do not be try­ing to change your accent; it’s your best asset!}

Q: So you prac­tised law for a whole decade and yet here you are in the jew­ellery busi­ness. Why the change of careers?

I was actu­ally bored of  law. I did it well, my clients were happy but I was bored. In the begin­ning I would make pieces for myself and my fam­ily and friends would think I’d bought them. After hav­ing con­vinced them that I had made them, they’d ask me to make some­thing for them, and in 2007 I decided to take it up as a profession.

Q:  Tell us about your company.

It’s a high-end jew­ellery line. The Head­quar­ters is in L.A. It’s not a shop where you can just walk in and buy what you want – it’s strictly by appoint­ment. We are also mov­ing in to Nige­ria, Ghana and Nairobi.

Q: Why did you name it Nehita?

Nehita is actu­ally my mid­dle name. It comes from the Ishan tribe, where I’m from – it means … {Keep­ing it African – nice}

Q: Do tell us about your Niger­ian heritage?

I’m a princess from Egure in Irrua. Irrua is in the Ishan tribe of the Edo State. It’s in the west­ern part of Nige­ria, right next to Yoruba. I grew up in Lagos, did my edu­ca­tion there and came to the States in 1998 – it’s been 15years now. And today was actu­ally my 16^th anniver­sary. {This was on the 2^nd of May. CONGRATULATIONS Monalisa!}

Q: Which Jew­eller or designer inspired you?

Actu­ally, because I started it on my own, I wasn’t inspired. But along the years, I’ve liked Coco Chanel – because her things are clas­sic. You can wear it today, again in 20 years’ time, and you’ll still look good. You can pass it on from gen­er­a­tion to gen­er­a­tion. {Well, we think Monalisa’s cre­ations are clas­sic as well}

Q: What is a nor­mal work­ing week like for you?

I’m a very early per­son. I’m up pretty early, do my devo­tion, by 6am I’m in my car, get to my office (I have a gym at the office) so I work out and my day begins. If I have a meet­ing, I go for the meet­ing and if I have a lunch meet­ing, I go for the lunch meet­ing. I leave the office around 3pm. I like to start early and leave early so I can have time to be with my kids and help them with home­work and the like. I pre­fer to do my designs late at night because it’s quiet.

Q: What do you love most and miss most about Africa and par­tic­u­larly Nigeria?

I love the music and I’m a true African at heart.  I love my cul­ture; I love how I grew up, fam­ily, togeth­er­ness, over­crowded par­ties, Christ­mas par­ties and my lan­guage. I don’t even speak in Eng­lish with my chil­dren. {No place like home for sure}

Q: Have you been any­where else in Africa besides Nigeria?

[Embar­rassed laugh] Well, I’m embar­rassed to say I haven’t been in a lot of places, but I have been to Ghana a few times, Cameroon and I intend to go to the Gam­bia and Ivory Coast.{We for­give her don’t we?}

Q: In your opin­ion, what is a True African Woman?

A true African woman is strong, she doesn’t back down, she’s a fam­ily woman – fam­ily first, busi­ness sec­ond. She cares for peo­ple and has com­pas­sion. Even if you are not related by blood, every­one is fam­ily. Because of this, we can embrace every­one from every cul­ture. Also, fail­ure is not an option.

Q: Do you think you are one?

Girl! Of course I’m one. [I can def­i­nitely hear a smile in her voice]

Q: In con­clu­sion, what would you like to say to African women in and out­side Africa?

I’ve got one thing to say to all of them. We all need to stay strong, help each other and embrace our cul­ture. {Indeed we should}.

 

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