Eni Popoola knows how to command the room. The Nigerian-American blogger is from one of the loudest cities in the world, New York. She graduated Harvard University with a government and sociology degree, commanded the classroom as a 7th grade teacher in Harlem, and is now a student at Columbia Law School.
From being the authority of vocal pre-teens and attending prestigious universities, to being a trusted voice for beauty and lifestyle tips in her Eni Given Sunday blog, knowing how to speak is a skill she’s developed for years. “Being a teacher hands down is the most important experience I’ve had in terms of developing communication skills,” Popoola said during her communication clinic on ESSENCE Festival’s Beautycon stage. “Being a teacher is being a public speaker.”
Like most 13 year olds, her students were blatantly honest about the lessons that interested them. So, learning how to make topics interesting as a content creator was a skill she adapted from the classroom. “Asking people a question or making people feel seen or a part a conversation,” she says about pulling her audience in while speaking.
While social media users (and kids) have short attention spans, her communication style was all about getting her point across regardless if the video is longer or not. However, as her audience grew to what is now almost 700,000 followers on TikTok, responding to discourse in the comments is a part of communication even on shorter videos. Meanwhile, she says some videos are just about seeing where her message lands.
From going live to setting up her camera and forgetting its there, to expanding across platforms, “[TikTok] rewarded authenticity,” she said, as opposed to Instagram. Meanwhile, YouTube is “high effort and very high reward.” Whether it’s a 15 second video or an hour-long video, knowing how to engage her audience depending on who her audience is a part of finding your voice.
This skill has landed her brand partnerships, but she only accepts the one’s aligned with her voice. But, unlike the products she’s using, some information isn’t meant for being online. “I don’t post what I don’t invite commentary on,” she said, like family and dating. “In choosing what stories I want to share, I also ask myself if I’m done experiencing it.”
Enforcing strong boundaries and only sharing personal details when she’s ready, Popoola tells stories that are already complete. “I’m really big on purpose in everything I do,” she said. As for the purpose behind her communication? “I want to add to a space, I want to help uplift, and I want to be helpful above all else.”
