Words:Adedosu 'kenzy' Adekunle
Popular blogger Linda Ikeji is laughing all the way to the bank, thanks to the art of blogging.
Now sitting comfortably in the
millionaires’ lounge, the former model, whose blog is one of the most
visited sources for entertainment news and gossip in Nigeria, recently
posted pictures of her new car, a 2011 Infinity FX 35 SUV worth about N8
million.
Prior to acquiring the SUV, the 31-year old bachelorette owned a 2008 Toyota Camry which she bought two years ago.
The second child in a family of nine,
Linda bought a multi-million 5-bedroom duplex in Surulere for her
parents just two months ago.
Linda’s blog
reportedly rakes in an average of N3m a month from adverts from various
brands and online ad networks, which makes her the highest earning
blogger in Nigeria. A celebrity in her own right, Ikeji was a
popular model for many years, and a magazine publisher before
discovering blogging having stumbled on BellaNaija.
But it is blogging, she admits, that’s given her the fame and fortune she’d always dreamt off. Last December, she was included in a
17-man tour of American cities, organized by the American Consulate.
Featured on Forbes and many other local and international media, she’s
the most decorated and celebrated blogger in Nigeria, using gossip and
human interest content to capture the hearts of millions around the
world.
Often criticised by celebrities and many
of her subjects mostly for third party comments on her blog, and by
many traditional magazines and newspapers who were the source of her
content for many years, Ikeji is not exactly everyone’s darling. But
she’s almost everyone’s dar ling. Not bad. Even the popular Chinese
blogger Han Han, possibly the world’s most popular
blogger, is not loved by all; despised especially, by many conservatives
who consider him a rebel writer.
The English Language graduate of the University of Lagos began
her advent into entertainment as a striving model while in UNILAG. She
modeled for several brands, including the ‘Rose of Sharon’ label owned
by former President of the Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria (FADAN) and Nigerian billionaire and oil tycoon, Folorunsho Alakija.
‘I told myself that I will make it
in this life one day as my own woman and on my own terms, that no man
will ever take away my dignity…and I did it’ she wrote on her blog, Monday, after publishing photos of her new SUV. That article got all of 1618 comments.
As she continues to nurture that fan
base and build on an incredible success, pundits say the next steps will
determine the future of the blogger and her model. Whatever happens,
Miss Ikeji has changed her life and that of her family; she’s eating her
cake and having it – blogging for fun while making enough money to
ensure she doesn’t have to do anything else, at least for now. And she’s
inspiring thousands of young Nigerians who are familiar with her
grass-to-grace story; thousands hoping to someday be their own Linda
Ikeji, on their own terms…
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