Mayokun Ogungbola’s earliest career aspiration was to become a wedding planner, inspired by her love of watching wedding-themed shows. Today she’s a product designer at one of the world’s leading online food delivery marketplaces, just three years after graduating with a law degree. How did she arrive at this point?
As a child Ogungbola’s imagination was boundless. In addition to wedding planning, she aspired to be a violinist, a celebrity, and a fashion designer, expressing her artistic side by sewing her own dress using her mother’s machine.
“I felt like I could do a million things. But looking at it, all of them kind of just geared towards more creative things,” Ogungbola said.
Surprisingly, amidst her diverse interests, law emerged as the winner – for the time being.
“I think it started from a weird experience in church, during a children’s day presentation. I was asked to wear a lawyer’s robe and present a speech at the front of the congregation. My father saw that, combined with my love for speaking and reading, and just said I’ll be a lawyer and it just stuck.”
This marked the beginning of Ogungbola’s challenging journey to defy the predetermined legal career path. More interested in fashion design, she started her defiance by choosing fine arts over CRK, another subject, her mom wanted her to do.
“I started rebelling in secondary school. I would sneak into art class without my mom knowing that I was doing so. After my results came out, everyone knew and my dad defended me.”
Her dad was a real estate surveyor while her mum was a teacher, with multiple entrepreneurial ventures including a cyber cafe.
Looking back, Ogungbola believes she got her multiple interests from her entrepreneurial mom — the same mother who wanted her to take one path.
“It’s ironic that my mother, a woman of many talents, didn’t fully embrace my career aspirations. She, despite commending my multiple talents, harboured a desire for me to pursue a more serious, traditional path.”
Born into a family of three, Ogungbola was the youngest sibling by a significant margin, her closest kin being six years older. While her two older siblings pursued careers in their father’s footsteps, she wasn’t interested in towing the same path.
Although her heart was drawn to fashion, Ogungbola found law a logical choice, recalling countless instances of advocating for herself as the youngest child in the family.
“I can see why people saw a lawyer in me. Being the only child at home with two older siblings, I was constantly speaking up and fighting for what I wanted.”
Entering UNILAG and trying a thousand different things
Before gaining admission, Ogungbola, who felt unprepared for university, took a brief stop at an A-level school to get ready for the “real world.”
“I went to an all-girls school. I didn’t go out of my house much. I didn’t know how to take public transport. My life was literally church, school, house. I felt really unprepared for university, I convinced my dad to allow me go to an A-level school and he agreed.”
Ogungbola’s admission to the University of Lagos (UNILAG) in 2017 was delayed by a university strike, leading her to take advantage of the opportunity to intern at a law firm.
The internship experience confirmed Ogungbola’s earlier gut feeling that law was not the right career path for her.
“After seeing how things functioned within the system, I knew that this was not my future. The constant office work during the internship was not a good fit for me. I found the experience unpleasant and believe it caused strain on my eyes, resulting in vision problems.”
Once the strike ended, Ogungbola was determined to make the most of her undergraduate years. She set herself a goal: to explore a wide range of possibilities and discover her true passion. She started her exploration with a part-time job as a writer for a fashion magazine.
Ogungbola spent the first three months as a law student feeling adrift and uncertain. Not performing well in her first test revealed that she didn’t understand what was taught, forcing her to make adjustments.
To concentrate on her studies, Ogungbola had to leave her job at a fashion magazine. After her academic pursuits stabilised, she resumed her various photography freelance gigs. She structured her week into “Law days” and “Creative days,” dedicating three days to legal studies and two days to creative pursuits. This balanced approach allowed her to successfully navigate her undergraduate studies.
Getting into product design
Ogungbola’s journey into product design began in December 2020 at a dinner party with a friend. During a career conversation, her friend, who worked at Hotels.ng, sparked Ogungbola’s curiosity by suggesting product design as a potential path. The friend recommended the book “Clueless to Designer” by Mitchell Chibundu as a good place to start.
Motivated by this conversation, Ogungbola delved into the book over the next three months, immersing herself in design concepts. To bridge the gap between theory and practice, she enrolled in a three-month product design boot camp, eager to gain hands-on experience.
“While I was doing that boot camp, I was writing my final year dissertation. So it was a very stressful time meeting deadlines, writing dissertations, preparing for exams, but it made it through.”
Upon graduating from university in 2021, Ogungbola secured a product design internship position at a startup while simultaneously preparing to enrol in law school.
However, an administrative oversight delayed her law school admission, so she opted to go on her mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) duty. During this period, her product design career flourished, causing Ogungbola to reevaluate her priorities and ultimately decide to forego pursuing law school. This choice continues to be a point of contention with her parents.
“My parents still keep saying my education is not complete. They keep asking, ‘What if I need it? What if I’m looking for a job and they say we need this person to have gone to law school?’ And I keep thinking, what type of job would that be? Wouldn’t it be a legal-related job, which is exactly the type of job I don’t want?”
A position at a Polish design agency followed Ogungbola’s internship at a startup. During her time there, she identified gaps in her corporate experience, particularly in soft skills. She realised the importance of effective communication with stakeholders and building strong relationships with managers.
After seven months on the role, she decided it was time to transition to a new role. In deciding on where to work next, she identified Paystack, Interswitch, and Flutterwave as her dream companies. She discovered an online job posting at Flutterwave and applied, even though it meant a lower salary. To her delight, she got the job.
“My experience at Flutterwave was transformative for my design career, as I learned the importance of open communication and feedback. Initially, I found it challenging to accept criticism of my work, often questioning the validity of others’ opinions. I mean how can you say you don’t like my work?”
Although Ogungbola initially preferred a different area of design, she started her journey in Flutterwave with the brand design. Learning how to use Adobe Illustrator was a difficult task, but she eventually mastered it and other design tools. She developed the confidence to express her opinions and contribute to discussions.
For Ogungbola, it was a significant adjustment, as she had grown up in a household where speaking up was often seen as argumentative and childish. She realised that this approach was not effective in the corporate world, where assertive communication was essential.
“Ted, then VP of Design at Flutterwave, played a pivotal role in shaping my career trajectory and overall experience at the company during my first year. It was as if I were collecting design infinity stones, acquiring a diverse range of skills. This experience helped me become a well-rounded designer with a strong foundation in visual design.”
After two years at Flutterwave, Ogungbola felt it was time to branch out to another industry, so she moved on to join a leading global online food delivery marketplace in the UK.
Outside of her professional role, Ogungbola nurtures her creativity and connects with others through her vibrant YouTube channel and newsletter community.
Are there still other careers left for Ogungbola to explore? She doesn’t think so.
“I feel like I was meant to be in the product design space. I don’t think I’ve been annoyed about Mondays in years because I genuinely like being a product designer.”
