Presently, women are at the forefront of Nigerian music’s global explosion, with streaming success, notable awards, charting feats and international collaborations. While trailblazers such as Tiwa Savage, Omawunmi, Yemi Alade built the modern Afrobeats foundation, younger stars like Tems and Ayra Starr are now carrying the torch of this significant shift. 

Now, other emerging songbirds are joining this vanguard of female singers racing for the spotlight. Singers like Ojoma Sule, professionally known as OJ Posharella, are showing strength in this new wave as they continue to redefine the status quo with their grit, voice and artistry. 

OJ Posharella is also the founder of the Power Woman Initiative International, a women’s empowerment platform. She also heads Posharella Group of Companies, among other enterprises spanning investments, design, beauty, and philanthropy. She is also renowned for her appearance on The Real Housewives of Abuja; her film credits include Farm Boy and The Lot.

Her African Pop fusions have always endeared listeners, with fan-favourites like Soyaya and her just-released ‘Eko’ achieving streaming success. With her debut EP on the horizon, she catches up with Guardian Music, giving us a front-seat into her career journey; from her come-up, creative process, business enterprise and her mission to rewrite the rules for women heading for success in the industry. 

You have quite an interesting personality. Tell us about yourself.

I was born to parents from Kogi and Benue States, raised between Kaduna and various international destinations, and that cosmopolitan upbringing deeply shaped who I am today. It gave me a love for culture, for people, for storytelling, and for the beautiful complexity of the African woman’s experience. Everything I do, whether it is music, business, advocacy, or simply showing up in a room, is rooted in one purpose: to inspire people, celebrate African culture, and create positive impact. I do not separate my platforms because they are all expressions of the same mission. I am a woman built to serve through entertainment, enterprise, and love.

Just walk us through your beginning with music. When did this journey start for you?

I came into the entertainment space as a musician, then an actress, a spoken-word artist, and a woman with opinions and ambitions that extended well beyond what anyone had scripted for me. And I quickly learned something that every woman in this industry learns at some point, usually the hard way.

The entertainment industry loves a woman’s talent but is considerably less comfortable with her authority.

My music has always been the purest expression of that truth. Songs like Soyayya and The Mother did not come from a desire to be commercial, though I am not ashamed of commercial success, and I think any artist who pretends not to want it is not being honest with you. They came from a need to say something real about love, about strength, and about what it means to be a Nigerian woman navigating a world that has very strong ideas about who you should be.

Music, business, acting, advocacy. You do it all. What does music give you that none of your other platforms can?

Music gives me direct access to the human soul in a way that nothing else does. When I am in a boardroom, I am strategic. When I am on a film set, I am disciplined. When I am speaking at an event, I am deliberate. But when I am in music, I am free. Completely and unapologetically free.

Music allows me to communicate feelings, stories, culture, and messages in a way that is timeless and borderless. My catalogue includes songs like Soyayya, which is a deeply cultural and romantic piece that celebrates love through the lens of Northern Nigerian identity, and The Mother, which is one of the most personal things I have ever created. The Mother came from a place of profound reflection on strength, sacrifice, nurturing, and what it means to hold everything together while still becoming yourself. Not every woman can articulate that feeling in words, but when they hear that song, they feel it. And that is the miracle of music. It says what language cannot.

Unlike other platforms, music transcends language, background, and circumstance and reaches the soul instantly. That is why I keep returning to it. It is my most honest voice.

Eko is one of the most iconic cities in the world. What is it about Lagos that you felt demanded a song?

Eko represents ambition, hustle, creativity, diversity, and survival. It is the mother of all Nigerian cities, the place where dreams come to be tested and where only the truly resilient survive and thrive. I created this song to celebrate the beauty, the chaos, the strength, and the global influence of Lagos and its people. When I say Lagos, I mean the woman selling on the bridge at 6 a.m. who is also somebody’s mother and somebody’s prayer warrior. I mean the creative director working at midnight on a global campaign from a studio in Lekki. I mean every person who arrived in this city with nothing but a vision and refused to leave without making something of themselves.

Eko is for them. It is a love letter, a celebration, and a testimony all in one song.

You are always a happy person, but fans and others are curious about why you call yourself the Minister of Happiness. Can you tell us?

I did not choose that title lightly. It chose me, honestly. I have always been the kind of person who walks into a room and something shifts. The energy changes. People smile. People feel seen. And at some point, I had to ask myself: what is this? What is this thing I carry? And the answer that kept coming back was that it is a ministry. A genuine, God-given ministry of joy.

I believe happiness is one of the most underrated forms of power. In a world full of noise, pain, and uncertainty, choosing to be a source of light is a radical and deliberate act. Through my music, my personality, my philanthropy, and every public engagement, I aim to uplift people emotionally and spiritually. I want people to feel joy, hope, confidence, and a deep sense of possibility whenever they encounter my brand. I want a mother who is struggling to watch one of my performances and feel, even for a moment, that everything is going to be alright. I want a young woman who has been told she is too much to look at me and feel permission to take up every inch of space she deserves. That is what a minister does. She serves her congregation. Mine just happens to be the world.

Many have described the Real Housewives show as a show for women who do not have a settled home or who lord over their husbands. What are your thoughts, and why did you decide to participate?

I think those opinions say more about the people holding them than they do about the show or the women on it. We live in a society that has been conditioned to be uncomfortable with visible, unapologetic women—women who have resources, opinions, personalities, and ambitions that exist independently of their husbands or homes. And when those women are put on a platform, the easiest way to manage that discomfort is to reduce them to a stereotype.

The Real Housewives of Abuja is actually a platform that highlights the realities, personalities, businesses, and lifestyles of accomplished women—women who are building things, leading things, and navigating life at a very high level. I joined because I wanted people to see my authentic self beyond the carefully curated world of social media. I wanted them to see OJ Posharella—not just the performer, not just the CEO, but the woman. The real, complex, layered, sometimes messy, always purposeful woman behind all of it.

And beyond my personal story, I wanted to contribute to a larger conversation about what accomplished Nigerian women look like. We are not a monolith. We are not defined by our relationships. We are defined by our character, our contribution, and our courage. If my presence on that show inspires even one woman to embrace her ambition unapologetically, then it was worth every moment.

How do you navigate the creative industry amid male giants?

By never forgetting that I belong here just as much as anyone else. The creative industry can be an intimidating space. There are loud voices, large egos, and structures that were not always built with women like me in mind. But I made a decision early on that I would not navigate this space by making myself smaller or more palatable. I would navigate it by being undeniably excellent.

I stay authentic, focused, and deeply confident in my abilities. I understand my value—not in an arrogant way, but in the way that a woman who has done the inner work and built real things understands what she brings to any table. I work hard to remain relevant through consistency, professionalism, creativity, and resilience. And I have learned that the most powerful thing a woman in this industry can do is refuse to compete on anyone else’s terms. I set my own standard. And that standard is Posharella.

How did you come about the Power Woman Initiative International?

The Power Woman Initiative International was not born in a boardroom. It was born in my heart, from a very personal place of understanding what it feels like to be a woman who has ambitions that the world around her does not always validate or support.

I have always believed deeply in the principle of paying it forward: that true success is not measured by what you accumulate but by how many people you lift as you rise. And as I began to experience growth in my own life, I could not ignore the women around me who were equally capable, equally intelligent, equally deserving, but lacked access, support, mentorship, and the simple but powerful gift of someone believing in them.

The initiative was created to provide exactly that: support, mentorship, empowerment opportunities, and genuine hope for women and young people who aspire to grow personally, professionally, and financially. It is not just a platform. It is a movement built on the conviction that when you empower one woman, you transform an entire community. And that transformation—quiet, powerful, and lasting—is what the Power Woman Initiative International exists to create.

We have impacted lives through empowerment programs, mentorship, support systems, advocacy campaigns, and real, tangible opportunities for women and young people. What I am most proud of is not the numbers, though those continue to grow, but the stories. The woman who came to one of our sessions feeling invisible and left knowing her worth. The young girl had no idea what she was capable of until someone sat with her and helped her see it.

We continue to expand our reach every year, and the goal has always been the same: to create lasting transformation. Not the kind of inspiration that fades when the event ends, but the kind of shift that changes how a woman sees herself forever. That is the impact we are building toward, and we are nowhere near finished.

How do you maintain balance between your professional and personal life?

I will be honest: balance is not always perfectly achieved. There are seasons where one area demands more than the other, and wisdom is knowing when to lean in and when to pull back. What I have learned is that balance is not about equal division of time. It is about intentionality.

I prioritise structure, self-care, spirituality, and surrounding myself with genuinely supportive people who pour into me as much as I pour into the world. I guard my peace fiercely because a depleted woman cannot pour from an empty vessel. My faith anchors everything. It is the foundation that holds all the other pieces together. And I have learned, sometimes the hard way, that rest is not weakness. Rest is strategy. The most productive thing I can sometimes do for my business, my music, and my mission is simply to be still and refuel.

When you reflect on your career, what do you hope your legacy will be?

I hope people remember me as a woman who used every gift she was given in service of something greater than herself. Not just a performer, not just a businesswoman, not just a face on a screen, but a force for genuine, lasting good.

I want to be remembered as the woman who made happiness feel like a revolution. Who showed African women that they could be entrepreneurs and artists and advocates and mothers and still be magnificently, unapologetically themselves. Who built things that mattered, loved people fiercely, and left every platform, every stage, and every community better than she found it.

That is the legacy of OJ Posharella. And every single day, I am building it.

What advice would you give to the next generation of women leaders who look up to you?

Never shrink yourself to fit into a space that was not designed to hold your full greatness. The world will give you a thousand reasons to be smaller, quieter, more convenient. Do not take a single one of them.

Believe in your vision even when no one else can see it yet. Do the work even when no one is watching. Stay disciplined when motivation fades because discipline is what separates the women who dream from the women who build. Invest in your relationships, your health, your faith, and your mind. And when you arrive at the places you have been working toward, please turn around, reach back, and bring someone with you. That is the full circle. That is the real win.