Tosin Taiwo

Why HYPE Doesn't Always Equal Success - Tunde Onakoya

For years, Tunde Onakoya did one thing: use chess to change the lives of children from disadvantaged backgrounds. He broke the world record for the longest chess marathon, 60 consecutive hours in Times Square, New York.  The world was watching. Then he took out a bank loan, designed a chess board he believed in with everything he had, and only sold one. In this episode of Growth Through Failure, he shares what the market taught him that the applause never could, and why hype is never a substitute for traction. TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Intro 01:23 The Failure Story 06:57 What Emotions Were You Feeling? 12:52 What Were Your Strategies 20:11 Who Were The Protagonists in Your Story? 32:25 Three Key Takeaways 40:38 Rapid Fire Questions ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ABOUT GROWTH THROUGH FAILURE: Conversations with leaders who turned setbacks into comebacks. Real stories of resilience, reinvention, and growth. New episodes every other Wednesday. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔔 Subscribe: http://bit.ly/3WYkMTO 📧 Newsletter: https://www.tosinataiwo.com/#subscribe 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tosinataiwo/ 🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/tosinataiwo

Why You Must Stop Waiting for Permission to Succeed - Jola Ayeye

At 19, Jola Ayeye was convinced she would never make it. She guessed 80% of a university exam, failed the module, and told Durham: even if I do a resit, I will fail again. Today she is the co-creator of I Said What I Said, one of Africa's most beloved podcasts, with sold-out shows in Lagos, London and New York. In this episode of Growth Through Failure, she shares exactly how she found her way out. If you have ever felt stuck, this one could show you the door. TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Intro 01:42 The Failure Story 09:56 What Emotions Were You Feeling? 14:31 What Were Your Strategies 28:19 Who Were The Protagonists in Your Story? 40:35 Give Us A Summary of What You Do 42:02 Three Key Takeaways 49:06 Rapid Fire Questions ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ABOUT GROWTH THROUGH FAILURE: Conversations with leaders who turned setbacks into comebacks. Real stories of resilience, reinvention, and growth. New episodes every other Wednesday. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔔 Subscribe: http://bit.ly/3WYkMTO 📧 Newsletter: https://www.tosinataiwo.com/#subscribe 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tosinataiwo/ 🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/tosinataiwo

Rejected? How I Won the UK Global Talent Visa

He had the track record, the talent, and the proof. Yet, the UK Global Talent Visa still said no. In this episode of 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘂𝗿𝗲, Ope Aikomo, Paystack’s first employee and a key architect of one of Africa’s landmark fintech exits, unpacks what that rejection revealed about the art of self-presentation and the burden of proof.  It is a lesson on why everyone is in sales, whether they realize it or not. TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Intro 0:52 The Failure Story 04:35 The Emotional Toll 06:23 Maintaining Focus 10:14 Strategies to Overcome Failure 13:43 How Support Helped Him Grow 16:23 Three Key Takeaways 22:28 Rapid Fire Questions ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ABOUT GROWTH THROUGH FAILURE: Conversations with leaders who turned setbacks into comebacks. Real stories of resilience, reinvention, and growth. New episodes every other Wednesday. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔔 Subscribe on YT: http://bit.ly/3WYkMTO 📧 Newsletter: https://www.tosinataiwo.com/#subscribe 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tosinataiwo/ 🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/tosinataiwo

Tiwa Savage Hired Me. My Next Client Fired Me (Bolaji Kekere-Ekun)

He directed a critically acclaimed music video for 𝗧𝗶𝘄𝗮 𝗦𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗴𝗲. His next client made 20 people publicly vote on his work. They rejected it. In my latest 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘂𝗿𝗲 episode, filmmaker 𝗕𝗼𝗹𝗮𝗷𝗶 𝗞𝗲𝗸𝗲𝗿𝗲-𝗘𝗸𝘂𝗻 shares the raw story of professional setback, the danger of ceding creative control, and the split-second decision to give a costly refund, just to protect his name. A powerful conversation for anyone navigating the reality of professional rejection.    TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Intro 0:50 The Failure Story 07:36 The Emotional Toll 09:40 Maintaining Focus 12:25 Strategies to Overcome Failure 13:15 People that Provided Support 16:20 How Support Helped Him Grow 18:23 Three Key Takeaways 23:31 Rapid Fire Questions ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ABOUT GROWTH THROUGH FAILURE: Conversations with leaders who turned setbacks into comebacks. Real stories of resilience, reinvention, and growth. New episodes every other Wednesday. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔔 YouTube: http://bit.ly/3WYkMTO 📧 Newsletter: https://www.tosinataiwo.com/#subscribe 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tosinataiwo/ 🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/tosinataiwo

I Applied to 16 Universities and Had a Full Breakdown - Bunmi Agusto

She applied to over 16 of the world's most elite universities, including the Ivy League. The pressure was so immense, it led to a full breakdown in the middle of an airport. In this episode of Growth Through Failure, celebrated artist Bunmi Agusto shares the unfiltered story of navigating academic pressure, rejection, and the mental health toll of chasing a version of success that wasn't her own. This is a powerful story for anyone who has ever felt crushed by expectation and needed to find the courage to define success on their own terms.   TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Intro 0:36 The Failure Story 04:40 The Emotional Toll 06:00 Maintaining Focus 11:22 Strategies to Overcome Failure 21:00 How Support Helped Her Grow 24:13 Three Key Takeaways 31:39 Rapid Fire Questions ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ABOUT GROWTH THROUGH FAILURE: Conversations with leaders who turned setbacks into comebacks. Real stories of resilience, reinvention, and growth. New episodes every other Wednesday. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔔 Subscribe: http://bit.ly/3WYkMTO 📧 Newsletter: https://www.tosinataiwo.com/#subscribe 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tosinataiwo/ 🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/tosinataiwo