Media personality Chude Jideonwo has revealed what inspired him to start his popular podcast, “Interview Series With Chude.”
Chude Jideonwo revealed this during an interview with filmmaker Mo Abudu ahead of his 40th birthday.
According to him, he started his podcast, “Interview Series WithChude after he overcame depression.
Chude recounts how he was trolled, and dragged online after he got himself involved in the 2015 campaign.
During the interview, Jideonwo said his search for answers led him to an episode of ‘Super Soul Sunday’ featuring Oprah Winfrey and Brené Brown, where the latter discussed handling criticism without losing vulnerability.
“WithChude comes from a unique place. I was going through clinical depression in 2016, and in 2017, after overcoming it, I noticed I was trending on Twitter,” he said.
“I trended on Twitter for three days consistently for what I did with the 2015 campaign. People continued to criticise it for three days.
“One day, I woke up, picked up my phone, saw the trend, and broke down in tears. I then called a colleague asking him why Nigerians hate me so much. He gave me an intellectual strategic answer but it was not what I was looking for because I was hurt.
“So, I went on YouTube and searched ‘what do when people hate you’. I came across an interview between Oprah Winfrey and Brené Brown.
“They were talking about Brown’s viral TED talk on shame and vulnerability and how people attacked her for being overweight. So, she talked about how you have to be ready for backlash when you are in the arena without losing your ability to feel.
“The conversation healed me and that motivated the show, a show that heals people. The show was recorded by Oprah in Chicago or wherever and I was in Lagos being healed. So, I said to myself that I would do a show like this but for Africans.”
