Career
Omolola is a former journalist currently based in Chicago. During her young adult years, she worked in radio and television industries in Nigeria. At some points, even owning a couple of her own shows.
After moving to the United States and earning her Bachelor's degree, Omolola began her career at the Community Counseling Centers of Chicago, where she gained valuable insight into the challnges that local community members faced. During this time, she also continued collaborating with television and radio networks in Nigeria. Later, she transitioned into a role with Apartments.com. Although Omolola deeply enjoyed her work, she and her husband came to a mutual decision for her to step away from her career when they started their family; ensuring that one parent would be home to raise their children.
While at home, Omolola taught herself how to code and eventually began her website, Spicebaby.com, to share Nigerian recipes with the world. Upon creating it, the website quickly gained in popularity. In an interview with the weekly African-American newspaper, Los Angeles Sentinel, Omolola states, "That's when I really started to get into Facebook." [1]
In 2014, 276 girls were kidnapped by the Boko Haram militant group from a boarding school in the town of Chibok, Nigeria, often referred to as the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping. [2] This inspired Omolala to create the women-only Facebook group, Female in Nigeria (FIN). [3] The purpose of the group was for women living in Nigeria to connect end the culture of silence and provide a space for women to share their stories without shame or embarrassment. The group proclaimed itself as a space for self-identified feminists and women who were interested in gender equality. [4] From the FIN Facebook group description, the following description is given in regards to their purpose and membership, "FIN is a support group with a core mission to end the culture of silence. We are a secular, no-judgment community for adult women and do not discriminate based of ethnicity, race, sexual orientation or creed." [5] In an interview with People & Company, Omolala remembers her reasoning for beginning the group, "My initial idea was to create a space where I could find women who were like me, who were as worried about the same thing, so we could all come together and form some sort of a resource.” [6]
The group's name was eventually changed to "Female IN" to accommodate its increasingly diverse membership. [7] It is a private page that can only be accessed by its members. [1] [8] [3] [9] Originally, Omolola invited women in her close inner circles to join, such as fellow Twitter activists. In turn, these women sent invitations out to their own circles causing the group to grow. Within only six weeks of its existence, the platform had more than 2,000 members. While the group was meant as a space for women, administrators noticed a high number of men sending requests to join. This prompted the administrators to change the setting to private. In spite of this change, the group continued to grow exponentially. [4] By 2021, the group amassed over 1.8 milion as members with 28 volunteer moderators, including Omolala. [10] As well as stretching to 60 cities across the globe. [1] Its growth depended on the members' cultural, socioeconomic, religious, sexuality, and geopolitical diversity with a shared goal of defying oppressive societal norms, and oppression. With members often forming bonds that transcended the online platform and carried into real-life hangouts and community outreach. [11]
Omolola's goal is to help women who are struggling in life, but can not tell anyone about their issues due to their environment. In an interview with Mark Zuckerberg, she stated that "[w]henever a girl shows any sign of self-awareness she gets silenced." [3]
