Exclusive! I Married The Man I Love, Who Also Loves Me—Tosin Dokpesi

She has always loved television.
As a child, she reminisced: “I loved all these people I saw on television and wanted to be there too.”

Tosin and Raymond Dokpesi

Was that all? No. Again, she recalled and told Kemiashefonlovehaven that: “I attended Holy Child School, Lagos and we were taught how to speak well. I grew up to speak well and that made me feel that I would do better in broadcasting.”
Initially, that dream was almost marred. “I forgot about it and decided to study Medicine.” Wondering why Medicine? “I am a very caring person and would not stand anyone suffering or going through pains around me, so I opted for Medicine at the University of Lagos.”
Again, that dream of been a medical doctor was marred! “I did not get the cut-off mark for Medicine but I was given an option for Dentistry. By the time I told my father, he disagreed and advised that I went for Medicine. But I later ended up studying Zoology at the University of Lagos. Ironically, by the time I gained admission, I lost interest in Medicine or the Sciences; I wanted Mass-communication but could not get to change from Zoology.”
Dreams die hard! She was able to get a friend who connected her to someone who had an independent production outfit. “I told him I wanted to be on television and he gave me a job. It was so sudden that I got scared! Though I later accepted, it took the camera man to calm my nerves down when I got into the studio. That was how I got my first job as a presenter while I was still in school.” Many freelance jobs came until but her major break came at DAAR Communications where she started as a youth corp. member. Again, another hiccup. “I was posted to Abia State despite the fact that I had gone for an interview and was given a job at DAAR. I was praying to God that I got redeployment back to Lagos in order to pick my job. Again, I met a friend, narrated my ordeal and I was able to get a redeployment to Lagos.” That was 1995 and she started as Tosin Odukoya.
Now referred to as Mrs. Tosin Dokpesi, she is Managing Director at the DAAR Communications village, located in Kpaduma Hill, Abuja.
Tosin’s journey in the world of television, she said, is worth telling over and again. “I decided learning more about programming because one can never have the same television face forever. I am still a presenter but also a programmes officer. Though I was presenting Kaakaki, a breakfast show on AIT, I did other behind-the-scene jobs and I still do that now. Really, it has been exciting rising through the ranks and I enjoy whatever I am doing now because it is what I have always wanted to do. Television is a passion and I would not have done anything else,” she said.
Being a popular television girl, she could be ranked as one of Abuja Big Girls. “I don’t think so,” she refuted. “I am Tosin Dokpesi and I remain a simple presenter on television. What keeps me going in this job is the fear of God and I don’t see myself as an Abuja Big Girl or celebrity.”
But television must have influenced her life in some ways. “I don’t think so because I am still who I am. I can still pull up at the roadside and buy roast plantain, go to any eatery I want and my friends are still the same. When I was in Lagos, I was always going to buy food in one Buka located in Ogba! Of course people would stare at me but my life can’t change because I am working on television. It is like any other job and I don’t see it as any big deal. Agreed, some others would allow it enter into their heads, but I was not brought up that way. I was brought up to be humble and always remember my background. I don’t see myself as a star now because I am still aiming higher. I am just Tosin.”
But she is married to the chairman of the DAAR Group, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, and that has upped her status. She can’t possibly be the girl next door! “Of course, I am like the girl next door,” Tosin enthused.
“Here, I am just a staff who happens to be the wife of the chairman! I do my job; That I am married to Chief Dokpesi does not stop me from being Tosin—friendly, humble and unassuming. I hate creating unnecessary airs around me and I hate publicity.”
But why does she runsfrom granting interviews.
Tosin Dokpesi at 50

She laughed and replied: “I hate publicity and would not want to be quoted on what I never said. When I was still single and in Lagos, a soft-sell journalist called me on phone, asked a question and I answered. I was shocked to read what I never said and I didn’t know it was an interview! That was unethical. Though I have never been bothered about what people say, I just feel sorry for my mother, whose friends would call her and start asking questions. I am also a journalist just that I am in the electronic media. I believe things should be properly done and verified before going to press.”
But her marriage would have raised some dust in the media and the society.
“I don’t think so because I married the man I love and who also loves me. He has always being my friend and we get along well, even before marriage. I think God brought us together for a purpose and you can see that we are both happy. When you are in love, you can’t explain it; I have always believed that whatever happens to me is meant to be and I have never been this happy! He is my friend, my boss and my husband. When we got married in 2002, I stuck to my maiden name and he allowed me. But when it was time to change to his name, I did. Really, I don’t want to discuss my marriage in public,”
She would rather talk about her background. “My father was a lawyer and my mother, a civil servant. He was particular about bringing us up well and imbibed in us the fear of God. We are from Imota, Ikorodu and my mother from Sagamu. I was very close to my father and he was a choirmaster in church. That made me join the choir from age ten. With my father, we had to be around and when he died in 2001, I never knew I could get over it.”
A television face could also face certain challenges. “So many men would want you and any woman who falls prey would jump from one bed to the other. Some women would like you, majority would not just like you and you would have many friends. Naturally I am friendly and would never snub anybody. I am allergic to wickedness and I don’t believe in speaking ill of anyone. I have decided not to allow the razzmatazz of the tube overtake me,” Tosin confessed.
Fashion to her is simplicity. “Though I love looking good, I wear what makes me comfortable and anything I like. I believe fashion is being decent and simple. A designer freak? No, I buy whatever I like and can afford, especially shoes.”
Money means nothing to Tosin. “It is a means to an end but I see it as a seed. You sow into peoples’ lives, make them happy and you are free. I don’t hold on to money and it means nothing to me,” she said.
Finally, her dreams. “I want to make sure that as a presenter, I am able to be a reference to those behind me. I want to be a model for the younger ones.”

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