THE INTERVIEW - In conversation with Lara Wise:

In conversation with Lara Wise:                Welcome to the hot seat.

 First of all a well deserved congratulations on the successful launching of larascopy.com and thanks for taking out time of your busy schedule to do this.     ….Thank you  so much and I am glad to be here.

What should people expect from larascopy.com?

….Larascopy is platform that empowers people to own their space. To rediscover themselves and express themselves through writings, video and audio recordings. It is a platform for discourse, debate, counsel, mentorship and cross pollination of ideas, simply put.

So, what inspired you to explore the net and why now?

…I don’t want to sound like some politicians who always claim that they were begged to vie for political offices, but I must say that yes, friends have urged me to go a-blogging and reach a wider audience with my writings. What we have here has been long in coming, months after months, year after year of great mentors pushing and prodding, and me rebelling, then, painstaking planning and giving up, planning again and, voila, here we are.

Introduce yourself  to your audience because  many want to know you they are fascinated by your brand and what you offer them.

…..my name is Lara Owoeye-Wise, I am a broadcast journalist. An author, a compere. I love to see people be the best in their chosen fields and I hate people sad around me.

You are a brilliant story teller when did you discover the gift?

I recall as a kid how I would tell my aunties fairy tales all made up in my mind. I think one thing God has blessed me with is the power of imagination  and, perhaps, the power of description and expression. I do this flawlessly and im grateful for that. My background in the print also helped brush up my writing prowess.

Does writing run in the family?

Yes it does. My dad, of blessed memory, had a diploma from the London School of journalism. My elder sister, Dele writes so well, I sometimes envy her, lol. My other sister, Arin, a very reserved and the opposite of me, writes fairly well too. She and Dele write great songs. My brothers, David and Sanjo, also write fairly well in their own little way.

You recently published the testimony of a young man, Simeon Solomon And the interview was trending all over the internet how did that come about?

The young man is a member of my church…God intervened in his case and gave him a miracle. Its mind-boggling , really and I know so many of such stories abound. Unfortunately, only bad news sells. As a journalist , I know the opening sentence of catchy stories will usually begin with something like ‘’34 people were today killed when a bomb went off in so so and so area’’. The other side of news is the other side we are not projecting.; the lone survivors of fatal accidents, miraculous recoveries after gloomy medical verdicts, you know, such stories that leave us ‘wowed’. We will showcase them on larascopy. You know we often say that roses have thorns, but we are looking at thorns having roses! Awesome isnt it?

Give us A typical day in the life of Lara Wise?

ah! My typical day begins at midnight. I wake up almost every night to do stuff. That’s when my head clears and I am able to do some brain work. So, I pray, read my Bible, read stuff, write, think and plan. Then I go back to bed and that’s why I am not an early bird in the real sense of it. So at dawn, which may be 9am, or earlier, my day starts in no particular order. And then the cycle continues again …

Hanging around you first thing you discover is you respect people why is that?

Really? I thought the first thing people often notice about me is that I love humour and that I am somehow overly playful ..well, I think respect begets respect. Everybody, irrespective of age, social standing or whatever, deserves some form of respect. I try to extend that as much as I can and, oh yes, I always get it back in no small measure.

How exactly do people get involved and interact with this website?

okay this is how it works..,…write. Send to us. Record, send to us. Is anything breaking around you? We will help you broadcast. Engage others in discussions, debates. We are giving you a platform to express yourself on one hand, and get empowered on the other hand through motivational and inspirational materials.

What are your favourite TV and radio programmes?

1. Crime and investigation, that is aside the news channels. I love Natgeo wild and the gospel musical channels.   Radio, well, may God rest the soul of Chaz B, sharing life issues was one of my favourite. He handled peoples’ issues the way I would and it did seem we thought alike. When I am driving and not listening to church sermons, I like to tune to any radio station playing the oldies…

Favourite Place? I love to be close to nature. Anywhere close to nature is okay by me. I love to watch the sunset.
Favourite food? Salads . salads. Salads. I make great salads. I love rice and yam and oh yes, pasta bolognaise (slurp..yummy)

Favourite Music?  I listen to mostly gospel songs but also appreciate contemporary music.
Favourite Actor?  Kimberly Elise, her face, her expression plays her role well. She is good!

Denzel washignton, Kerry Washington (Olivia Pope)

Tyler perry

Tasha smith is crazy!!!

Liz Benson in Nigeria, anyday!

 

Favourite Musician?. There are so many of them , mostly foreign artististes.

 

Favourite Book? I read everything motivational. Biographies. Historicals. I love Sandra Brown’s and John Grisham’s writings.

What’s the first media you tune to in the mornings?   BBC!!

How do you influence this generation through this platform?

I am more than certain that a generality of youths via this platform will find the purpose of their existence. They will be challenged and motivated. For the hurting who need someone to talk to, they will have a platform on Larascopy. We will engage you and you, us.

 

What’s the proudest achievement in your working life?

…hhhhhh. Seeing someone I have mentored rise and doing well. I get calls from people who claim they worked with me before as students and when they call give me progress reports several years after. Many of them, I don’t remember but  I am always happy to hear them call . None of my awards and recognitions rival this.

What is the best thing about your work?  Meeting people, writing and being a role model.

 And the worst please?  Exposure! I hate it!

 And what’s your most embarrassing moment?  Hhhhmmmmnnn!!!  Having my zipper damaged on air, the day my seat collapsed on air, lol. I carried on like nothing happened, you know, lol. But when I go off the air and I discover I had mispronounced a word, a name, phew! I get a bit deflated. Seriously!

At home, what do you tune into for relaxation?   What do I tune to? I’m trying to remember. I flip through channels and stay with anything that catches my fancy. I relax better with a good book in bed or a good action movie.

 Obviously you are a passionate lover of people particularly the girl child what is the passion?

Even me, I am surprised at myself. I had always loved to see the girl child do well. I think its just an innate thing, if I may borrow that word.

Another passion of yours is music talk to us about your genre and interest.

One day, when all my siblings and I are together in one place, I will invite you to listen to us sing…Its an orchestra!!!! Family devotions at dawn and dusk way back when we were growing up was always, almost like a concert. My father, God bless his soul was a great musician, multi-talented instrumentalist and songs writer. My mother, old and fray was a member of his band which he always put together as he moved from town to town during the course of his work. We all took the singing gene from them. My elder sister is Dele Bangboye (oga Jesus, God na helele, ran kay a dade yesu,etc), my younger sister is Arinola Ajagba (showpiece). My two brothers are great singers and multi-talented instrumentalists. I started playing the guitar as a teenager uptil the university. I stopped active playing in 1991 but I still sing. I do gospel..pure gospel. The rhythm of many of our contemporary songs are wonderful but their lyrics put me off, so I don’t go close!

You have a charity set up to help the girl child educate herself better. How is that going and how do you get outside help because the work is bigger than you?

Yes, we are in the rural areas where teenage pregnancy is endemic and no one is paying attention to this monster eating at our society. Girls as young as 13 are pregnant and are out of school, many, for life! So many of them want to go back to school but cannot. Here is where we come in. we send them to school, pay their fees, buy their uniforms and books. We have a library and a computer room to effectively engage their spare time. We provide guidance counselling services and these girls are changed girls. One of them came tops in her school after being off education for 4 years!

Funding. Hhhmmmmn! I published a book and launched it. I am using the proceeds form the launch and sales of that book to help these girls. Aside this, we do not have any form of assistance from the state government where we are, Kogi state, neither do we have any foreign funding. That’s just the way it is.

 
What are you reading at the moment?

A LONG TIME COMING by Evan Thomas

 What is your Sunday Newspaper? Any favourite magazine?

I hardly buy Sunday newspapers. I read stuff online. But when I do buy, I go for The Punch and Thisday newspapers. I buy and encourage others to buy weekend papers if there is a published article on me. Lol. Magazine will  have to be Time.  I flip through a few stuff in the office but not out of habbit.

 

Who in the media do you most admire and why?

Nigeria…God rest the soul of Bode Alalade, he was an accomplished broadcaster.. Stella Din-Jacob, of course! She was my first boss on TV. Crazy-unwilling-horse-driving-machine, that’s Stella. If you want to learn and work, you will with Stella, if the opposite is your ambition, your life will be miserable with her. She taught me so much. I like the folks on Aljazeera because of their creativity. An old TV looks beautiful once Aljazeera is on. CNN guys are good, creative and witty. BBC has gone gaga. Catching up with modern day broadcasting. In terms of specifics, hhhhmmmn, Becky Anderson, she is as jumpy and restless as I am. Anderson Cooper. BBCs Zainab Badawi, no nonsense! There are a handful of others, really.

What do you miss about Lagos now you live in Abuja?

I don’t miss Lagos o…lol. I was growing grey hair before I was transferred here. What kind of life do people live, leaving their homes at 4am and getting back at past midnight? The chaos, madness, noise, pollution of Lagos, you think I miss those? Naaaah! Lol.

How do you deal with fame?

I don’t count myself as famous just because people sit everyday to watch me on TV or because they hear me over the radio or because they have read my book and other writings. I see myself as the mechanic, doctor, teacher who are just doing their jobs! when in public places, people smile at me, or reach out for a hug or a handshake, the first thing that comes to my mind is ‘’oh, this person must be a member of my church and probably was blessed by my ministration on Sunday’’, until I hear ‘’ are you Lara Owoeye-Wise?’’ then I go ‘’okay, church folks don’t know my name’’.

I lead a normal life, I do my groceries, buy my stuff in the local markets if I have to, I can pull over and buy a road side  roasted corn if I wanted to (I don’t do that because I am not a corn freak).

Being on TV is no big deal and I do hope my colleagues and those in the entertainment industry will learn this and alight from a high horse that is stationary! When a whole editorial board of media outfits will debate my story and decide on when and how to use it, then, I am a star. But for now, I am just doing my job! Selah!

What was it like starring as Judge in Zulu Sofola’s THE WIZARD OF LAW?

Oh it was fun. I love acting and honestly sometimes think that if I wasn’t in the media, I would have been an actress. I love interpreting characters, It was challenging as I had to rehearse and memorise my lines but it turned out well

How did you land the role ?

Well, Arojah theatre group just picked me! Lol.
In one of your FB status we discovered you loved dogs have you always been an animal lover and which other animal do you love?

I don’t love dogs! I love puppies! Lol. I wont go out of my way to buy a dog, I would rather a puppy that we grow old together, lol.  One pet I am nursing the desire of owning is a parrot. I will get one as soon as I am ready.

What do you do when you’re not working?

I am reading, writing, talking, cooking,  playing or tending to my little vegetable garden at the back of my window.

It is going to be Christmas in a few weeks any special message for your friends and lovers of larascope.com?

Yes, please. We are planning to celebrate the birthday of someone in a few weeks and we are making all the plans and buying up everything to celebrate him but we are not inviting the celebrant to His birthday!  Jesus is the reason for Christmas and every other season. What would He have loved for us to do for his birthday and afterwards? Feed the hungry. Clothe the naked. Visit and pray for the sick. Be peaceful. Obey the law. Look out for the well being of others, etc. that is how to invite the celebrant to his birthday and that’s how to live!!!

 

Is there any problem which keeps you awake at night?  Hardly.

But when people reach out to me at midnight and are in dire situations, that keeps me awake. When a woman is thrown out of her matrimonial home and she is sleeping by the gate house at night, or a child is sick, or a someone reaches out with ‘’I feel like committing suicide’’ and all sorts of problems people experience, these keep me awake sometimes as I think about them and pray with and for them.

Aside that, I sleep like an infant until its time to wake and work.

 

 What is your favourite website?

www.larascopy.com, naturally!!! lol

 

If you can bring back one person who would it be and why?

My son…he is my son

 

If at the end of this journey you are going to be sent to some wonderful Island what four everyday thing and four luxury items would you love to take with you?

 

Four everyday things

1. Water, fruits and vegetables on one hand
2. A blanket
3. My bible, books and writing materials
4. My pair of glasses

Four luxury items

1. Ipad and an internet connection
2. A mini gym
3. A tv (many channels) and a complete music system. CDs of sermons
4. A very good and beautiful tent

 

Four books and songs you would love to take with you?

My Bible obviously plus my other books, depending on where I am going and for how long I am going to be there.

 Songs

…gospel and anything danceable. I love dancing

 

Lara Wise it is a great pleasure having this conversation. Congratulations once more wish you loads of success.