From Catwalk to Camera: The Many Lives of Eunice Olumide

Photography: Simon Emmett
Model & Stylist: Eunice Olumide
Shoot Assistant: Campbell Bainbridge 
Production: Olumide Galleries LTD
Location: Arthur Seat Edinburgh

How do you feel about being under the spotlight?

I'm so grateful and so thankful for the incredible career that I've had throughout my entire life. From working on BAFTA award-winning films, to Starwars and attending the premiere and going to Amfar and Cannes it has been a whirlwind and honestly the thing of dreams. Acting in the television series Noughts Crosses, based on the book by Mallorie Blackman or short films like Some Sweet Oblivious Antidote with Sinner star Wunmi Mosaku has been absolutely incredible. Sometimes I can't believe what I have achieved. I think that I'm really thankful to God, my family, my husband and my mum for always supporting and believing in me. Moving into filmmaking has actually been like a really natural progression. I've always loved theatre, I love acting, I love filmmaking and I think a life in front of the camera really does give you that other missing half in terms of experience. So, it's been absolutely brilliant. I made my first short film Secret Lives: The Untold Story of British Hip Hop in 2024. It obtained national distribution through Picture House and sold out which was absolutely amazing. I also had a screening at BAFTA and it's shown at a number of festivals which is way more than I expected or made it for since I had no budget at all.

Can you believe it's screening now in 2025 at two major festivals?

I think the film is extremely powerful, it tells the story of British hip-hop which is a part of British history that's been lost and missed out. I think this is due to the lack of technology at the time. Contrary to popular belief, technology can be flawed. Just because something isn't on Google doesn't mean it didn't exist. It's kind of pre-internet. So, I think it's amazing when you can use film to tell crucial stories about our history and our culture. In a way that's motivational since it celebrates those artists for their contribution to the world and culture. I also contribute just a tiny wee bit in the women's section, where I talk about my life on an underground hip-hop scene. Most crucially I discuss why I chose to keep it separate from my fashion work, which is essentially because I really wanted to use my life to create competing ideologies. To pave new lanes in culture where music could be about talent first, look second. I do feel like I've been truly blessed by God. I was offered a number of deals including a seven figure record contract. I just decided they weren't for me because I realized at a really young age that I didn't really want to be a commercial musician, just because I liked controlling my own intellectual property and I had a certain style that I wanted to promote which aligned with my content and lyrics. I didn't think I could have that as a commercial artist. Plus I already worked in fashion and I knew what it was like to tour. For me it was all about protecting myself and my fans from anything that went against my beliefs or integrity. That's when you could end up unhappy and also possibly contributing to the world in a way that's more damaging than uplifting or supportive.

So originally, when I wanted to make this film, I pitched an idea about women in hip-hop and I was basically told by the Commissioners that they couldn't see the relevance of women in hip-hop. They were totally wrong. Two years later it was the 50th year of hip-hop anniversary. So actually I was extremely relevant, I was ahead of my time and it was a brilliant topic to want to explore. Both BBC London and Netflix did documentaries on women and hip-hop so then that made me feel like that idea had already been done. So I decided to go ahead anyway and just make a film even though I didn't have any funding. I directed it, I produced it, I cast it, styled it, was DOP and even edited the whole thing on paper. It was a project of love and a huge undertaking however celebrating those who paved the way - those people that you haven't heard about, but should have.  It looks at the time before the 2000's with Dizzy, Rascal and then leading on  to where we are now with Northernxposure, LOTOS, Central Cee, Little Sims and Doechii. I really wanted to focus on those unsung heroes. Those torch bearers who really sacrificed their lives and in some cases, even their marriages, their houses, their mortgages to pave the way.  It's really inspiring particularly at that time in Britain, we had Margaret Thatcher in power, it was quite a serious time in British Society. Looking at this through the lens of hip hop as it grew from the reggae sound systems. How it went in to become this vehicle for people to express social, political and cultural issues that they were going through.

You always explore topics that play a role in history.

I really wanted to explore a number of themes including how technology plays a role in history. I wanted to look at accents and how the way that we speak is central to our success as musical artists because of the way that music has developed. It also explores themes of Womanhood and the role of women in hip-hop, it looks at the missing pillar of hip-hop; Consciousness. How important it is to have consciousness and an understanding of the world actually is to rap and lastly it focuses on togetherness and supporting each other, intergenerational migration and ageism.  I think that some of the biggest challenges about transitioning from an actor to a director are more mental and are to do with self-depreciation and a lack of self-belief but I would say the biggest hurdle is really convincing the world and society that you can do more than one thing.  Certainly in the United Kingdom it’s nt something that is promoted. It's actually quite unusual for someone to move from in front of the camera to behind it, which I've never understood, because I look at life as one continuum, it's constantly moving, it's not stopping and starting. So, for me, in terms of development and growth, it seemed logical to move into directing and creating and making. Particularly, when the roles being offered to me just didn't seem to fit.  I've always believed in the idea of, you know, doing things for yourself. You can't sit around and wait for the world or anyone else to create opportunities for you. I just believe that if an opportunity is not there, then you have to create for yourself. Of course, that can be difficult and it takes an extraordinary level of commitment, dedication and self-belief in oneself. So I'm really proud of what I've done and I just look forward to continuing to grow and to become better at what I do. You know, so that I can create transformational art, that really changes and affects people's lives in a positive way.

When did you get into music?

I started making music really, really young, my first song came out in 2006 and I had significant success with my album The Last Piece of the Puzzle which came out in 2009 when I was still just a little girl.  I absolutely loved music, but I knew early on that, for me, I wanted to use it as a vehicle for social change, as a way to help people inspire people, take them out of the darkness. I think that hip-hop is an incredible culture, because there's so many different pillars of it, whether that's the DJing, the the dance, the break dancing, the toasting, the rapping or the consciousness, the study of it, the graffiti, there's so many different types of art involved in hip-hop culture. I really started out in fashion at the young age of 15 so, I was doing music before I did fashion.  When it comes to hip-hop, it is extremely hypersexualized, commercialised and materialistic and I just think that the opportunities for women were so narrow. So it just felt like there was no need for me to do music commercially and I was happy to do it on the Underground. I just wanted to perform, make a living and make great music. I wanted to make art that would touch the audience in a positive way. I didn't set out to keep it a secret, it was just so different to working in fashion for me.  I definitely intentionally wanted to keep it totally separate but that was just because I didn't want my fashion to affect my music and I wanted my music to be quite serious. So, I felt like I kind of had to keep that apart from fashion. I think that now there are two reasons why I ended up having to talk about it. Primarily, I was contacted by two different journalists. The first was from one of the biggest publications in the UK, and secondly by one of the biggest television and radio organisations in Britain. They've basically found out because social media has made it almost impossible to keep anything separate nowadays. They wanted to run a story about it and kind of expose it and I just felt like if anyone was going to tell this story, it's going to be me first.  I just wanted it to be more than a sound bite.  So when I was making this film I decided that I would appear in the women's section and I had about two or three minutes in there where I explained in a bit more detail why I chose to keep it separate. Now it's really interesting because I feel like I've come to a level in my career where I can honestly say, I think, I actually know how I want to represent myself. It's a really interesting time. I don't know what's going to happen in the future.  I'd probably like to, for the first time, get some management, or a small independent label, who understand my vision, understand that my music is a global sound. Music can be used as medicine, and I think that in the world we're living in today, we could do with a bit of medicine, you know?

How do you find the balance?

I don’t really feel like I have to balance my career. I just live it and love it.  Someone once described me as a maverick or an alchemist which I thought was a great way to describe what I do.  I don't know if that's just my personality or if that's because from a young age I've always multitasked. It makes me feel more comfortable. It makes me work more easily and in my mind and in my brain I don't feel like I'm doing lots of different things.  I'm fulfilled in such a profoundly positive way. I just do myself and I just do what makes me happy, what I love and what I think brings joy to other people. I don't tend to separate so if I'm directing a film, then I'm going to make the soundtrack and vice versa with making music.  I would do the music video as a short film. I feel like everything I do is one and that gives me peace.

An album is on the way.

I am so excited for my upcoming album. I'm so over the moon like I can't even put it into words how much this project means to me. It's the first time I'm going to be creating an album using my real name. The best thing for me is being able to try to make the most sincere music that can connect with people. I feel like now I've matured to a certain level as an artist that, you know, this could be some of my best work. I'm absolutely thrilled to explore more creativity with this project because in the past, when I made music it was, very down to earth, very real but it was also quite hard and masculine. There were no frills, no styling, it was all very rootsy.  Whilst my music is going to continue to be that, I would like to incorporate some of my creative direction into this album. It's really going to be a piece of art that I hope changes people's lives, and affects them in a way that is inspiring and motivational. I want it to be unique and special and have a kindness to it you can't find anywhere else. I've also decided to simultaneously release a greatest hits album so that's for all those people who didn't know that I made music covering the last couple of decades. I should have two albums out in 2026, which is pretty cool. I am also working on a new book and my second PHD so life looks good.  Again I am super thankful and grateful and I just cannot see what is going to happen next.