In this episode, we sit down with Fatima Zahra, host of Beyond the Limits of the Veil, for a raw and wide-ranging conversation about the real cost of creating as a Northern Muslim woman in Nigeria.

Fatima opens up about the quiet battles many creatives face — limited resources, the pressure to stay consistent, the loneliness of building something from scratch, and the uncomfortable offers that sometimes come disguised as “opportunities.” She shares the origin story of her podcast (sparked by the educational barriers and early marriage realities she witnessed), her near-miss with a studio deal that turned into harassment, and her evolving views on equity, companionship, and what it means to keep going when everything feels stacked against you.

This is a conversation about boundaries, resilience, and the power of simply refusing to quit. Perfect listening for creatives, aspiring podcasters, and anyone navigating faith, culture, and ambition at the same time.

Listen to Fatima’s show:

Beyond the Limits of the Veil on Spotify, YouTube, TikTok & Instagram.

Actionable Steps for Listeners

1. Protect your boundaries early

When an opportunity feels off (especially those that mix professional help with personal interest), trust the discomfort. You do not owe anyone prolonged “thinking about it.”

2. Prioritize consistency over perfection

Most podcasts die before episode 21. Commit to a realistic release schedule you can actually maintain, even if the quality isn’t perfect yet.

3. Start with what you have

Fatima began with a 32GB phone, no proper mic, and free tools. Resource constraints are real — they are not a valid reason to delay starting.

4. Define your own version of success

Don’t let comparison (or the fear that “someone already covered this topic”) stop you. Your lived experience and perspective are the differentiators.

5. Build systems for the long game

Save deliberately for better tools, learn simple live options (YouTube/Instagram Live), and create a small support circle that reminds you why you started.

6. Separate equity from equality

In relationships and creative partnerships, aim for mutual respect and companionship rather than rigid hierarchies or forced sameness.

Impactful Quotes

On the harassment and boundary-setting:

> “He just wants me to be side chick, somebody that can be servicing him. I don’t know what, why two wives are not enough for that… I said, excuse me, sir, are you daft?”

~ Fatima Zahra

On almost quitting:

> “I was furious, so I said, I’m going to stop. Then someone was like, why would you say you stop? In any field you enter, you are going to see such people.”

~ Fatima Zahra

On the real mission of her podcast:

> “This podcast is actually about fighting for education… Let’s prioritize education and let education not get into your head, into misbehaving and making people think that once women are educated, they misbehave.”

~ Fatima Zahra

On equity vs equality:

> “We cannot say that there should be gender equality. We just have to say that okay, there should be equity. Not gender equality is not even possible even in our own holy books.”

~ Fatima Zahra

On companionship in marriage:

> “As a man, you’re supposed to take a woman as a companion, a partner, not a servant… Marriage is not about making the woman see you as being superior. It has to be a partnership, like companionship.”

~ Fatima Zahra

On consistency and not quitting:

> “Most people don’t get to twenty-one… That means most people don’t do podcasting for more than three months.”

~ Awesome Nwokolo

> “I don’t want to be identified as a quitter… not because of anybody, but for myself.”

~ Awesome Nwokolo

On unique perspective:

> “I can form a startup about what Muslim or Northern girls are going through, but I’m a Christian male from the South… I cannot tell the story the way you could tell it. It’s peculiar to you. You are the voice.”

~ Awesome Nwokolo

In this unscripted evening conversation, Joel The Chosen a cinematographer and creative opens up about a creative process that barely feels like one: leaving the house to run an errand and ending up filming birds, flags, cows, and market scenes — only later realizing the clips form a portrait of Nigeria. Together we explore Fela Kuti’s seamless instrumentation, what Amazon’s logistics and Nike’s branding teach us about process and audience, and whether real art is less about deliberate creation and more about noticing what’s already there. A candid rumination on observation, incompleteness, and the quiet ways stories get made.

Actionable Steps Listeners Can Take

• Start collecting raw footage or notes without a plan. Film or write whatever catches your attention in daily life (a flag, people in a market, birds, a random street moment). Store it. Revisit weeks or months later and look for the story that emerges.

• Study the “gaps” in work you admire. Listen to music, watch a product experience, or examine a brand and ask: Where does one element hand off seamlessly to the next? That’s often the real craft.

• Define a clear target audience or message for your work instead of trying to speak to everyone. Ask: Who is this actually for, and what feeling or identity does it reinforce?

• Treat ordinary observation as creative material. The incomplete or “everyday” parts of a place, culture, or life are often more honest than the polished tourist version.

• Record real conversations or thoughts when they feel alive. Sometimes the unscripted exchange itself becomes the piece of art.

Impactful Quotes

Joel The Chosen

“I leave my house to buy a car… and then I see something worth shooting. And I shoot it. I see birds flying in the sky right now, I take out my phone, I film these birds. Next three weeks I see a flag, I film the flag… I see cows, I film the cows… I have a video talking about Nigeria.”

“My creative process is subconscious.”

“Art is bringing what is not there to life.”

“Art is bringing what is not there to life… the ability to think about something and bring it into visualization.”

Awesome

“There is no gap. It’s like a gear… as the drum is stopping here, the bass is feeling it… that little detail for me is what catches my attention.”

“Amazon did not make anything new. They didn’t make the books… they don’t make the product they sell. But the beauty is the process that is seamless… that is their unfair advantage.”

“When people want to talk about Nigeria, they go to the markets… they show you Lagos and Abuja, and that’s Nigeria… the larger part of the story is brushed out.”

“Perhaps what makes people artistic is not us, it’s God. We just have a piece of that original artist.”

Connect with us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/inpursuitofgreatnesspodcast?rpxt=dndpeW41ZHRoNDNi

View Joel the Chosen's Art (cinematography): https://www.tiktok.com/@joel_the_chosen?_r=1&_d=f6141kam2m0k2f&sec_uid=MS4wLjABAAAA7ODIgGmurEc2paIYjBI8lcJI6rnGRl6lmyJCCWek5f83yTLs4Wr1V4hcV4NeeNLQ&share_author_id=7087763692562187269&sharer_language=en&source=h5_m&u_code=dab4e88ijfkllj×tamp=1791838741&user_id=6782291435531322373&sec_user_id=MS4wLjABAAAAz2meGGmvU3A-9w-CGDm14baQL1cCSVC9Y0rVC28DhLqUAei15XpTVS_uFQvzZPxA&item_author_type=2&utm_source=copy&utm_campaign=client_share&utm_medium=android&share_iid=7693155953391159061&share_link_id=08b0164e-88b0-40d7-8b34-1e922b5ec3d6&share_app_id=1233&ugbiz_name=ACCOUNT&ug_btm=b6880%2Cb5836&social_share_type=5&share_enter_from=others_homepage&item_author_type=2&enable_checksum=1

A reflective Independence bonus episode. Awesome (Host) and Christian sit down on the eve of Nigeria’s Independence Day to treat the occasion as more than a public holiday. They explore why history still matters, how systems and citizens shape each other, the cost of living without a shared national vision, and what a better Nigeria might actually look like. Honest, faith-inflected, and forward-looking — a conversation about remembrance, responsibility, and the work still left to do.

Actionable Steps Drawn from the Episode

- Treat Independence Day as a deliberate ritual of remembrance, not just a day off. Take time to look back at how far the country has come and what the founding generation endured.

- Actively study Nigerian and African history (including the difficult early post-independence years and the Civil War era) instead of relying on surface-level comparisons with other nations.

- Examine your own role in the “people problem.” Recognize that leaders emerge from the citizenry and that systems both shape and are shaped by ordinary behavior.

- Prioritize capacity and competence in leadership over likability, popularity, or career politics.

- Move from complaint and online commentary to concrete action — build, create value, and contribute where you are rather than only criticizing.

- Cultivate a clearer personal (and ideally shared) vision of the Nigeria you want, so daily choices and resource use align with something larger than short-term gain.

- Practice greater sensitivity in speech and online posts; words shape culture and can either build or further numb collective empathy.

- Support or participate in efforts that preserve historical memory (eyewitness accounts, proper documentation, education modules) so younger generations are not left without context.

Impactful Quotes

On Independence as ritual, not holiday

“I'm really going to praise the Lord above Nigeria, and apart from that, I'm definitely going to celebrate it as if I'm celebrating my death day.”

— Christian

On growth and perspective

“No matter how bad the country is, you can't compare it to where we came from. We have grown... you can't compare Nigeria up to date to where? So we, no matter what we say, we have grown.”

— Christian

On systems, people, and responsibility

“It is the system that, that once a system is faulty, the people becomes faulty... People make system, but system shapes people... Currently an institutional problem is still at the same time from the top and at the same time from the bottom... Everybody is a problem.”

— Christian

“The people we vote in are the direct expression of our own self... the people we choose to lead us are the direct expression of who we are... we are all the problem.”

— Christian

On historical memory

“Every year, these people go to that particular place that that bomb was dropped, and they pray every year... They put the pictures that they were able to capture after the destruction of that bomb... This was what we went through...”

— Christian (on Hiroshima/Nagasaki remembrance)

“Nigerians don't even know their stories. Nigerians don't even know where they came from.”

— Christian

On “stolen lives” and short-termism

“All of you have lived stolen lives.” (referencing the Doctor Doom trailer line, then applying it)

—Awesome (Host)

“We've mortgaged Nigeria's growth for short-term satisfaction.”

— Awesome (Host)

On vision and direction

“When you don't have a vision you are working towards, it's hard to get there ... most people don't have an idea of what a better Nigeria would look like.”

— Awesome (Host)

“I believe we should just walk in such a way that our means should justify our end.”

— Christian

On action over talk

“Action, action step... Don't just stay and be... work things out.”

— Christian

“Leadership is capacity. Leadership is not niceness... Someone feeds you doesn't mean he can lead you.”

— Christian