By now, you must have come across the February 7th cover of ThisDay Style, which has Olajumoke Orisaguna on its front cover. In normal circumstances, Olajumoke is the least likely character to cover the front page of the popular magazine. Why? Because some days ago, she was just a bread hawker at Sabo-Yaba, Lagos.
Her story as told by TY Bello began when she walked/hawked into Tinie Tempah’s Disturbing Lagos shoot photo-directed by TY Bello. As fate would have it, Olajumoke’s accidental Waka Pass role was about to turn her into a star, unlike many struggling models out there who go through all sorts to get on a major magazine cover.
Days later, the pictures of the shoot surfaced on social media and everyone thought the bread seller was such a beautiful and graceful actress. The main thought that lingered was how an elegant model was made to gracefully balance the local bread tray on her head.
Now at this time, Olajumoke was probably somewhere thinking of how to pay for one thing or the other, feeling sorry for being away from her 5-year old daughter in Osun state, unaware that her face had gone viral on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
In the video below posted by TY Bello some days ago, Olajumoke, in her Osun dialect, explains how she had heard “Madam” had been searching for her. Possibly worried that the reason for her search was urgent, she went to TY Bello’s studio. The rest, as they say, is history.
Apparently, Olajumoke Orisaguna gracing the front cover of ThisDay Style is just the beginning of greater heights. 
Her story sounds like something from a movie – a life of poverty transformed into one filled with endless possibilities, in just two weeks. This is probably why some have claimed that TY Bello has an agenda.
But you see, observant and objective people will notice that TY Bello has learnt to live a life of love; even her Twitter bio describes her as a “photographer, musician, addicted to love”. Many have quickly forgotten that TY Bello has experienced pain herself, having waited 9 years to have her first children, Chris and Chris. Events like such as TY’s should only encourage one to want to help others in need, which is what she did with Olajumoke Orisaguna.
Now, a lot of us understand philanthropy as a process whereby celebrities, rich people and organizations give out cash or offer to help people to either show off or to project themselves in positive light. In actuality, the true essence of philanthropy is the love of humanity, in the sense of caring, nourishing, developing, and enhancing. What TY Bello has done is applaudable and can be likened to what people like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg do on a daily basis with their foundations. It’s what women like Mrs. Laja Adedoyin has done with Hearts of Gold Children Hospice, Lagos, a home for children abandoned by their parents because of deformities they were born with. It’s what we do with when take money out of our bags to help a beggar who needs help to feed.
Let’s learn to live a life of love by lifting others up.