Veronica Ebie – Odeka, the dynamic style consultant and fashion entrepreneur
Veronica Ebie-Odeka is a seasoned international stylist consultant and fashion entrepreneur in the luxury and retail industry across diverse business sectors. Her areas of expertise include; luxury lifestyle consulting, import merchandising, personal styling with high profile clientele; business consulting and product marketing in interdisciplinary sectors, strategy development and implementation for corporate branding.
She is the Founder and Beauty Director of Vane Polish, who created Nigeria’s first high premium luxury nail polish brand store and over 50 nail salons and retailers. She has a B.A Degree in Communications, Concentration: Public Relations University of Houston-Downtown. She is a resident fashion consultant TV Host for three (3) TV Shows; “Vanestyle Fashionfix”, “Looks by Veronica” and “Fashion, beauty styling” reaching global networks in Africa, the UK and on You Tube providing fashion and style advise to the public. She educates viewers on how to create solutions for the fashion industry in Nigeria through identification of gaps in the industry and with the aim of connecting fashion lovers with their purpose. She was named 2018 “Lancome Teint Idole Ultra Wear foundation” influencer, a Lancome campaign to celebrate diversity and women.
Early years
Growing up for me was an adventure full of values. Both my parents guided my youth with principles of truths into my adulthood and growing up in the US encouraged me to always speak my truth with precision of clarity. Today the influences are seen in my conduct, work ethics and behaviour towards others.
10 years in high fashion, runway modelling and more. How has it been?
The fashion Industry is very different from now and when I was modelling over 10 years ago. My journey was exciting because I was always traveling, working and having the experiences of meeting amazing people through the culture of fashion. When I relocated to Nigeria, the journey continued however I took a behind the scene approach by setting up my company to offer a more structured service of styling that was very much lacking.
As a celebrity stylist in Nigeria, what has your experience been like?
I am in the business of making others look great and so far my experiences in Nigeria as a creative stylist have been amazing. I entered the industry when the role of a stylist still wasn’t clearly defined and helped cultivate the journey for what styling has become now. My team’s experiences vary because the services we offer now include personal styling for individuals with very busy lives who desire to retain the best style but don’t have the time. Sometimes, there are days more hectic than others due to logistic factors such as traffic, schedule changes and overlapping of activities but even on the most tiring of times, I love what I do and we always get the work done to the satisfaction of our client.
Share on your style clinic
I love fashion and styling however, it’s more than trends and expensive labels. The desire to share the worth of my years of knowledge with others is the reason I began the style clinics. The Vane style clinics are hands-on workshops that offer interactive guidelines for helping people achieve their best style while maintaining an appearance true to themselves. We also offer workshops for creatives with an interest in the fashion industry or elevating their worth through styling and work with corporate companies to train their team/staff on the importance of looking great always.
When and why did you create Vane polish? Why the name?
I was simply tired of searching for polish colours that refreshed my skin tone when worn, didn’t chip easily and the assurance of quality polishes that weren’t fake or expired in our market really drove my need to create a premium nail lacquer line that included an extensive range of over 50 shades for women of colour and especially were toxin free, dried really fast and most importantly stayed on for days on end. The name VANE is acronyms from my actual name.
What feat has it achieved so far?
The Vane polish since going on shelves in 2015 has achieved great reach by customer love and satisfaction. Selling over 20,000 bottles in our first year globally, it’s currently being used and distributed in close to 75 salons and retail stores nationwide. We have taken advantage of collaborative opportunities; having been the only African nail polish brand sold on Amazon as well as sponsored participation backstage for the models in the biggest fashion weeks in African year after year with both Arise and Lagos Fashion & Design Week.
As an entrepreneur in Nigeria, what are the challenges you have experienced in your business?
There are a lot of challenges, though I have to admit distribution has been one of the bigger challenges I have experienced.
How do you feel the government can help support business to be better?
I do believe the government is supporting SME’s such as mine but there is always more that can be done such as creating more awareness of the available services for them and educating businesses on how to access proper funds that they need to scale up.
Unfading memories
There are many memories for me that shape my life however, some of the best ones are when I got married and also birthed all of my kids, those are the days that will never be forgotten.
You just turned 40, what are you looking forward to?
Yes I recently turned 40 and to me it a great age to be. I look forward to greater years guided my God in all that I do, business expansion and conquering of higher heights. 40years to me means to live life on my terms, appreciate and keep those in my life closer to me, and most of all embrace my truth at all times by being fearless.
Final words
Life isn’t worth living alone and we must always open ourselves up to learning daily so I encourage us all to Live, Laugh and Love always.
Kemi Ajumobi