- Ruth Kadiri has opened up about her move to YouTube, saying it was a difficult but intentional decision driven by her desire for personal happiness and creative fulfillment rather than external recognition.
- In a recent interview, she reflected on her long career, her beginnings as a writer, and the challenges of understanding YouTube’s business model. Kadiri emphasizes trusting your instincts, staying true to your vision, and encourages artistes to take full advantage of digital platforms to bring their ideas to life.
Actress and filmmaker Ruth Kadiri has opened up about her decision to start making films on YouTube, admitting it wasn’t an easy move.
Kadiri told Jay On Air that her main focus is personal happiness and fulfillment, rather than external recognition.
“The last thing I want to do as a human being is lose myself in the process of being an entertainer. I need to be able to keep the happiness and fulfillment for myself while growing and building what I want to build. And I’m not going to let anyone push me around.” she said.
Kadiri, who has worked in the entertainment industry for more than two decades, recalls her career as a writer behind the scenes. “Okay, so I haven’t counted. I’ve been in the entertainment industry for a long time. Even when I was at Unilag, I was already in the entertainment industry. So for me, it has many facets. I started behind the scenes as a writer.”
She revealed that joining YouTube Filmmaking was challenging at first. “It wasn’t easy. People were already making movies on YouTube. It wasn’t something I realized. I didn’t understand the industry. I didn’t understand what it was about. And it wasn’t that attractive at the time. But I knew how my own movie was going to go when I wanted to do it. Most of the time, when I want to do something, I know when it’s going to work. I don’t know how I know, but I know,” she said.
Kadiri added that she is often misunderstood by those who fail to see her long-term vision. “I would say because people don’t understand long-term goals. And you probably, if you have the energy to explain, you will. If you don’t, you keep it short,” she said.
She pointed out that other artists are encouraged to use digital platforms to “With the tools and opportunities like YouTube and so many platforms, I expect artists to go crazy and crazy and create stuff like this. All these things that we wrote in our diaries, we don’t do that anymore.”
