Nike Oshinowo (born Adenike Asabi Oshinowo, 1966) is a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

entrepreneur, former pageant director, talk show host, and style icon.

Early life and pageants

Oshinowo was raised in

Ibadan Ibadan (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano, with a total population of 3,649,000 as of 2021, and over 6 million people within its me ...

and England, where she attended boarding school. Although she had intended to become an

air hostess A flight attendant, also known as steward/stewardess or air host/air hostess, is a member of the aircrew aboard commercial flights, many business jets and some government aircraft. Collectively called cabin crew, flight attendants are primar ...

or a

doctor Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other roles ** ...

, she studied

Politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...

at the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the ancient arms attributed to the Kingdom of Es ...

. Shortly after obtaining her degree, Oshinowo, mentored by former Miss Nigeria Helen Prest, represented Rivers at the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria pageant and became its first

Yoruba The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute ...

winner (She was crowned in 1990, but reigned through 1991). Her victory attracted controversy from the audience and showbiz journalists following rumours the contest was rigged in her favor. Towards the end of her reign Oshinowo, in an interview with a soft-sell magazine, denied Prest had a hand in her MBGN victory. In 1991, Oshinowo, then representing Nigeria at Miss World, criticised her South African counterpart, Diana Tilden-Davis, after the latter reportedly made derogatory remarks regarding black women. According to ''

The Sowetan ''The Sowetan'' is an English-language South African daily newspaper that started in 1981 as a liberation struggle newspaper and was freely distributed to households in the then apartheid-segregated township of Soweto, Johannesburg, Gauteng ...

'', Tilden-Davis had stated native South Africans were absent from the national pageant due to their high

teen pregnancy Teenage pregnancy, also known as adolescent pregnancy, is pregnancy in a female adolescent or young adult under the age of 20. This includes those who are legally considered adults in their country. The WHO defines adolescence as the period bet ...

rate. Miss World officials banned Tilden-Davis, who subsequently placed third in the contest that year, from arguing against the accusation, dismissing the report as a rumour.

Career

After her reign, Oshinowo featured in a commercial for the Venus de Milo beauty range, and hosted a fashion and beauty show on Nigerian television. Her business ventures included African food delivery service ''Buka Express'', and health and beauty

day spa A day spa is a business that provides a variety of services for the purpose of improving health, beauty, and relaxation through personal care treatments such as massages and facials. The number of day spas in the US almost doubled in the t ...

''Skin Deep'' which ran for seven years before it was sold after she decided to create her own range of beauty products for the Nigerian market. On January 17, 2010, she released the

workout Exercise is a body activity that enhances or maintains physical fitness and overall health and wellness. It is performed for various reasons, to aid growth and improve strength, develop muscles and the cardiovascular system, hone athletic s ...

video ''Nike Oshinowo: Fit, Forty and Fabulous'' - the first celebrity fitness DVD produced in the country - and launched her own fragrance ''Asabi''. In 2010, after a six-year attempt, Oshinowo finally bought the Miss Nigeria

franchise Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...

from former organisers ''Daily Times'', and became chief executive and creative director of the pageant. As of 2012, she is no longer in charge, but is now working on another pageant in which the winner will reign for a hundred years. In 2014, Oshinowo launched her talk show ''Late Night with Nike Oshinowo'' on

AIT An ait (, like ''eight'') or eyot () is a small island. It is especially used to refer to river islands found on the River Thames and its tributaries in England. Aits are typically formed by the deposit of sediment in the water, which accumu ...

Personal life

Oshinowo, who speaks five languages (English, French, Japanese, Spanish, and her native

), married medical doctor Tunde Soleye in 2006, but is now divorced. In 2009, the couple were in the news following a lawsuit instituted by Soleye's ex-wife Funmilayo, who claimed that he had been unfaithful with Oshinowo during their marriage. In 2013, she spoke of her struggle with endometriosis which has plagued her since boarding school by age 13,‘I thought I was going to die’ – Nike Osinowo
/ref> and at the age of 47 she became the mother of twins via surrogacy in America.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oshinowo, Nike Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria winners Miss World 1991 delegates 1968 births Living people Yoruba beauty pageant contestants Alumni of the University of Essex Nigerian socialites Businesspeople from Ibadan 20th-century Nigerian businesswomen 20th-century Nigerian businesspeople Yoruba women in business 21st-century Nigerian businesswomen 21st-century Nigerian businesspeople Nigerian beauty pageant contestants Nigerian television talk show hosts Yoruba women television personalities Nigerian restaurateurs Television personalities from Ibadan Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria contestants