It feels great to be celebrated when I can still smell roses – Mama Ajasco

By Prisca Sam-Duru

Nollywood veteran Ambassador, Dr. Moji Oyetayo, popularly known as Mama Ajasco, was celebrated at the weekend in Atlanta, Georgia. She was honoured with the Life Time Impact in Cinematic Art and Humanitarian Excellence Award by the D’cem Awards USA.

Oyetayo, who is also the Chairman Emeritus of the Actors Guild of Nigeria has received several awards including Life Time Achievements Awards from the Achievers Award International and Iconic Service to the Guild Award- from the Actors Guild of Nigeria at the AGN Film Festival in California, amongst others.

Expressing her joy, Mama Ajasco said, “I feel a sense of euphoria, and I am immensely grateful to be celebrated while I can still smell the roses. These awards show that I am doing well and people are watching. It also tells me that much is expected of me, and that has fueled my desire to strive harder.”

Explaining how she dabbled into the acting industry, she said, “I actually fancied being a newscaster during my youthful years, but I guess life had other plans. By the time I pursued acting as a career, I was already behind the scenes as the Artist Manager for the Next Movie Star Reality Housemates. I also had a very good idea of what it took to get into the industry. So, I went ahead to participate in the 12 Ambassadors of Nollywood Reality Show and Won. That automatically launched me into the industry.”

There was no stopping her upon achieving that breakthrough. According to her, not even her physique could prevent her from excelling. “Being a Plus Size actor can be challenging, but I beat the odds. I have a face that can easily adapt to any character.”

In her opinion, “the acting industry is actually in a good place. It is now creating room for more international collaborations. We just need more funding to explore the new era of digitization on a global scale.

“There have been a lot of positive changes, and I am personally here for it. The relationship between marketers, distributors, audience, and the actors is now pretty close, and any actor can easily rise to fame without many hurdles like before. The use of streaming platforms and social media have bridged the gap for us all. So, the future for cinematic art is unlimited, and the horizons are great to conquer. I am positively looking forward to what the future brings,” she added.

On her future engagements, she disclosed that she was working on a couple of new movies that she was producing by herself. “So, you will see me in the future more as a producer than an actor,” she stated.

Mama Ajasco has not only been an actor, but she has been involved in numerous humanitarian activities. She is most passionate about the girl child and widows in society. “My foundation called House of Moji Empowerment (HOME) is a platform to educate and provide for all, especially the girl child and widows”, she said.

When asked how Mama Ajasco would like to be remembered for, she said “I would like to be remembered as someone who left a positive impact beyond the screen. Someone who touched a lot of young lives, who gave back to society and had a lot of human empathy. This is extremely important, to whom much is given much is expected. I believe we are blessed to be a blessing to others.”

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