Our inaugural Mavin Growth Story follows the journey of Chika Emmanuela, who first joined Mavin as the Executive Assistant of the Chief Operating Officer, Tega Oghenejobo (now President and COO of Mavin Global). Today, Chika works on the Partnerships team as a Merch associate in charge of handling merchandising and running Culture Hayvn, Mavin’s in-house clothing brand.
Our content team also sat down with the star herself for a brief chat in order to get Chika’s inspiring growth story in her own words.
Chika’s Growth Story in Her Own Words
What drew you to the merch and partnerships space, and how did you make that transition?
When I joined merchandise with partnership it was a really new structure, it was just few months old we had our first person on the job, and I got to work closely with him even before I got into the role. I saw that this is something that I was very much interested in even though I was working in a different role at the time. I wondered where else would I be interested in working and when the role came in it was just about two, three months and I was like hmm I really like this one. This is something that I’m very much interested in.
What made you the right person to handle the merch aspect of partnerships?
I feel like something that stands me out would be attention to details and attention to premium, good quality. When you see it, you’re like “I want that.”
Watching Her Growth
Speaking on Chika’s growth at the company, the Senior VP of Operations, Jennifer Imion said: “I would say for someone that is passionate about that arm of the business in the first place, that gave her a foot at the door, as well as her ability to be able to adapt and innovate around the circumstances. Our director of Partnerships Tobi has also been instrumental with onboarding her and helping her think strategically and operationally. We like that our men at Mavin are very supportive of the women in their departments, so it is important to highlight that as well.“
Tobi Alabi, Director of Partnerships at Mavin, also shared similar sentiments about Chika’s evolution at the label and her contribution to the Partnerships arm of the business:
“Working with Chika has been interesting,” He says. “She is a very driven individual, and I think it shows in her growth in the company generally. Since she’s been a merch associate it’s been great. She’s done great work in trying to create some of the pieces that you guys know or have seen, probably in music videos or just on people generally, and on some of your favorite talents as well. I think she’s grown as an individual and as a woman, and she has continued to set the path for other women.“
