Nimay Ndolo’s road to success in the creator industry took a lot of work and determination.
Before her pivot into content creation, the Nigerian-American delivered food in a 2004 manual transmission car (stick shift) with no air conditioning (AC) for an entire summer in Atlanta, GA. On Ndolo’s delivery route, she would often deliver to people working in skyscrapers — AC there thankfully was blasting. Escaping the blistering heat ultimately freed her from the shackles of being “a starving artist,” she says.
“I used my Postmates bag to sneak into a startup for a software company,” Ndolo recalled to AFROTECH™. “I ended up taking them donuts and my resume. I got an interview and didn’t get the job, but I ended up at a freight brokerage.”
Even though Ndolo was able to secure a more stable job, she shared that after nearly a year, she was fired from the position six days before Christmas. However, being let go allowed her to go back to the drawing board, which, she says, reminded her of the love she had for a software development course she took in college. From there, in addition to teaching herself programs such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, she completed a programming boot camp.
After working at a few startup companies, Ndolo became a front-end developer at a marketing firm in Atlanta.
When she was asked by her boss what her requested hourly rate was, Ndolo unknowingly asked for $50 per hour while her counterparts were making around $90 to $180 an hour. Recalling she had mistakenly lowballed herself, she recounted how the workload of being an independent contractor became overwhelming.
Ndolo’s eventual corporate exit came at a time when she was growing her social media following and started raking in brand deals. As a full-time content creator, Ndolo shared with AFROTECH™ that it has given her the opportunity to secure deals up to five figures. Along with having a TikTok following of 2.4 million (as of this writing), she says she has a management team that helps make sure she is paid her worth.
@nimay.ndoloHome & decorating content/rants incoming this year♬ original sound – NIMAY NDOLO🍉
Although Ndolo has turned her content into a lucrative business, she is also transparent about the pitfalls, such as battling depression and experiencing burnout. Collaborating with fellow creatives has helped her navigate the cons that can come with content creation.
“Back in the day, inspiration used to be left and right,” she said. “Now, it’s more of like a collaborative effort I would say.”
During a period of deep depression, Ndolo shared an example of how her loyal supporters came through for her. When she was frustrated with a lack of video engagement, she created a video that went viral. The attention it drew led her to collaborate with Penelope Gazin’s Fashion Brand Co. to bring out a shirt line based on the viral video.
“We released the shirts at the beginning of Fashion Week [in February 2024], and my audience, they sold it out,” Ndolo shared. “They are so wonderful. I really think I was blessed with such a great audience.”
What’s more, Ndolo expressed that “art can feel mechanical” and difficult to find at times, but she’s thankful to have her platform and such a supportive following.
In addition to making her fashion debut, Ndolo revealed that her followers can expect a visual podcast in the future. Production on the upcoming podcast will start at the end of March 2024.
