S5 Ep. 276 Five Years Of Word Trading

Five years ago, I was just trying to relive a moment: the first spark of The Word Cafe Podcast, when the “studio” was my bedroom and the dream still felt too big to say out loud. But the real beginning goes further back to my 40th birthday in 2017, when a simple question hit hard: what am I going to do with the gifts I keep talking about? When the COVID years turned the world heavy, that question got louder, and my wife’s encouragement pushed me from thinking to building. 

I talk through the mentors and lessons that shaped my voice, from learning public speaking to learning how to podcast with intention. And I share the core idea that keeps me grounded: the light is not waiting for you at the end of a tunnel. The light is in you, and you discover it, carry it, and walk out. That belief fuels everything I do as a wordsmith and “neighborhood word trader,” because I’m convinced spoken words carry power, whether we say them on purpose or by habit. 

You’ll also hear what The Word Cafe stands for: thoughtful conversations that connect spirituality, culture, economics, politics, and everyday life, all through the lens of language and meaning. After nearly 277 episodes, the mission is still simple: curate words that help someone think clearly, find courage, and take the next step. I reflect on building community, helping others shape book projects, learning patience the hard way, and why the next chapter has to go beyond podcasting into collaborations and African solutions with global appeal. 

If you’ve ever wanted to start a podcast, deepen your communication skills, or build something that lasts, press play and walk with me. Subscribe, share this with a friend, leave a review, and tell me what you want to hear in the next five years.

Transcript

Reliving The First Spark

Learning The Craft And The Light

Why I Keep Showing Up

What The Word Cafe Stands For

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Quite interesting, isn't it? Sitting down and watching uh yourself. Pretty, pretty interesting. This is to show to the journey how it all began. For me within this space, the word cafe podcast. Yep. Five good years. So I'm trying to like relive the moment how it all began, how the dream, the concept, how we put everything together with the word cafe podcast started in my bedroom. Yes. Five years ago. But the real story behind the word cafe podcast actually started when I turned 40. Yes, I know I've shared that story somewhere. If you've listened, if you've been following, I've shared that story. But it started when I turned 40, 2017, on my 40th birthday. Yes, that was when all of it started. And it snowballed into the COVID year. You remember from 2019, 2020, and all of that, the world, as it were, became dark. A lot of things happening. I was like, okay, what do I do? I remember my wife encouraging me. Yeah, encouraging me, like, you like talking, you like speaking, you like words. Why not build on it? And that's how it all began. Then I had to go. I had to go sit on the some experienced hands to learn. Yeah. I had to sit with somebody like Felado Rotoy, uh, go through his program, you know, learn and all of that. That was Speak for Gold, that's the name of that program. Then sat with, I call her the podcast queen, Tombra Woswagu, took lessons, how to podcast, what to do, and all of that. There's this saying that a good number of us, uh, you've heard about it, the light is at the end of the tunnel. But I came to discover, no. I was made to understand the light is in you. You discover the light and walk out of the tunnel. Wow. You need to discover the light of his word in you and pick up that light and walk out of the tunnel. That's how it all began. And so that journey has been amazing, I must say. Pretty cool. Cool, yes, very cool. And uh, it's five years. Has it been through these five years? I've learned a lot. Yeah, I've met a lot of people, generated a lot of content, thought, you know, putting it out there, and it's so exciting, pretty exciting knowing that I always say this on the show, not because I want to make you feel good, but that's the truth. Much more why I'm sitting down here every now and then curating thoughts and having guests on the show, interviewing them and speaking, is because somebody, yes, you need it out there. You need it, you need to hear it, you need to get this encouragement, you need to get this, should I say, hmm, jolt of energy that will propel you to the next phase. So that has it's been that way. I remember the first episode I I recorded was my experience growing up as a child with reading. I had a challenge with reading when Miss Jones, my primary school teacher, came to the rescue. I remember that episode and it began. And for this five years, we've recorded almost uh 276 or 77 episodes, and uh the let us put it in time frame, like in minutes, only God knows how long that is. And the listening, the viewers, the downloads, the following. But listen, this is my excitement that you are there listening, you are there, I mean, always expecting something from moi, us within the word cafe uh space. The word cafe has presented an amazing platform for me as a person, as an individual, yes, to build thoughts, to build uh conversations, to build ideas, you know, that I have seen transform the world I see myself in. Now, let me tell you, the word cafe also has presented this unique platform. And if somebody wants to ask, what is the word cafe all about? So let me tell you what the word cafe is all about in a nutshell. Listen, now listen. I am the wordsmith, your neighborhood word trader. I trade in words to profit my word. Exactly these words, they are the what I say guiding principle of this space. So I observe what happens, you know, around me. Around me is not just my immediate environment. Now I'm talking about the world, the globe, you know, what's happening in the US, what's happening in Africa, what's happening in Far East Asia. So I try to bring all of this into the space: economics, politics, spirituality, bringing you closer to your words, coming to see the power behind the things we say, you say, and all of us. So we are living in the reality of spoken words every day. These words could be conscious or unconscious. And the word cafe has also provided a platform to reach out to people, expand my social, what I call it, network, which, you know, I've had them on the show before. You see a couple of them on the show. You know, I met a good number of them on LinkedIn, you know, exchanging ideas, and it's like, why not? If not, let's join in. And that's what the platform has presented. Also, it has presented an opportunity to help people. Yeah, I have helped a couple of people on their book project.

SPEAKER_00 7:12

Mm-hmm.

Beyond The Pod Future Vision

SPEAKER_01 7:13

Their book project. Couple of people, it's an exciting experience. You know, when you sit with an individual trying to curate a thought and uh create that amazing thought, put it out there. That's what this platform has helped me. Some published, some yet to be published. I remember when I sat with my wife to write her book, The Kitchen Millonier. You know, sometimes they'll tell you, that's one difficult thing to do, to sit with your spouse or something. Well, I had to go through it. Like to help her, hear her out, be patient with her. That's what this space has also taught me. Patience. You know, be patient with yourself, be patient with the people around you. And again, you come to see that the evolution of your life reflects on all of them, you know, and that's what this platform has done. And someone will ask, so for these five years, or for the next five years, what you expect, what is your expectation?

SPEAKER_00 8:21

Hmm.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

I have huge expectations for the World Cafe podcast. It is now my strong desire is not just about the podcasting now, it is going beyond the pod. You get me? Beyond the pod, reaching out to people out there and making the best of what we have. So let me tell you something. You know, each time you talk about excellence, perfect or near perfect conversations, we always look to the West.

SPEAKER_02 9:03

You know, like Oprah, Jerry Springer, all of that. There's something from Africa.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

It's called the World Cafe Podcast. It's called the World Cafe.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

It's driven by this face, by the grace of God. And that's what I desire for the future, you know, where we come to see African solutions with a global appeal, conversations, you know, our thoughts that are excellently curated and presented to the world. Solutions that are not just African-centric, but rather human-centric, because you can apply it anywhere in the world and you're going to have solutions from the word cafe podcast. I see the word cafe podcast having, you know, collaborations with similar minds, great minds, minds that are hungry to see the world lit up by the light of God, you know, and you know, we come together to create such amazing synergies that would resound and reverberate, you know, into generations untold, unborn, and all of that. That is my desire. Everybody understands somehow, you know. So that's what I look forward to. The word cafe having a space where people come, sit, hear words.

SPEAKER_02 10:44

So let me tell you something. I'm a believer. Yeah, I guess you figure that out.

Finding Ideas By Slowing Down

SPEAKER_01 10:51

Okay, yeah, I am. So 100% of my thoughts are hinged on the word of God. But that doesn't mean I don't read other materials and all of that. But my conviction is rooted in the word, and from the word it stems, it grows. You know, Jesus said, the words I speak, they are life and their spirit. So there is there is no ending. Nothing can stop that word. Absolutely nothing. And that is where the word cafe stems from, you know, that drive. And someone will ask, okay, so how do you get your inspiration? For these five years, how have you been? Don't you run out of things to say, what to say? Actually, I don't. I'll tell you why. I observe my environment, you know, everything around me. I try to listen, I try to pay attention, I try to slow myself down. That is what this space has taught me. It's not being slow now, but being observant. And if you have to be observant, somehow you need to slow your pace. You know, listening, your listening becomes heightened, your seeing becomes heightened, your empathy becomes heightened. And it has helped me. So I could be in a conversation with an individual or taking a walk, I see something happen, I engage. Instantly I engage. And from that engagement, I begin to churn out thoughts that I would share with the, you know, not necessarily exposing anybody. And my family, my my my children, my wife, my daughter. She's one person who she comes up with so many questions. And in trying to answer her, I come to see things to share with my audience, with the world. You know, more like seeing the world through the eyes of maybe a five-year-old or a six-year-old, she's 10 plus now, you know, and all of that. So that is what it is. Even at work, yeah, I work for your information. I work. So I listen. I try to listen to my colleagues.

SPEAKER_02 13:19

I try to put myself in their shoes in a corporate sense, and I listen. So I get that from there. Do I get tired of talking? Sincerely speaking, I don't. I only speak as I am led.

Gratitude For The People Behind It

SPEAKER_01 13:40

If you understand what that means. So I don't get tired of talking. I don't get tired of what to say. It feels good. I enjoy it because I'm not just blabbing. I'm not just jesting. I'm not just chattering. I am curating words. I am transacting, like I said, I trade in words to profit my world. So there is a profit out there. So I need to do enough trading, you know, trading words in a good way. And that's what I do. And it's super exciting. Each time I come into this space, I just come alive. There's this light, you know, it just boom comes alive. You know, and it's been amazing. I want to say thank you to you for being there. Yes, you, particularly you, supporting us, listening to us. I want to say very big thank you to my wife. She's been a very huge support on this journey. I want to thank my camera crew, you know, my cameraman. It's all these nice videos you're seeing and pictures. They're amazing people I work with. My camera guy, his name is Jeff. Yeah, sometimes he gets on my nerves, but for a good reason. So all those angles, you tell me, no sit like this, no do like this, and all of that. So he's he's an amazing person. Then uh I have the guy behind the steel cameras, Alex. Alex is a basketball player who is shooting for me, you know. He doesn't shoot this kind of, he does this now. So most of the pictures you see and all of that, I want to say very big thank you to all of them. All of them. Uh my boys and my girl, I want to say very big thank you. I want to say thank you to Feladuro Toe. A lot of you know him, yes. I was privileged to meet him, and somehow God used him to like point me in that direction. Like, you are you are gifted in this field, in this space. And he spoke these words, encouraged me. And today we're doing this. I know tomorrow we'll do much more. I want to appreciate him. I want to appreciate also my pastor, Dr.

SPEAKER_02 16:14

Andrew Asakwe. You know, some of some of the spaces you see me record in.

SPEAKER_01 16:23

Yeah. He has a lot to do with him. Yeah, I want to say very big thank you. If I didn't call your name, don't feel bad. Because I know you're there and I appreciate you. Sincerely, I do.

SPEAKER_02 16:37

I do. I I have this support system. No.

SPEAKER_01 16:45

My support system is unusual. Yeah, I have to say thank you to Olami Day. You know, Olami Day is one person who's practically he's always there to like ask questions. Have you done this? Have you not done this? Have you considered this? You know. Then my brothers, yes, my biological brothers. One of these days I'll bring them on set for you to see them. You know, my brothers, I have eight brothers for your information. Ah, yes, no girl, no sister, just eight boys. So I'm grateful to God for all of this. I if I should call everybody's name, I will keep going on and on and on and on. But I just want to say a very big thank you to you, you know, being there. Those of you in Nigeria, outside Nigeria, in diaspora, you know, supporting and all that. I have to say this. I have to say this. And I I hope we can get this aspect, like a bite of it for you to see. There are amazing personalities in Nigeria with amazing, amazing stories, ideas like me. Yes. Wherever you are listening, don't be afraid to come to support what we do. We will not let you down. No, we won't let you down.

SPEAKER_02 18:12

Do you know why we won't let you down? Because God would hold us responsible. We won't let you down.

SPEAKER_01 18:24

I'm super excited. Thank you. Thank you. The World Cafe, five years of podcasting. Alright, guys. I am happy. Don't mind my being quiet or being solemn. Sometimes that's how I celebrate. You know, when I become quiet, I I renonce.

Welcome Message And Goodbye

SPEAKER_02 18:48

I go back in time to appreciate his goodness and where he's bringing me from. So this is the World Cafe Podcast.

SPEAKER_01 19:02

Welcome to the World Cafe Live Show, the space where we come in to lean on one another's experience to forge a positive path. My name is Amakri. Amakri is away.

unknown 19:18

Bye for now.