Artist Interview — Dolapo Sangokoya
Tags: TV Series, Culture, Conversations, Live Streaming, Art

#HERspective an Instagram Series by Collabarét

At the start of the Black Lives Matter movement, Collabarét created an opportunity for our Instagram to be used as an outlet for inspiring artists to express their emotions surrounding the #blmmovement through creativity. Being a female founded company, Collabarét knows how important it is to allow women a space to be able to share their ideas, thoughts, and perspectives. Thus, the IG series #HERspective was born. Throughout the course of three weeks, we had passionate go-getters take over our IG Live to give the public a taste of who they truly are. Our series featured black female artists ranging from motivational speakers to dancers to musicians to 10 year old DJ’s. Through one social channel, a world of black artists and allies were connected by the means of art and culture.

We first welcomed Dolapo Sangokoya to kick off the #HERspective series with an open, fluid conversation about the BLM Movement.

Dolapo Sangokoya

Dolapo is a first generation Nigerian American, who produces, directs, and hosts her own video series: The Lo Down with D-Lo. She has a natural talent for being in front of a camera and uses charisma, knowledge, and passion to further elaborate on a story she wants to bring to light. Dolapo’s humor and childhood experiences give her a unique outlook on life, which allows her to bring a certain type of flare to journalism. Because Dolapo creates “dialogues that make audiences want to keep the convo going”, we chose her to open our series with a conversation about racism in America.

We sat down with Dolapo to discover more about her experience being involved in #HERspective, life in quarantine, and more.

How has the current climate affected the production and shooting of The Lo Down with D-Lo?

I launched my show last year partnering with Firework to get the name out there and when the contract ended, I planned to continue to take The Lo Down with D-Lo to Youtube. I had co-hosts already on schedule for 2020 until COVID-19 hit, and then I started to check out and put the show on pause to rethink the new season. After taking this time off, I got much bigger energy than expected from everything happening in the world; I just wanted to create. I reformatted my show and did the first interview for my new season this past weekend. I think COVID-19 was a blessing in disguise because I wanted this season to have guests and the ability to interview people, and now I have more access to do that. Guests can have more availability to film at home rather than taking the time out of their schedules to come down to the studio.

Do you plan to create more content and hold more conversations in your space to talk about BLM?

I am a pop-culture junkie, and I do like to have fun in my commentary, however, it would be a disservice to not bring a level of perspective surrounding BLM into the conversation. I want my guests and I to be able to talk about what we love, but a part of me wants to push the BLM conversation forward. I hope to bring on guests to talk about what they are meant to do in their career, but also ground it in the context of what to do better and teach others about this situation. I am definitely open to more open dialogue but really the responsibility is on our allies and the people who can help make the change.

Since you mentioned this being your first IG live, did you enjoy thinking on the spot and answering people’s questions? Did you feel like you needed to sugar coat or did you feel free to speak your mind?

I did feel intimidated to see some the questions pop up but I loved it once I got into a flow, and it worked because I definitely wanted the live to be very conversational. Next time, I would want to make sure people’s questions are structured around what I can answer since I can only speak for myself. A lot of people don’t understand that just because I’m black, doesn’t mean I’m a playbook. I am still learning and educating myself too, and I think I would like for people to ask questions surrounding my specific experiences and journey next live.

What is your go-to creative outlet to cope with the current state of the world?

My outlet is making videos or new episodes for my show that allow me to speak my mind on whatever I want. This wasn’t always the case, so before I found this outlet I would mentally check out. This meant meditating, letting my mind wander, and dreaming about what I want from this world.

As a company that promotes collaboration as a tool to hold authentic conversations, we love to ask the question, what is your dream collaboration and why?

No doubt — Issa Rae. She is so authentically and effortlessly her. There is absolutely no glam to her story, she did the work and stuck with herself throughout it. I love how she presents herself in interviews, so she would definitely be my dream collaboration.

Why were you interested in working with Collabarét? Why did you feel comfortable to work with us?

To be honest, I am always skeptical when I get DM’s and there is definitely a side of me that wants to reject or ignore majority of them. However, when one of my posts about BLM went mini-viral, I realized I had something to say and not only did people want to hear, but people respected what I had to say. I know these dialogues are impactful, and I wanted to share more. Often times, it is the way a person or company reaches out to someone, and since I liked the way you guys communicated, I wanted to take the opportunity to have another open conversation and educate others.

“History waits for no one. You’re either with us or against us. There is no in between, there is no gray area.” — Dolapo Sangokoya

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Watch Dolapo’s IG live here