Popular blogger Linda Ikeji is laughing all the way to the bank, thanks to the art of blogging.
Now sitting comfortably in the millionaires’ lounge, the former model, whose blog is one of the most visited sources for entertainment news and gossip in Nigeria, recently posted pictures of her new car, a 2011 Infinity FX 35 SUV worth about N8 million.
Prior to acquiring the SUV, the 31-year old bachelorette owned a 2008 Toyota Camry which she bought two years ago.
The second child in a family of nine, Linda bought a multi-million 5-bedroom duplex in Surulere for her parents just two months ago.
Linda’s blog reportedly rakes in an average of N3m a month from adverts from various brands and online ad networks, which makes her the highest earning blogger in Nigeria.
A celebrity in her own right, Ikeji was a popular model for many years, and a magazine publisher before discovering blogging having stumbled on BellaNaija. But it is blogging, she admits, that’s given her the fame and fortune she’d always dreamt of.
Last December, she was included in a 17-man tour of American cities, organized by the American Consulate. Featured on Forbes and many other local and international media, she’s the most decorated and celebrated blogger in Nigeria, using gossip and human interest content to capture the hearts of millions around the world.
Often criticised by celebrities and many of her subjects mostly for third party comments on her blog, and by many traditional magazines and newspapers who were the source of her content for many years, Ikeji is not exactly everyone’s darling. But she’s almost everyone’s dar ling. Not bad. Even the popular Chinese blogger Han Han, possibly the world’s most popular blogger, is not loved by all; despised especially, by many conservatives who consider him a rebel writer.
The English Language graduate of the University of Lagos began her advent into entertainment as a striving model while in UNILAG. She modeled for several brands, including the ‘Rose of Sharon’ label owned by former President of the Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria (FADAN) and Nigerian billionaire and oil tycoon, Folorunsho Alakija.
‘I told myself that I will make it in this life one day as my own woman and on my own terms, that no man will ever take away my dignity…and I did it’ she wrote on her blog, Monday, after publishing photos of her new SUV. That article got all of 1618 comments.
As she continues to nurture that fan base and build on an incredible success, pundits say the next steps will determine the future of the blogger and her model. Whatever happens, Miss Ikeji has changed her life and that of her family; she’s eating her cake and having it – blogging for fun while making enough money to ensure she doesn’t have to do anything else, at least for now. And she’s inspiring thousands of young Nigerians who are familiar with her grass-to-grace story; thousands hoping to someday be their own Linda Ikeji, on their own terms…
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