Tolani Alli

You know how one bad experience can suddenly make you forget everything that came before it? That was one of the things Atlanta made me think about. The first night, before AJS really got into The Clarion Call, he said “God bless America,” said you cannot hate a place and expect to prosper there, and asked the entire arena to stand for The Star-Spangled Banner. Later, when he began teaching, he first acknowledged the people, institutions, resources and generations from America whose work and influence had reached far beyond its borders. What got me thinking was the order. Honour came before analysis. And honestly, that is bigger than a country or a sermon. We do this with people all the time. Someone disappoints us and suddenly that one moment becomes louder than everything they have ever done right. A relationship changes and we start remembering it only through how it ended. An institution gets something wrong and we forget the good it once made possible. Honour doesn’t mean pretending something never hurt, failed or disappointed you. It just means refusing to become so consumed by one part of the story that you become unfair to the rest of it. Maybe honour is simply having enough honesty to remember the whole story.

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More than 10,000 people were on their feet in Atlanta singing Ese, Hosanna Eh and Rahama like they had known the songs all their lives, and I remember looking around thinking, wait… this is the story. Before every assignment, I ask God what story He wants me to tell. Before SOR USA, the answer was simply Thanksgiving. I honestly didn’t know what that was supposed to mean, so I carried it with me. Then things kept happening that brought me back to it. Something AJS said. A conversation I happened to be in. Something that changed between one service and the next. A moment on stage. Something happening at the edge of the room that most people probably never noticed. By the time we were done, I realised I hadn’t come back with one story at all. I had come back with many. So over the next few posts, I’m just going to take you back to Atlanta with me and tell you some of the things you wouldn’t have caught from your seat or watching online. I think you’ll understand why Thanksgiving kept following me through Atlanta.

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I had a conversation recently that made me confront something I think a lot of creatives quietly struggle with: when someone says “you’re too expensive”, how do you stop yourself from hearing, “you’re not worth it”? A potential client couldn’t afford the cost of a documentary we proposed, and that was completely fine. But somewhere in the conversation, “we can’t afford you” became, “we have our own studio guys, they can do a better job.” Then the person whose story we were actually telling said, “I still want to work with you. I’ve seen your obsession, your vision and your mind map for this. Can we make it work?” And right there, I saw the difference. One person was measuring a price. The other understood the value behind it. I later spoke to a mentor I deeply respect and admire, and something they said put the whole thing in perspective: “Tolani, you’re an exceptional storyteller. Not everyone can afford a Rolls-Royce, but Rolls-Royce doesn’t lower the standard because someone walks into the showroom with a different budget. They simply know who the product is for.” “You’re too expensive” is not always a statement about your value. Sometimes it is simply information about the room you are standing in. The right people are not only buying your output. They are buying your eye, judgement, taste, experience, discipline, instincts and the thousands of invisible decisions that make the work look effortless. Two people can use the same equipment and still not make the same thing. The tool was never the value. The mind behind it was. So yes, negotiate. Be flexible where wisdom requires it. Understand people’s realities. But never negotiate from a place of needing someone to validate what years of work have already proven. Not every room is your room, and maturity is learning not to force your way into the ones that were never built for you.

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I went to the South of France to tell a story about life and the celebration of it… and came back with lessons for a lifetime. Over the summer, I was flown to the South of France to document a 10-day 40th birthday celebration with about 20+ incredibly successful entrepreneurs, businessmen and women. I can’t share most of what I photographed, but man… what an experience. The Keona Experience (https://thekeona.com) outdid themselves. Every guest had a villa, chef made meals, every day had its own look and rhythm; tennis, pool days, Money Market dinners, Africa Day with correct Nigerian food made by a chef who came in from Paris. Even breakfast spread everyday looked ready for an Architectural Digest shoot. It was a masterclass in luxury, experience, planning, design and detail. Creatively, I loved it because every day forced me to tell the story differently. Portraits, Films, couples, friendships, movement, quiet moments, details, laughter… all the things that eventually become memory. Then the host insisted on a Money Market and Business day. Everyone went around the room sharing what made them successful, what they failed at, the mistakes that cost them and the principles life had taught them never to compromise. I sat there thinking… this is a practical MBA. And perhaps the biggest lesson was simply watching them. Some of the wealthiest people I have ever encountered are thick as thieves. They share information, make introductions, open doors and build bridges. Meanwhile, people with far less will sometimes fight over crumbs and destroy relationships trying to get ahead. Everybody is not your competition. There are levels you may never reach alone, doors relationships will open that talent cannot, and bridges you should have the wisdom never to burn. Forever grateful for the rooms storytelling continues to open for me. Thankful to amazing clients who trusted me to bring their story to life. And yes… now I understand why the wealthy love the South of France. 🇫🇷

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You never really forget the people who showed up for something that mattered to you. Not because they had to. Not because there was anything in it for them. They simply made room. @nathanielblow has constantly and consistently done that for me, and I have never forgotten it. It taught me something: one of the greatest things you can become in this life is the kind of person whose success never makes them too important to encourage somebody else’s beginning. That kind of generosity can alter the confidence with which someone walks into their future. So beyond everything the world celebrates about @nathanielblow today, I celebrate that part of him too. The man who makes room, who encourages, who reminds people, sometimes without even knowing it, that what they carry is worth believing in. Happy Birthday, sir. May God preserve everything in you that success can sometimes steal from men. May your heart remain tender, your strength never fail, and your life never become too heavy for your joy to survive it. May every seed of courage you have planted in others rise up as a harvest around you, and may the years ahead carry a depth of grace, rest, strength and fulfilment that even your greatest seasons have not yet known. Amen

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Never underestimate what God can do with one person who believes what He showed them. Through my lens in Toronto, I watched a dream become memory. Pastor @nathanielblow remembered when Apostle Joshua Selman first told him about the vision of the Sound of Revival. Years later, I was standing inside that vision, watching a woman who had not walked properly in over 30 years stand, her legs straighten, and walk. Sometimes God allows you to live long enough to see with your own eyes what once existed only by faith. Dreams do come true. Believe. #TolaniAlli #Storyteller #TheHAT

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Last year, a boss at work told me they wanted me to start directing and producing documentaries. I’d done it before in the Nigerian Presidency and at AFDB, but never as my main thing. I loved documenting and my camera way too much. I genuinely wasn’t interested. I actually prayed AND fasted my way out of it. God basically said, “Hold my cup.” For the last 8 months I’ve flown across the world doing this in full force. Documentaries, TVCs, campaigns, strategic rollouts and 5 documentaries this year already. I’ve learnt from incredible crews and even found myself taking certification courses at night, volunteering on film sets and trainings in LA because if I could see it in my head, I needed to learn how to bring it to life excellently well. Producing and directing has taught me the power of a crew. Everyone sees the titles, meanwhile some days you’re basically chief errand boy or girl. I love it. No role is small. I’ve stood in as a marker for a subject and watched a caterer use a code to get every single person’s meal on set right. Then you tell a gaffer the light and feeling you want and watch it come alive. The excellence in every little detail fascinates me. I thought I could see light before but now 🤯 God then gave me Hatricks as proof of concept. We built the brand and team from the ground up in less than a month, with the films, strategy and campaign rollout. Today, Hatricks has held masterclasses across 3 continents, 5 countries and 5 cities, reaching 10,000+ people. I’ve worked with a DP who speaks Chinese and an editor who speaks full Portuguese and somehow we understood each other. Creativity really does have its own language. And yes, my camera still goes everywhere with me. Except now when I look through that viewfinder, I see much more than the photograph. I see the film, the movement, the sound, the edit, the campaign, the entire world that can be built around one story. Maybe that’s the lesson. Sometimes we fight what is actually meant to expand us. I thought God was asking me to put my camera down. He was showing me how much more I could do while still holding it.

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