Many know Queen Ure Okezie as the Popori Queen. Indeed she is that and more. In this interview with our reporter, she speaks about music; charity; marriage and more.
A lot of people still remember you as Queen Ure the singer who was involved with a certain Soul E several years back. What have you been up to, and is there a new you?
There obviously can’t be a new Queen Ure. Queen Ure is in a constant state of evolution, continuously evolving positively. My company Dream and Become International is basically into four things that are together somehow. The first is training and coaching and our core areas of service excellence are marketing skills, team building and customer satisfaction. In addition to training and coaching, we do a lot of charity work. That is my passion, something I have always done and will always do. So, every quarter we go out touching lives. We give out things to different organisations. Our seventh charity outing will be on Saturday, June 18.
Where would you be going?
We will be going to Precious Pearls Orphanage in Egbeda, Lagos.
Prior to now, where have you visited?
We have been to the Medium Security Prison, Kirikiri, Lagos; Little Saint Orphanage; Bethesda Home for the blind; Wellspring Rehabilitation Centre; Heart of Gold Children Hospice and the Lagos State Old People’s Home. So, it’s very fulfilling for me. In addition to charity we are into hairs. I have always being a hair person and we have turned that into a business. We have our own brands of human hair, the Popori Waves and the Popori Curls. You know my brand is Popori and so all my products are named after the brand. Of course, apart from hairs we also do music. Definitely, we have Popori One and Popori Two; we have a video mix and Popori DVD.
Is your charity work as a result of your inability to successfully reach a lot of people in your days as a Pastor?
It is not right to judge working for God via successful and not successful. When you work for God and you reach out to people that is successful. If you have reached out to one person, if God has used you to change one person’s life then that is a big success. When you begin to judge in terms of whether the person continues to do or not that may not be correct because God has certain things he would allow you to do for certain period or for certain purposes. So, that was what it was for the church. It wasn’t a case of if I succeeded at it or if I did not. It was just something I had to do at the time and that phase is over. The charity work is something that is part of me. Even as a Pastor, people used to come and eat in church. A lot of people used to talk about that then. It’s just something that is a part of me wanting to feed people, wanting to make people happy. It’s not new; it has always being a part of me.
A lot of people are complaining about the economy, how do you source the money for your charity work?
Well, it’s just something I love to do. When you love something you just do it because it makes you happy. I don’t even think about it in terms of should I do it or should I not do it. Its priority; It comes before anything.
Dream and Become International is an inspiring name for a company, how did you come about it?
It’s because of what we do in the company. It’s about taking people from where they are to where they want to be. So, it’s basically about you helping people to fulfill their dreams. That is where the name came from.
Would you say you have achieved your life’s ambition?
The day you stop dreaming you start dying. You can’t come to a point when you say you have achieved all your dreams. You continuously keep dreaming and keep fulfilling and you keep dreaming more and more. So, I wouldn’t say that I have completely fulfilled all my dreams. I am fulfilling my dreams. My helping people to fulfill their dreams is fulfilling my dream. It’s actually what makes me a coach. A personal coach helps people fulfill their dreams; a corporate coach takes a company from where they are to where they want to be by getting their staffs to align their dreams and aspirations to be in line with management expectations. It’s not a calling, but it’s something I have always done even without the structure of a company. Which is why we created the platform we have. We coach people, we train them and then we teach them how to make money.
You have quite a lot of things stringed together, is it not too much work for you?
It’s something that has been connected beautifully. The hair business, the charity business and of course the music business. We even intend to expound to other businesses. We are looking into setting up a clothing line, Popori Clothing Line. A blend of African and Western mix together. It’s just my thing. Hopefully and God willing we will start before the end of the year. We also have the Popori Bottle Water. Everything we will be doing will be named Popori. We are taking it one step at a time.
Let’s talk about the clothing line; will the clothes be made by you?
They will be designed by me, but will be made by a seamstress.
Back to music, you chose to market your albums yourself. Why didn’t you go the conventional way?
Well, I did that in the first year my album was released. I had something with UBA Pacific. The contract lasted for a year and it wasn’t exclusive to him. I just wanted to see what it was like, but I didn’t want to give any exclusivity to anybody because I have always had my unique marketing advantage. The reason is so that it will be in people’s home. A lot of artists are popular, their songs are known, people sing their songs, but you don’t see the album. They only know that particular song that is popular. The song that they promoted, but I wanted to have my work in people’s homes which is why I put it in a network marketing structure. Any Popori product that is purchased we give them a complimentary music disc.
You also did picture videos for some of your songs, what is that about?
I have seven proper videos and five picture videos in the DVD. Seven of them were properly shot by good directors and the other five are songs in the album that I didn’t shoot videos for, but I got a video director to just do videos pictures for them. We put everything together so that when people want to watch Queen Ure’s video they just pick up an album and watch the videos.
Sometimes back, there were talks about you and Cynthia Morgan haggling over the name Popori. There was a court order and then everything went cold, how did it all end?
Well, last year, to be precise July 1st there was a judgment given in my favour. The fact that the judgment was given doesn’t mean that the case has been closed. We still have to wrap it up, close it properly, if the people want to contest it. After that judgment they have been adjourning and adjourning. The next time we will be in court should be in October. That is how far we have gone. There will still be a trial and all the things that follow, but the major thing at hand at the time has been concluded.
At a point, music was all you did, when did you discover this new idea?
I have always loved network marketing and I always brought it into all the things I have done in the past even in the banking industry. It’s a very interesting way to market whatever you have.
Still on music, what should fans expect from you?
Before the end of the year I will be dropping a new video. I will still do the normal promotion. Once an artist, always an artist. You don’t have to come out with something every quarter or every year. It depends on how you want it. I came out with Popori and Popori is now a brand. So, it depends on what you have in mind. Everybody come into the music industry for different reasons. For me, it was not an end; it was a means to an end. It’s not just a means to an end, but something I will always do. So, I will always sing. Before the end of the year, I will drop an album. It will be a gospel album and it will be titled Popori Praise. Apart from the gospel work, there will be the video of Sugar Alert. I know that you are going to ask why I am doing a gospel album and Sugar Alert is also coming in, but you have to consider the fact that we don’t go to church every day, do we?.
To fashion, what is your fashion philosophy?
Keep it cute. Just look cute. Whether you are in a corporate outfit just look cute, whether you are in a church dress look cute. Just look cute. If you are dressing down and wearing Jean and T-Shirt just look cute. That is it.
Do you have a daily beauty routine?
Not quite. I just do what I feel like. It’s about mood. When you are in a certain mood you dress that way. You are not going to wear a party dress for a corporate meeting. I won’t wear a party dress to my trainings. It’s about your mood and the occasion.
Does that make you a designer addict?
I am not a designer addict. I have even begun to design my own outfit since I am opening a clothing line. I have a way that I like to dress and a lot of times I don’t see clothes made that way. I have to get a seamstress to make them that way. Now I am going to begin to make them and sell.
Is there a market for this brand?
Why not?
A lot of people would agree that by now you should have settled down after the Soul E debacle, why haven’t you?
I don’t know. I would have loved to be married by now. I would have hoped that I will settle down with a man, but here I am not yet married.
Are you worried?
No not at all. I am so happy with how far I have gone, the lives I am touching, the people I am uplifting. I am very happy with my life.
Are you not worried that age is catching up with you?
Worry is not the word. I am not worried, I am just observing. I am observing my life and looking at how it will all play out. I am just observing. I don’t want to marry for the sake. I don’t want to say because age is catching up with me I want to just start a relationship and just be married. I have never been that kind of person. Previously, even in getting into relationships I had always managed. You notice certain things that you don’t want, but you overlook them and that is not right. Now, I don’t want to overlook anything. If I don’t see what I want then I won’t do it.
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