Welcome to Notes from Lagos!
Hello!
My name is Jesusegun Alagbe. I’m an award-winning freelance journalist and writer based in Lagos, Nigeria. Before I launched into full-time freelancing, I spent seven years and seven months as a journalist for The Punch, one of the most widely-read newspapers in the country.
I must say the platform gave me my first and most important chance at journalism. Prior to my employment, I was an accounting graduate with no knowledge of journalism. I was only armed with reading and writing skills, which I believe helped me scale through the interview process.
After seven years plus of writing news and features at the paper, winning some awards in-between, I moved on to become an online editor at a budding digital outlet in Lagos. I resigned from this role after eight months because I wanted to be able to go all in into what I’m currently doing and even explore other passions.
How was Notes from Lagos birthed?
Once upon a time, in my first year as a journalist for The Punch, I wrote a feature story that ended up ditched by one of my editors because, according to them, it contained some op-ed elements. I was very young on the job at the time and didn’t understand what my editor meant. This person was good and friendly to me, but they just didn’t have the time to help me understand how to flush out the op-ed elements. I was stuck!
That experience, however, shaped me. Months later, after undergoing rigorous self-development, I became a better feature story writer. But since that time, I also fell in love with writing pieces (opinions) where I could fully express myself.
Thankfully, this year 2022, I found Substack, the ideal kind of land I was looking for to sow my writings, thanks to João “Beardy”, a writer behind the Instagram account Beard Between the Lines which I religiously follow. João once wrote a post about Substack in 2021, I guess. From the way he described Substack, I said yes, that was where I wanted to be. And here I am. João also writes the Beard Between the Lines newsletter on Substack, a newsletter that is all about books, writing and coffee.
What you’ll get from News from Lagos
• You’ll get my hottest and honest opinions on anything Nigerian, with some spice of global perspectives.
• You’ll get to read long-form reports occasionally (human interest, culture, art, politics, religion, climate change, environment, etc.)
• Hopefully from 2023, I hope to share insights from the books I read. Recommendations will follow.
• I’ll experiment with Substack’s podcast and audio features in the long run. Please stay tuned!
I welcome you on board. Please support my writing by sharing my newsletter with your family, friends and colleagues. It’s free.
Thank you,
Jesusegun
