Who are you? Please give us an overview of your cultural background/heritage?
My name is Victory, I was born in Nigeria but moved around Africa a fair bit as my father worked for UNICEF. I am a full blood Nigerian, both my parents were born and bred in Nigeria. I spent most of my childhood in Swaziland in South Africa and moved to Australia when I was 14 years old. We were in a country town and were one of if not the only Africans in the entire town. The upside to this was we were a novelty – my siblings and I. On the other hand (I can’t speak for my siblings), I never felt like I fit in 100 percent. Sure I had lots of friends but everything felt very shallow.
I moved to Melbourne when I was 17 to pursue music and did so for 7 years – managed to open shows for Trey Songz and Bobby Valentine, release my own music and gain some success but I fell out of love with it. I then began modelling and trained for 1.5 years as an actor and have been working mainly in theatre ever since. I also fell in love with investing and decided to teach myself how to invest in the stock market and have been doing that for about a year so far and I’m really enjoying it.
Name one thing you really passionate about and why?
I really love to act, there is nothing like the feeling you get on stage when you are in the depths of a character and reacting to what you are experiencing from a place of truth, it genuinely feels like you are in a parallel universe. The feeling is like no other.
How has living in a multicultural society shaped who you are as an individual?
I personally think one of the main things I can take away from living in a multicultural society is how similar we all are. Our cultures may vary and we may talk differently but fundamentally we are all so much alike and I feel our similarities are what we should focus on.
What aspects of Australia’s multicultural society do you find fascinating?
I wouldn’t say there is anything I find fascinating per say, but what I do like about it is what the amalgamation of all these different cultures and the exposure you get as an individual too. It really opens your mind to different perspectives and different ways of living.
What kind of experiences have you had in relating with people whose backgrounds differ from your own? Any key lessons from these experiences/encounters?
I was once having dinner with a Hungarian family and didn’t realise that you couldn’t say no thank you to food, the food kept coming, and you all had to keep eating, you won’t be surprised to know I was in a deep food coma that evening. The key lesson, don’t eat for 15 hours before having dinner with Hungarians.
In your opinion, how can multiculturalism be used as a vehicle for positive change in our society?
I feel like globalisation has already had a huge impact on the world and multiculturalism doesn’t seem to me like a choice or something to strive towards but more of an inevitability. The caveat is though there are aspects of all cultures that are not desirable.
Follow Victory: @lordvictory
