Lindsey Okubo: You moved to LA at a young age from Nigeria and essentially started off with pageants and a modelling career, was it from there that you worked your way to acting?
Pepi Sonuga: I was never really a pageant girl but we got a random letter in the mail one day to do this pageant for fun. That was the first one I ever did and I ended up winning, that was the thing that really thrust me into this world. The prizes were a certificate for an acting school, headshots and things like that. Then on the the radio one day I heard something like, “Do you want to be on the Disney channel? Come down and be with us!” I saved up all my money, went in and got my first agent. But for me, the struggle was not even knowing where to start. I came to a completely new country, no friends, no family.

Lindsey: As a young person with influence looking at the state of the world, how do you emotionally deal with our reality?
Pepi: It really breaks my heart, it really does and that’s such an understatement. I grew up seeing poverty, seeing people with no legs, that’s normal in my country. I’m older now and my upbringing gives me a sense of purpose in everything that I’m doing. My dreams aren’t just to rally and to petition, I believe that we can change the world and we will. I think our generation is really the only generation looking at the world with clear eyes. We’re the first generation that knows you can go to college, work hard and you still might not get the job, you might have to work three jobs, you still might be homeless. You’re telling me that I’m supposed to be OK with wanting to grow up? Hell no, I don’t want to adult. We’re being mocked because we all want to be creatives, but that’s just because we’re the first generation that doesn’t romanticise the American dream. But I’m just taking it all in, dude, it’s such a blessing. I’m getting to do what I love, to act, and there’s a whole team of people whose job is to make sure that my dreams keep coming true. I have chills just thinking about it.

“We’re being mocked because we all want to be creatives, but that’s just because we’re the first generation that doesn’t romanticise the American dream.”

Borsalino Trilby £300

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