By Ayo Onikoyi

Nollywood actress and content creator, Stephanie Isuma, popularly known as Calabar Chic, has said she wants to create businesses and platforms that solve problems and build opportunities beyond entertainment.

In an interview with Potpourri, Isuma said her expansion from comedy and acting into entrepreneurship and investment was not about abandoning entertainment but expanding her identity.

“I don’t see my journey as moving from entertainment into something else. I see it as expanding. I have spent years creating entertainment and giving people laughter. Now I also want to give people more. I want to create things that solve problems, build opportunities and, hopefully, outlive me.

“I don’t just want to have a body of work that people remember. I want to build things that continue to work even when Stephanie is no longer in the room,” she said.

Explaining her decision to build wealth beyond entertainment, Isuma said growing older changed her understanding of money and the future.

“As I grew older, I began to understand that there is a difference between making money and building wealth. I began asking myself, ‘Okay, Stephanie, when the lights are off and you are not actively working, what is still working for you?’ That question changed a lot for me,” she said.

The actress also spoke about evolving beyond the Calabar Chic character that brought her recognition.

“Calabar Chic was a very important part of my journey. She introduced me to so many people and gave me a platform to express my creativity. I will always appreciate that character and everything she opened up for me. But Stephanie is bigger than Calabar Chic,” she said.

She added that creators should be allowed to evolve beyond the identity that first made them popular.

“The character opened the door for me, but I don’t intend to spend the rest of my life standing at that same door. I want to walk through it. And hopefully, while I am walking through it, I can leave a few doors open for other people too,” Isuma said.