Bosa Lee, a Nigerian talent manager and entertainment entrepreneur, has built a career that has taken him from blogging in Ebonyi State to talent management and the development of 023 Lee Media and Entertainment Ltd.

Lee began his career as a blogger in the early 2010s before moving into entertainment management in the South-East. He later relocated to Lagos, where he expanded his activities into talent management, brand partnerships, content development and entertainment projects.

His work has included relationships with emerging entertainers and digital creators, including Peller and Phyna, among others.

Lee said his decision to move from content creation into management was influenced by his desire to work behind the scenes and help other talents develop their careers.

“I was a great blogger. That was my favorite. It was fun and I think it worked,” he said. “Then I started managing and I still wrote, which was probably bad.”

According to him, becoming a full-time content creator was not the direction he wanted to pursue.

“Being a full-time content creator I don’t think was in my calling. I didn’t want the spotlight, I wanted to be more in control,” Lee said.

He subsequently began booking shows and working on promotions in the South-East before making the move to Lagos.

“I got in my car one day, even though I had this business there in Ebonyi, and I drove to Lagos. I needed a base,” he said.

“A friend had a space in Lagos and said I could take it over. I went there and the owner trusted me even though he didn’t even know me. I was there for years, and that’s where I decided to start managing fully.”

Lee said Lagos provided access to a wider entertainment ecosystem and enabled him to meet several young talents he would later work with.

“For me, Lagos is where I met most of the young talents that I started representing, like Peller, Phyna and so many more,” he said.

His approach to talent management, according to Lee, is centred on helping entertainers identify opportunities and work towards their goals.

“My job as a manager is essentially to be a dream maker,” he said. “Give me a list of what you want done and let me check off the boxes, and then let’s make a new list. If we do well, let’s move forward.”

Lee said his interest in learning from successful people also influenced the creation of 023 Lee Media and Entertainment Ltd., which he described as an avenue for sharing lessons from the experiences of people in different fields.

“We can’t figure out why we’re here. We can’t figure out what our purpose is for being here,” he said. “I think probably since we don’t know any of that, the only hope we have as a group of people is to make ourselves happy, our children happy, and so on — our friends and family.”

He said his philosophy also informed the way he approached talent management.

“As I became a manager, that was part of the process — to let artists know, ‘Look, it’s all gonna be okay. We’re gonna get the shit kicked out of us, but we’re gonna keep getting up and keep moving forward and good things are gonna happen.’”

According to Lee, his experience working with executives and industry figures strengthened his desire to make knowledge from such interactions available to a wider audience.

“I was blown away that I would leave meetings with brand presidents — I had a meeting that week and I went in my car and I said, ‘I can’t believe I’m the only person who heard what he just had to say,’” he said.

“I’m always an inquisitive person, always asking questions, and it’s a great thing to hear people’s life stories.”

Lee also reflected on his experience securing opportunities for talents, including Peller, whom he said he encountered early in the creator’s career.

“I met Peller early, saw his set at a show, and I went up to him and said, ‘Have you ever done a brand deal?’ He said no. I said, ‘Do you mind if I try to get you one?’ And I got him one,” Lee recalled.

He said the response from Peller after securing the deal remained one of his memorable moments as a manager.

“I remember him getting off stage and he hugged me so hard, and to me that was incredible,” he said.

Lee described Peller as one of the hardest-working talents he had encountered during his career, citing the creator’s willingness to experiment across different forms of content.

“The hardest working person I ever worked with is Peller. And I kind of get emotional about it,” Lee said.

“I got to thinking about him, that he could be a streamer, and a writer, and an actor, and he could produce. To be working with somebody when relatively very few things are happening and they create three viral moments that go on in one year, I’ve never seen anything like that.”

Lee said Peller’s commitment to creating content was particularly notable.

“Peller was the kind of person that would go in the shower or the tub with an iPhone inside of a Ziploc bag. That’s the kind of person he is,” he said. “He never stopped except when he was sleeping, and I can guarantee you he’d wake up in the middle of the night and write down ideas too. I’m proud of his success.”

Reflecting on his relationship with Peller, Lee said their professional journey had evolved over time.

“The thing about life is that there are times that are cyclical where you have certain relationships with people. I had an incredibly close relationship with him,” he said.

“When I started, he was there for me, even though he was a young kid, and he was great, I owe him a lot.”

Lee said his broader approach to entertainment was not limited to a particular type of talent or career path.

Asked what advice he would give people seeking to enter the entertainment industry, he said the answer depended on their individual goals.

“Honestly I can’t do that. It depends on what area moves you in life,” he said.

“If you’re a creator, you should listen to Peller’s journey. If you aspire to own your own company and run your own successful business, then maybe listen to the owners of the big labels.”

He said the same principle applied beyond entertainment.

“It’s really all about the journey. It relates to every single walk of life. It doesn’t matter if you’re a doctor, a lawyer, a student,” Lee said.

“Every journey involves a ton of different things, from hard work to making the right decisions to taking risks to treating people right, and all these twists and turns of fate that let you know that you’re supposed to be in the right place, not only at the right time, but oftentimes at the wrong time.”

Through 023 Lee Media and Entertainment Ltd., Lee is continuing to develop projects focused on talent, entertainment and conversations around career development and success.

His career, which began with blogging in Ebonyi before moving into event promotion and talent management, has increasingly centred on working with entertainers while sharing lessons from his experiences and interactions within the industry.