By Ayo Onikoyi

Nigerian actress, content creator and brand influencer, Anthonia Ikekhua, popularly known as Aji Anje is a bundle of talents who could bring to live in sight and sound any character her script dictates.

But when it comes to roles that are over-sexualized, the young woman from Uromi in Edo State, has some reservations as a result of her values and Christian background.

She told Potpourri in an interview about the roles she loves and those she dreads.

“I love and would love to portray characters that have progressive growth in movies, for example, underdogs becoming the stars with time, characters that achieve their goals after all the trials, characters that inspire . Characters I dread to portray in movies are sad or depressed characters, characters that exhibit too much sexuality,” she said.

“Being an African young lady from a traditional Christian family, modesty is the code of conduct and flaunting one’s sexuality on social media is frowned upon naturally. I adopted the same values but growing up and developing a mind of my own, I began to see that flaunting one’s sexuality on social media is a personal choice based on one’s preference, values and what they are comfortable with.

“I recognize that women are multifaceted and have various ways of expressing themselves and their sexuality which can be empowering and social media presents an outlet for that .As much as I am of this opinion ,I do not support over sexualization as I believe women are much more than that but the internet is full of different kinds of people including predators who take advantage of women and this is a concern for to me as they might be objectified and exploited, she added, reacting to the question on women flaunting their sexuality on social media.

Aji Anje grew up in Warri, Delta State State and she holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering form Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun. She has featured in short films and cinema pieces. She played Betty in a short film titled “Beti” currently available on YouTube. She had a cameo appearance in the popular film, Obara and her latest feature is on Netflix, titled “The Stand Up”.

Aji Anje dreams of having her own production house and acting academy for youngsters someday where they could be groomed to become stars and take charge of their destinies. She fantasizes about starring as a super hero such as Wonder Woman in Marvel or DC movie and working in Hollywood, where she would be able to make an impact on the lives of young people around the world.