016: Tiffany & Kunle

Written By Tiffany Yu

Tiffany & Kunle | The Power of Art to Inspire Hope and Heal the World in COVID-19 ft. Nigerian Artist Kunle Adewale

Listen on: Apple // Spotify // Google

In this episode, we’re chatting with Nigerian artist, founder of Tender Arts Nigeria and Arts in Medicine projects on using art to heal and bring hope and joy.

We discussed:

  • His journey from being an artist to exploring the connection between art and brain health

  • His art interventions with older adults with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease

  • Using art to heal and bring joy during COVID-19

  • How art-based interventions and technology are addressing social isolation

  • How crisis lends itself to creativity

  • Kunle’s current virtual art exhibition, Uplifting Spirits

  • Kunle Adewale Day on August 2

Show Notes

About Kunle Adewale

Kunle Adewale is a graduate of Awolowo University, Ile-Ife Nigeria with specialization in Painting and Art History. He studied Civic Leadership from Tulane University New Orleans (USA), Arts in Health for Helping Professionals, Charlotte (USA) and Arts in Medicine at the Arts in Health Research Intensive from University of Florida (USA). Kunle is a certified artist in Understanding Arts and Dementia (University College London, UK) and in Medicine and The Arts (University of Cape Town, South Africa).

With over a decade of experience as an artist and educationist, Kunle founded ‘three organizations namely, Tender Arts Nigeria, Arts in Medicine projects and Arts in Medicine Fellowship. Kunle’s therapeutic art program has benefitted displaced families suffering from post-traumatic stress disorders, children and adults living with cancer, sickle cell anemia, dementia, mental illnesses, HIV and aids, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, autism or other neurological disorders in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and the United States.

Kunle is an Atlantic Fellow of the Global Brain Health Institute San Francisco.

Follow Kunle Adelwale

Transcript

Tiffany Yu:

Tiffany Yu: Hi, everyone. You're listening to this episode of Tiffany & Yu. This is your host, Tiffany Yu. I have with me Kunle Adewale. He is a Nigerian artist and he's also the founder of Tender Arts Nigeria, which is a social enterprise, a nonprofit that is focused on therapeutic arts, arts education, and arts in medicine programs. Hi Kunle!  

Kunle Adewale: Hi Tiffany!

Tiffany Yu: So Kunle and I met almost a year ago because we were both selected as Goalkeepers during the UN Global Goals Week last year through the Gates Foundation. How was that experience for you? 

Kunle Adewale: Wow. It's an incredible experience for me, being able to meet people from different walks of life, people from different fields, people from different parts of the world and meeting different change makers. I mean converging in one space and brainstorming on how we can make the world a better place. For me, that was a very powerful experience. 

Tiffany Yu: So normally you're based in Nigeria, but right now you are in San Francisco as an Atlantic Fellow at the Global Brain Health Institute. Is that right? 

Kunle Adewale: Absolutely right.

Tiffany Yu: I'd love to hear more about how you went from art to brain health. Tell me about that journey. 

Kunle Adewale: Thank you so much for that. So, when I started my journey, I was an artist about seven years ago, I started practicing the use of art in healthcare spaces in Nigeria. So my focus was more on working with children, working with teenagers, adolescents and young people who have a different form of ailments and illnesses. So I use art in hospital spaces by engaging this population through art workshops and therapeutic arts program. And then apart from painting, we also do music. We do dance, we use different art forms  to be able to help these populations respond to the immediate environment or what they are passing through and being able to use art as a form of process for healing. And so working in pediatrics, working in , working in mental health , on neonatal and working with maternal mental health. But as I continued to practice my work as I continued my journey, I realized that we have not done so much in the area of using arts to support elderly people in our community in Nigeria. So at the time I partnered with Gabi Williams Alzheimer's Foundation in Nigeria. It's a foundation that works with those that have dementia and those that have Alzheimer's disease. And so I was able to partner with them and then were able to start facilitating art sessions with them to work with the seniors who have cognitive impairment or cognitive decline. I've been able to use art to help them in terms of using art for their cognitive wellbeing . And that is how I started getting to know about the connection between art and brain health. Of course, I do know about art and mental health, but in a more specific way, a more defined, I got to know about this. Then fast forward 2008, I was in the United States when I came for Arts in Medicine program at the University of Florida. And then I got to know through one of my friends in Ethiopia about Global Brain Health Institute Atlantic Fellowship program. So I did apply in 2018. And interestingly, I got shortlisted as one of the global leaders  in terms of using arts for brain health. And so I got qualified and I was shortlisted to be part of the program here in San Francisco. So I came into San Francisco last year, August precisely. So I've spent roughly over nine months in the United States and learning about the intersection between art and neuroscience, which is very interesting in a way, because  considering the fact that even during my college days and university days, this was never a part of our curriculum. We were not taught about the intersection or the connection between art and health, art and brain health or art and neuroscience. And it was more purely about art and less of science or nothing about science at all. So I will say this came by self-development and self-discovery because of my practice over the years as an artist that worked in healthcare space and healthcare spaces in Nigeria and around the world. 

Tiffany Yu:  I can very clearly understand the connection between art and mental health, but it is a little bit less clear the connection between art and brain health and art and neuroscience. Right. And I think to be able to bring your work into those conversations is really important. So you're working with people who have been affected with dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Can you talk about what the connection between art and brain health actually is?

Kunle Adewale: So I'm looking at the concept of dementia or Alzheimer's disease. There are certain peculiarities that comes with that in terms of memory loss, frustration, depression, loneliness, isolation, anxiety, aggression. I mean, there's so many mental health problems that comes with having Alzheimer's disease. So art helps to mitigate all of these side effects of dementia, the side effect of having depression. So for older adults that I work with who are actually experiencing depression as a result of the disease, the Alzheimer's disease. So art really helped to uplift their spirit, has helped them to really find the creative platform to really express themselves in ways that words couldn't. So art really helped them to also socialize, art helped them to be able to connect with other people where they are in life, instead of feeling very depressed, instead of feeling dejected, instead of feeling isolated, instead of feeling neglected, rather art provides that opportunity for them to be able to socialize. And I think in a way when these people were able to respond through our art program by socializing through the virtual platform that we'll be using, using Zoom for our forum, other the technology based where we actually connect with this population. So, I've seen these people. I've seen them being very joyful. I've seen them being very happy because of the new experience they are gaining through art, regardless of what has happened to them or to what is happening now, it is what is important to them. The joy of the moment, the happiness of the moment that the art is bringing to them or that the others brought to them through my engagement.

Tiffany Yu: Amazing. I want to take a quick break here. And then when we come back, we'll continue talking with Kunle about some of the programs he's been doing amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

[break]

Tiffany Yu: And we're back from the break. This is Tiffany, and you're listening to this episode of Tiffany & Yu. I have with me, the Nigerian artist Kunle Adewale who, before the break, was chatting with us about the art work he is doing and its connection to brain health. Welcome back Kunle. 

Kunle Adewale: Thank you so much Tiffany.

Tiffany Yu: So you were doing these programs, at first, you had started in hospitals working mainly with kids.  You did then transition to older adults who had cognitive disabilities, such as dementia, or Alzheimer's. Wanted to hear about how Tender Arts Nigeria's programs have shifted since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kunle Adewale: So, as an organization, what we've been doing since the pandemic is to be part of the global responders to the global health crisis, because I won't believe that the first responders and also the healthcare providers, artists are called responders when there's crisis in the world. And artists and arts, those actually have a great role to play in helping people to find hope in the midst of crisis, in helping people to find light in the means of darkness. And these are the things that we have been doing as an organization ever since the pandemic started. We have collaborated with Lagos State Ministry of Health through ART for life initiative of the government by facilitating therapeutic music for patients, persons who actually have coronavirus who are actually receiving treatment at isolation centers in Lagos, Nigeria. So our team provides therapeutic music to bring joy and hope to these people who are really going through tough moment in their lives. And beyond what we are doing in Nigeria, but also looking at what we are doing in the United States. We were able to facilitate a global conference call, a virtual international art in health conference, which is VICAH, in May where we facilitated a conference that brought different professionals from around the world who are trying to provide resources that institutions, that individuals are currently use and utilize during this moment to be able to find joy and wellbeing by using art engagements. And beyond that also we've been able to facilitate virtual art exhibitions where we curate works of art done by artists as a response to COVID-19 from around the world. And we're able to do that so that people are able to look at -- people are not just looking at what is happening in their environment. They are looking at how arts can really help to bring healing or healing to their environment. And that's one of the things I think we have accomplished. We also did a global arts drive in a more comprehensive way or manner where artists are actually responding also to COVID-19 and that we did that as a form of documentary, where we documented works of art and artists from around the world. I will curate it, that it's actually on a YouTube where people can actually view on what is happening in the world and how artists are using creativity for health communications. So in terms of people wearing masks, instead of people practicing social distancing, instead of people doing hand washing, although recommended measures given by WHO, we saw our artists were able to use creativity to pass those messages and that we were able to share those materials and multimedia and materials for the public to be able to see, and that way, art is now being used not only as a form of advocacy, but as a form of education to inform people why they need to practice social distancing, otherwise they will contract coronavirus how that might lead to something else that nobody actually prayed for. So, we've been doing all of this incredible work ever since the pandemic. Also, for me, I have been busy. I partnered with Alzheimer's Association of Northern California and Northern Nevada, where I facilitate what is called virtual art for seniors. So for seniors who are, who used to be in care homes or nursing homes, but because of the pandemic and then, so they were withdrawn and now they are in their various homes, but sadly, the fact that everybody's now in lockdown and they're isolated like every other person. The pandemic has brought a lot of mental health problems both to young and old. And these older adults are not left out-- out of the side effects of what's coronavirus has brought to the world. And so what I've been doing over time is to facilitate art based interventions for seniors who are really experiencing distress, anxiety, panic, depression, social isolation, loneliness in the midst of this pandemic. And they've been able to use art to inspire hope, being able to use art to help them to find joy, to find peace in the midst of chaos. And it has been an incredible experience so far working with this population. Also I have been facilitating pop up art for seniors in San Francisco neighborhood, where we do paint by number, do it yourself. I've been able to work with different populations, different people, older adults from different walks of life and different races. And for me, it does tell the relevance of art in the midst of crisis, in times of crisis art can really bring safe or safety. It can bring joy, it can bring health. And I'm glad that I'm able to do this during this time. I mean, for someone like myself too, I would say that coronavirus of course affects everyone. And the fact that we are also all on lockdown, practicing social distance. And then, so there was a time I was just locked up in my room and I realized that, I was almost having mental health problems. And then, so what I did was start thinking of ways I can help other people out there who are probably experiencing similar things that I'm experiencing. And so one of the things that happen to me now is that, in giving joy, I found joy. In giving hope, I find hope. In giving happiness, I found happiness. In giving light, I found light. So what is missing in my life? I've been able to find by giving other people what is missing in their lives using art interventions. 

Tiffany Yu: Mm. That really touched my heart. That's so inspiring.  That message will really resonate with our listeners. I love the way that you have been able to insert art into all different aspects of what's going on with the pandemic, whether it's at the hospitals and bringing your artists in to perform, whether it is in facilitating the virtual workshops in partnership with some of these organizations and in California and Nevada. And then bringing art to the streets right here in San Francisco, as cities are starting to open up. Of course there is the very real threat of the COVID-19 virus in itself, right. The health threat. But then we are experiencing another crisis, which is the mental health one. So I'm curious if you've done any research or know the connection between art therapy and tackling social isolation and loneliness.

Kunle Adewale: Absolutely. Research has actually revealed the health benefits of the arts. And unfortunately we've not been able to maximize the health benefits of the arts. People still think that art does not really have known effects on people but one of the discoveries that I've made through research is that art does change people's mood, because when people are going through dark moments, I mean, by virtue of what is happening in their life, they are depressed, their mood is down. And, they are in a very dark place. Being involved in just experiencing music, music can really change people's mood. It can bring them out of their little corner. It can open up doors of healing and health and wellbeing for them, which I have seen, I have personally experienced. And looking at how art really help people to tackle social isolation. Often times people say, well, I'm not an artist. I can't draw. I can't paint. You know, those tensions, right. They're there. So one of the things that I have been able to do is such that I often tell people that it's not about the product. It's about the process. So oftentimes people focus on creating a thing. They're trying to draw a cub. They are trying to make, paint a particular object in mind. So when I facilitate my session, I usually tell my participants that it's not about the end product. It's about the process, the process of engaging yourself, the process of being able to move from where you are within your room, being able to find the objects, being able to paint by yourself, and being able to use-- connect through technology. And because you know now, because we don't have social garden, right. But technology and art, they're relevant in this period. And so I been leveraging technology by facilitating art-based intervention for people to mitigate social isolation. And they have now people can connect through Zoom. They can respond by seeing other people. Because of this, I feel like we are on a different planet now. We feel like we're in a different world where people no longer engage, people no longer connect. When we see somebody walking on the road, people try to avoid it like you have leprosy. You're not communicating, you're not talking. All of those can really bring the mental health problems, but with technology, with Zoom, we're able to leverage that, our people are able to create, people are able to dance on Zoom, dancing, body movements, painting, singing, having this community online has brought so much joy to many people in my program.

Tiffany Yu: A couple of episodes ago we had Monica Kang on and she is a creative mindset expert. And I talked with her a lot around how we have a lot of mindset blocks around, Oh, I'm not creative. Right? Because we think creativity looks like a certain thing. When really for Monica, tapping into your own creative mindset is really just getting curious around the process of how you're thinking about things or moving throughout your day. And by getting curious, that is how you're tapping into your creativity. And I love the way that you said, when we think about art, we get so fixated on what the end product is. And then we say, I'm not an artist, but everyone can dance. Everyone can sing or listen to music or pick up a paintbrush. That is very powerful. And now they're doing it in a community based environment as you said through Zoom, and you are getting me thinking about what the world will look like. So San Francisco has started to reopen . But as you said, we walked down the sidewalk and we see someone else and we dart to the other side of the street to respect physical distancing . I feel very fearful around  what this new world of wearing face masks, not seeing people's facial expressions, respecting physical distancing is going to do to our social connection and our mental health.

Kunle Adewale: You know, I've been seeing some funny, funny face masks.

Tiffany Yu: Oh yeah, you can express your personality through your masks. I forgot about that.

Kunle Adewale: I've been seeing some very funny face masks and I've been seeing how creativity is being even used in creating those face masks. So one of the things I see is that creativity actually can never be cornered. Creativity can never be affected in the midst of crisis. In fact, creativity is actually what gives way and provide solutions to people in the midst of the crisis. So looking at the new world that is emerging and the new normal, creativity does literally have a great role to play in shaping the human experience in transforming what life will look like for everyone. And I see that creativity will be a medium that will really help people to be able to find safe space, find hope, and find joy, and find what makes sense. Because the way it is now, sometimes it looks like things are not making sense, but creativity actually helps to make the world to have sense in a way. So I think, so creativity-- changed the narratives around COVID-19. The social distancing, so the COVID-19, coronavirus said, ok people can't come together, creativity said, people can come together.  Coronvirus said people can't socialize. Creativity says, people can socialize. 

Tiffany Yu: Yeah, well, it's like coronavirus says people can't physically be close to each other. Creativity says let's hop onto a Zoom call or hop onto FaceTime or hop onto a phone call. We still have those avenues. 

Kunle Adewale: I mean like now, people cannot go to galleries,  people cannot go to museums. But through creativity, people can now go to museums around the world. I see that. That's one of the huge possibilities that came out of COVID-19 because we are limited by what we see around, we are limited about the resources available to us, but through creativity within this COVID-19, many people have traveled around the world just by leveraging art and technology. It has opened your mind. It has opened your eyes. I mean, for artists, creativity has given them new audiences.  People, now people, now, we now have online concerts. I mean, woo woo who thinking about online concerts before virtual concerts? No. So now there's so much possibilities. There's so much opportunities that COVID-19 has brought. And I think creativity, I try to provide us those platforms to be able to make those things to happen. 

Tiffany Yu: Deepak Chopra , he talked about how hope is the antithesis of fear.  Even in just talking to you, I hear you talk from a mindset of possibility and opportunity and creativity unlocking all of these things. And I'm coming from a place of fear and scarcity and limits. So  I really appreciate that way of thinking. So. You talked about galleries and museums now coming online. And I remember before the pandemic started, you had sent me a save the date for your art show. So I want to chat about your current art show, how you pivoted it online, and what some of your favorite pieces are from this art show. 

Kunle Adewale: So, of course I've been working on my art exhibition for about eight months, and then I've been rehearsing, I've been thinking of how to connect to Tiffany and some of my friends in the United States. I was thinking about  having an art exhibition in a physical space. Then the pandemic happened and I-- oh my God, what is going to happen now? And then I started thinking, I started brainstorming, what can I do? What can I do? What can I do? Then I stumbled on a website that provides virtual space for 3D art exhibitions. So what I did was to now curate my art exhibition in a 3D virtual space, such that the fact that people are now able to attend. Now we are not able to host the physical space art exhibition, we're able to use a virtual platform. And then  I was able to leverage on technology to be able to curate an experience, an artistic experience of 24 artworks that I created, which was in line with my art exhibition theme, "Uplifting Spirits." So majorly my theme "Uplifting Spirits" is a response to the crisis happening around the world today. Although primarily,  it was one of the ways of thus showcasing the benefit of the arts  in ways that it really helped to uplift the spirits of older adults or people who are going through challenging moments in their lives. But interestingly, also we are all going through challenging moments in our lives, in the midst of COVID-19 and then "Uplifting Spirits" become more relevant than ever before. There are different artwork that really, I mean, painting part of my work that I did that really brought joy to me. Talk about, "Breathe." And in a way, like the way we are now, we need to breathe. We need to slow down and breathe and enjoy life one day at a time. It seems like the crisis around the world is suffocating us. It seems like what is happening in the media is suffocating us, but we really do need time to slow down and breathe. And enjoy the blessings that each day has to offer. And then so sometimes we are carried away. We are swayed away by the negativity happening around the world, but we need to pause and breathe. That is one. Another work is, "happiness is a choice," which is part of my words. And then, so in the midst of coronavirus, people can focus on what coronavirus has brought, right? Or focus on what blessing they have. So, gratitude becomes a necessity in the midst of coronavirus. I mean, many people today have passed away by actually contracting the virus. But many of us that are still alive, I think there is a blessing in being alive and showing gratitude helps our mental health and our well-being. So that is another one. Another one that is part of the work that I love is, " happiness is free." Sometimes we are so fixated on controlling the outcomes of our lives and then in so doing, we are stressed out. In so doing, we are on under tension. In so doing, we get into depression because sometimes failure happens and then we become depressed because things did not go the way we actually planned. And then for instance, my plan was to have my exhibition in a physical space, but I let it go. I don't hold onto the fact that maybe there's a visually physical space and now I have to beat myself up. No, I have to sit down. I have to think of ways of ensuring that the art exhibition actually takes place. And so I think we experience more mental health, what we learned the act of letting go.

Tiffany Yu: So your art exhibition, it is open until July 17th. I'll include the link.

Kunle Adewale: So this art exhibition is also a fundraiser for me because I am supporting Alzheimer's cause in the United States for people that have cognitive impairment. So I'm supporting Alzheimer's Association here in the U.S. And also the work I do back home in Nigeria. So as people purchase my work, it will help me to be able to support the work that the Alzheimer's Association is doing the United States and also the work I do back home in Nigeria with seniors and elders who have cognitive impairment or cognitive decline. 

Tiffany Yu: That's great. And then there's a really powerful painting included in the exhibition of Robin Williams, who I know was an inspiration to you growing up. And I know that his widow had spoken at the opening?

Kunle Adewale: Yes. Robin Williams was someone I got to know through the screen, a popular, famous American actor and comedian, and I got to know him through the movies that I watch on TV back home in Nigeria in Africa. And so knowing to me, that fast forward into the future, I'm going to be in a program that talks about the health problem that Robin Williams actually experienced before he died. And then interestingly, I now had the opportunity to have meeting with the wife. And then now, now I'm able to create my own personalized experience of who Robin Williams is. Robin Williams happened to be a healer. He happened to be a bringer of joy. I represented that in my body of work, by ensuring that I represented light, I represented joy. I represented nature. I was able to bring in all of these into the portrait of Robin Williams that I painted. So for me, it's also one of the ways of uplifting the spirits of people. Someone like Robin Williams, people often think, Oh, they think about what they think about Robin Williams. Oh, he died. He died this way. But he died because he had lived with Lewy body dementia. How about talking about him as someone as an embodiment of potential? Somebody through his potential and he brought so much joy to humanity. He brought so much light and happiness to people around him. He brought so much hope to people who came across him. How about having those conversations? So for me, the painting of Robin Williams is about having conversation on hope, healing, happiness, and joy and making the world a better place through our potential. 

Tiffany Yu: I'm looking at the painting now and it's stunning, has flowers and hummingbird. That's a great message around just the celebration of a person's life and humanity as a whole, as everything that it was. And that's what I think this painting embodies as well. So people can check out the exhibition and buy the artwork to help support your work. If people want to continue to support you, what is the best way to do that? 

Kunle Adewale: So, basically people can support by purchasing my works and also by donating to my art initiatives in the United States and also in Nigeria. They can visit my website, www.kunleadewale.com, and there they will be able to see a lot of the works I've been doing back home in Africa, alongside my team and around people around the world. The fact is that we have small resources in doing some of the big things that we do. So lack of resources, I've not really been able to allow us to do other things that would have actually accomplished. So by supporting me, I will be able to help more people out there who are actually going through tough moments in their lives. I'm thankful to the U.S. mission to Nigeria and also U.S. State Department over the years who have really responded and supported my program in Nigeria through grants. But then, what we are doing, we need more support. What we are doing now is just like a foundation we need to still do more for other people out there. 

Tiffany Yu:  I'm hoping that we'll see a lot more funding come into different mental health interventions as we try and navigate what the effects of this are. Right. Because it's not just a pandemic. It is an economic recession. It is civil rights unrest or revolution, and more to come. We're not even out of the first wave here in the U.S. So I'm looking at your Wikipedia page, by the way, Kunle has a Wikipedia page, which is very cool. August 2nd, 2019, the Mayor of Cincinnati proclaimed that day as Kunle Adewale Day.

Kunle Adewale: Yay!

Tiffany Yu: What happens on that day? 

Kunle Adewale: Wow. So, wow. Well, that's a big thing. Anyway. 

Tiffany Yu: That's huge.

Kunle Adewale: You know, I helped them think about this and reflect. I never thought about the fact that one day, maybe I will have a day named after me. For all my life, I've invested, and I have, I keep investing into community. I keep investing into other people's lives. I've been working, I've worked with survivors of terror attacks. I've worked in places that are very risky, that I would have died. I've been doing that over the years. So I really do not think about my life. I think about what I can do for other people, now that I'm alive. And I think my contribution to using art  for health and in medicine in Nigeria and Africa and around the world is one of the reasons why I was honored by the Mayor of Cincinatti that named August 2nd as Kunle Adewale Day. Next month is going to be August and there's a plan already. There's a plan for Kunle Adewale Day already. And then we are going to use Zoom to invite people from around the world to participate in a town hall meeting. And we have a theme already for Kunle Adewale Day 2020, artists as drivers of social change. Artists as drivers of social change. So we have the keynote speaker is the Director for  Center for Arts in Medicine program, University of Florida, Gainesville, Jill Sonke. And we have one speaker from Nigeria, Debola Williams. And aside that we have other panelists, young artists in Africa who are really making change to happen in their  communities through art. We have a dancer, we have a singer, we have an arts administrator who is actually using art forms to inspire change back home in Zimbabwe, in Zambia, in South Africa and also in Nigeria. So the celebration of Kunle Adewale Day is not a celebration of only himself. It's a celebration of values that Kunle Adewale pays attention, Kunle exemplifies, like giving back to community, bringing hope and bringing light. And then in so doing, one of the things we also plan to do that day, we plan to launch a virtual art exhibition of the works that I've been doing with persons with dementia in the U.S. So we should be expecting a new virtual art exhibition come August of what's done by older adults living with dementia in the U.S. The other thing is, we're planning to do a fundraise using GoFundMe so people can support the work that I am doing back home in Nigeria by donating to GoFundMe. So I'm trying to use Kunle Adelwale Day to open doors for people to support good causes, for people to support community works, for people to support other people who actually have no resources, but they really want to do good things in their community. That is what Kunle Adewale Day is about. It's not about celebrating Kunle Adewale himself, it's a celebration of humanity. 

Tiffany Yu: So we have a lot to look forward to in the next month. I feel like throughout this conversation, we talked a lot about hope. So my final question for you is, Kunle what is giving you hope these days?

Kunle Adewale: Giving other people hope actually gives me hope everyday, waking up every waking moment of my life, being able to do something for other people actually gives me hope.

Tiffany Yu: Beautiful, beautiful. We will close the show there Kunle. I'm glad that we met. We met actually in the car ride from JFK to the hotel. 

Kunle Adewale: We'll need to meet Tiffany. I'm going back to Nigeria soon. We need to meet where we can practice social distancing, but we need to connect. 

Tiffany Yu: Yes, I know. I know. Thanks again Kunle for being on the show. I can't wait for people to hear about the great work you're doing for other people. 

Kunle Adewale: Thank you very much. And lastly, let me say to everyone out there. Be the hope you want to attract, be the joy you want to attract, and be the happiness you want to attract. Be that person. Be the change.

Tiffany Yu
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