Natural Beauty Highlight: Dele Ogundiran

Photo By Smash Photo LB (http://smashphotolb.com)

True appreciation of beauty, whether in the form of self-acceptance or celebrating the incredible traits of others, can be hard to come by. All too often, women have an issue with other women that are attractive, but at the end of the day the solution and the problem begins with the person you look at everyday in the mirror when you wake up. There will always be playa-haters, naysayers, and drama queens, but thankfully, there will also always be goddesses, princesses, and true Queens who know their worth and have no problem celebrating yours.  I decided to start a highlight of truly beautiful women who are attractive on the outside, but their character, spiritual life, or just personalities put them in the realm of radiating true beauty.  California-based actress, writer, and producer Dele Ogundiran was one of the first women that came to mind, and she was gracious enough to let me interview her.

What do you believe defines true beauty? Natural beauty is innate. It can’t be bought, it can’t be plastered on, nipped or tucked on or in. Natural beauty just is. Like God. It just is. It comes from inside a person.

What kind of skin care regimen do you have? I don’t necessarily have a regimen, but when I wear makeup I remove it with a cleanser. Cleanser of choice:  Revita Lift Cream Cleaser. I wash my face (as with the rest of me) with ivory soap. Its my absolute favorite soap to bathe with. I use a loofa sponge. That is the extend of my skin care regimen… oh… when I get a pimple… I always squeeze it to remove the oily buildup and then wash the area and apply peroxide. Peroxide tends to seal my skin, like a small wound. In about a week or so my skin us usually back to a pre-pimple state.

What are staples in your diet? If you are a vegan or have any other dietary constraint, how did you transition into that? I am not a vegan. Growing up I ate all kinds of meat except pork. Then again, there was a period of time in junior high school when I used to get a hero sandwich, made with ham. Outside of this period, I ate all types of meat. Thankfully, 99% of the time I ate a nutritiously balanced home cooked meal. I didn’t have a lot of sweets (cookies, candy, etc.) in my diet as I grew up. I went about 5-6 years without eating any meat or chicken. I only ate fish.  I started adding meat/chicken back into my diet about 2 years ago.  Presently, staples in my diet: pineapples, steel-cut oatmeal, almond milk, plantains (usually boiled with black eye peas), collard greens, a tomato based peppered stew (a Nigerian dish), okra (had lots of in growing up), yucca, mixed vegetables, sweet potato, blue potatoes, whole grain rice, black eye peas, zucchini, squash, chicken (for about a week and a half a month), salmon (for about a week during the month. I usually take a week off eating any type of flesh during the month.

What kind of exercise regimen do you have? (laughing) I don’t exercise. Okay that’s not funny, because I should. But I don’t.

How important is your spiritual life & do you think that has anything to do with your natural beauty? My spiritual life, my relationship with God is very important to me.  I think it has everything to do with my natural beauty. Prayerfully, that which radiates from within me (from the way I think of myself, my perspective on God, my relationship with him, and his gifts (which includes other people and things) manifests as “natural beauty”.

What is your favorite physical or character trait about yourself that you appreciate most?
Favorite Physical Quality: My skin color
Favorite Character Trait: I am industrious

Photo By Smash Photo LB (http://smashphotolb.com)

For more information about Dele and her work as an actress, visit her website: www.dele.biz