SEGUN Gele, born Hakeem Oluwasegun Olaleye on May 2, 1974, is a Nigerian-born make-up artist and entrepreneur based in Texas, United States. His ability to tie the gele in flamboyant styles was featured on CNN years back where he revealed that he learnt to tie the gele from his mother while growing up.
The interesting part? Segun Gele is an alumni of our prestigious Lagos State University!
Shegsy, as popularly called on campus during his time studied English under the Department of English, Faculty of Arts. He was also the President of the Junior Chambers International (Lasu Lom) during the time. Shegsy was a jovial and very likeable person on campus and girls flocked around him because of his exceptional talent and professionalism in hairdressing; infact, Segun Olaleye was a woman fashion and beauty authority and he had a prospering hair salon, an assembling ground for campus babes back then. Then he moved to Houston, Texas.
It was reported that our 'Made in LASU' Segun Olaleye first noticed he could turn his skills into a promising business when he offered to tie a woman's head wrap at a friend's wedding in the United States. Within minutes, as it was said, he had whipped the two-yard fabric into a head-turning, vertiginous shape that left other women at the party impressed. Before long, a queue had formed and he started charging $7 a piece to tie gele at the wedding.
Over time his rates grew to $10, then $15, and now he rarely ties wraps at parties, but reserves his services for weddings or other special occasions.
"In the past, I used to have so many people. I think I had about 20, or 30 people standing in line to have their hair tie tied. But it got to the stage where it was overwhelming", he once said. Segun Gele now charges over $650 to tie wraps for brides and their party for Houston weddings and over $1,000, plus hotel, rental car and airfare for out-of-town weddings.
"He was a good guy everyone talks about on campus", says Mr Dupe Akinola, Publisher of AlimoshoToday.com, also an alumni of the LASU and who was a close ally.
"We stayed in the same hostel and we were both of the English Department. He was a good cook, a good dancer, an interesting guy, and a very good friend you could trust with anything. We got along together all through our days on campus. I am proud of him".
Made in LASU Segun Olaleye is a personality to be proud of. What are we going to say about you when you are out of here?
