Influencer Simisanya says leaving Ikorodu stretched her idea of success after she saw how people live in other parts of Lagos. Speaking on With Chude, she argued that staying in one circle can keep a person thinking small, even when bigger possibilities already exist elsewhere.
The comments have sparked debate about class, exposure and how Lagos neighbourhoods shape ambition. Simisanya, also known as Simi Sanya, is a lifestyle creator and event host who rose through fashion and personality content and later married filmmaker Femi Dapson.
She said the shock was not only Island living. It was the difference between what felt rare at home and what looked ordinary in another part of the city.
“It’s not just about leaving Ikorodu to the island, just living Ikorodu in general, because around you won’t see a lot of people driving Benz. And then, I mean now it’s different, but then if somebody’s driving a Benz, you’d be like, ‘ah.’ But then on the island, people are driving Ferraris.”
That contrast, she said, forced her to raise her standard of what was possible.
“They’re driving, like your mind, you need to see other places, how things are done for your mind to be open, to be receptive to what God has in store for you.”
She also recalled how her family treated gold jewellery as a risk, not a flex.
“Because some days you just be like, Oh, we’re wearing gold, let’s take it off. My mom, until she’s approaching the party, she won’t wear the gold, so they will not…”
On the Island, she said, the display was louder.
“But on the island, people are wearing diamonds, costing millions. Like we need to see that there’s life outside of there.”
She did not dismiss the fear that came with that caution.
“Well it’s not a lie. The fear is there. People can actually monitor you because you’re wearing small gold. Unlike on the island, people wear gold costing millions and nobody cares. So, like, I just needed my mindset to shift from that small, you need to be something more. Yes, bigger.”
Her point landed as both a personal testimony and a class story Lagos already knows too well. Some listeners heard a call to expand vision. Others heard a familiar slight against Ikorodu, a large, busy part of Lagos that many residents insist is not a small town and is producing wealth of its own.
Simisanya framed the move as spiritual as much as social. Exposure, in her telling, was not only about cars and diamonds. It was about training the mind to receive more than the first version of success it grew up applauding.