Author: Tracey McAlpine
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Viv Oyolu invited me onto Dream Corner, her radio programme where she interviews women who are fulfilling their dream. 

The show provides women with a platform to share their story, inspire others and to promote their businesses.  It’s hard not to be inspired by Viv herself; having grown up in Nigeria she came to England to complete an MBA.  A career in banking was followed by one in marketing.

In her late thirties Viv was looking for a new direction, while on holiday in Los Angeles she discovered how many children were deprived of a normal life, often exposed to drugs from an early age.  She volunteered in New York to make a difference working with children from some of the roughest estates.  Her work with teenagers carried on when she returned to the UK in 2006.  Viv ran a business writing lesson plans for schools and prepared teenagers for life in the workplace.  Teaching young people integrity, accountability and reliability can’t have been an easy job, but I can imagine Viv earning respect as she gives much time to others and has a gift for listening.

After the recession hit and her contract was cancelled Viv was looking for a new direction.  Having always wanted to be on radio she mentioned this out loud at a party and was asked why she wasn’t doing it.  This was the prompt she needed to apply for a job with a West London radio station.  Her dream to interview women about their lives and businesses was to come to fruition and Dream Corner was born.

Over the past 18 months Viv has interviewed many inspirational women of all ages and backgrounds all with interesting lives and ambitions.  Viv and I met at BHive in Covent Garden, not the quietest place for a radio interview but very comfortable.  This was far less intimidating than going into the studio as we both relaxed into comfortable chairs Viv asked me what inspired me to start Fighting Fifty.  That was it I found my voice, and for 45 minutes Viv and I chatted about the perceptions of middle age and the problems that women encounter as they get older.  In her middle forties Viv has a way to go to hitting the landmark birthday, but none the less she understands the difficulties women have in the workplace as the get older.

You can listen to Viv’s interviews on Zone One Radio every Wednesday at 10.00am.  Catch up with all the interviews on the Dream Corner website, and if you would like to listen to my interview you can do so here.

Dream Corner