Yolanda Okereke Fubara is a Nollywood fashion stylist, costume designer, and wardrobe specialist for film and television. She is best known for her work on La Femme Anjola, the popular 2021 Nollywood thriller.
Fashion has always been an integral part of the movie industry and Yolanda Okereke Fubara has done a great job of knitting the two industries together through her creativity and skills. Amongst Yolanda’s most recent works are Blood Sisters, La Femme Anjola, and Day of Destiny. She has successfully written her name amongst the most important figures in the history of costume design in the industry.
Summary of Yolanda Okereke’s Bio
- Full name: Yolanda Okereke-Fubara
- Gender: Female
- Ethnicity: Igbo
- Nationality: Nigerian
- Sexual Orientation: Straight
- Religion: Christianity
- Marital Status: Married
- Yolanda Okereke’s Husband: Karibi Fubara
- Yolanda Okereke’s Children: One (Son)
- Yolanda Okereke’s Parents: Mr. and Mrs. Okereke
- Famous for: Fashion stylist, Costume designer
- Yolanda Okereke’s Instagram: @yolandaokereke
What State is Yolanda Okereke From?
The award-winning fashion curator, designer, and stylist Yolanda Okereke is of Igbo extraction and comes from the Southeastern part of Nigeria. Although the exact southeastern state where she hails from has not been revealed, Yolanda Okereke’s parents are said to be Igbo as her father is known to be Mr. Okereke.
Yolanda’s real age cannot be ascertained as she is yet to reveal her date of birth. However, she is believed to be in her late twenties. The young fashion enthusiast is a graduate of Chemical Engineering from an unknown institution probably in Nigeria.
Yolanda Okereke Began her Career as a Stylist in 2009
It is only talent and passion that can make a graduate of chemical engineering successfully make a generational impact in radically-different industries like fashion and entertainment. Well, Yolanda is yet to let the cat out of the bag on what or who inspired her to embark on such a career path but as one whose fashion sense is top-notch, making her way in the fashion industry would be much easier.
Yolanda Okereke began her career as a fashion designer in 2009. She had been initially hoping to land a major oil company job with her chemical engineering degree. The job was however not forthcoming and so she chose to pursue her passion for making and designing women’s clothes.
Yolanda Okereke started out as a stylist and spent a few years styling celebrities for red-carpet events. She was a natural at what she did and soon amassed famous personalities like Monalisa Chinda, and Djinee as clients. Her clientele also included the likes of Kate Henshaw, Rita Dominic, Nse Ikpe-Etim, DJ Jimmy Jatt, Desmond Elliot, and a host more.
She Then Switched to Costume Designing for Movies in 2012
In the course of styling celebrities for the red carpet, Yolanda Okereke was contracted to deliver outfits to two Nollywood actresses namely Nse Ikpe-Etim and Kate Henshaw. She took it to them on the set of a movie they were working on (The Meeting) and the people on set were immediately impressed with what she brought. They asked her if she had anything project going on and she replied in the negative. They then hired her on the spot to style the entire film’s characters.
Thus, Yolanda Okereke’s debut project was Rita Dominic’s The Meeting, a 2012 romantic comedy-drama film that features stars like Femi Jacobs, Linda Ejiofor, Kehinde Bankole, and Jide Kosoko, among others. She did a good job and certainly contributed to the film’s widely-acclaimed success.
Since her debut outing in 2012, Yolanda Okereke has grown to be one of the best costumiers Nollywood will ever boast of. She has created costumes and worked as a design consultant for most movie producers. 2017 appears to be her best year as it saw her producing costume designs for films like 10 Days In Sun City, Something Wicked, My Wife And I, and more. These blockbuster movies helped her rise to fame in the film industry.
Yolanda is also the costume designer for Monalisa Chinda’s series, Catwalk, Ashionye Raccah’s Journey to Self, Emem Isong’s Weekend Getaway, and Kemi Adetiba‘s King of Boys, among others. She has also worked on major TV shows like MTV Shuga. She also co-created and styled a photo story called These Boots: A Photo Story, with the famous photographer Obi Somto.
Yolanda Okereke regards fashion as a way of expressing one’s mood and feeling. This, according to her influences trends both in the real world and on the big screens where she has shown her expertise for years.
Yolanda Okereke’s Movies
- Journey to Self,
- Weekend Getaway
- King of Boys,
- The Meeting,
- King of Boys
- Wedding Party 1 and 2
- Day of Destiny
- Heaven’s Hell
- The Meeting,
- Who’s The Boss
- My Wife and I.
- Chief Daddy
- Quams Money
- La Femme Anjola
- The Ghost And The House Of Truth
- A Hotel Called Memory
Yolanda Okereke’s TV Shows
- MTV Shuga
- These Boots: A Photo Story
Yolanda Okereke is also a Producer and has Received Awards for Her Efforts
Aside from being a wardrobe expert, Yolanda could also pass for a producer having produced films that have received some award nominations. Yolanda is broadly known for shooting Tattoo in 2007, which was 70 percent epic and 30 percent modern. The movie got nominated for the AMVCA.
For her years-long efforts in the entertainment industry, Yolanda has received several award nominations some of which she succeeded in winning. The most notable one she won was the Eko Star and TV award for Best Film and TV Costume Designer. Yolanda was also nominated for Best Costume Designer for her work on La Femme Anjola at the 2022 Africa Magic Viewers Choice Award (AMVCA).
Yolanda Okereke has worked with renowned production companies such as Netflix, MTV, EbonyLife, Inkblot, Audrey Silva, etc. To crown it all up, the Chemical Engineering graduate is the Founder of The Wardrobe Shack and Creative Director of The Rani Company.
Who was Yolanda Okereke’s Husband and What Happened to Him?
Yolanda was married to Karibi Fubara. Mr. Fubara was a Nigerian actor who made it to the spotlight after starring in a popular Nigerian television drama series Before 30. Fubara was also known for his role in movies like God Calling, Quam’s Money, Castle and Castle, Royal Hibiscus Hotel, and Smart Money Woman, among others.
There are no details of how Yolanda Okereke and her husband met and for how long they knew each other before their official wedding but the two became a couple after tying the knot on December 29, 2018. Yolanda and her husband were married for three years, and they welcomed a son together.
The couple’s marriage could have lasted longer but Yolanda’s husband, however, passed away on Wednesday 15th December 2021, after battling kidney cancer. Fubara had earlier in 2020, taken to his social media timeline to announce that he was diagnosed with cancer in the kidney. He also revealed at some point that he was recovering. However, by December 2021, cancer reared its head up again and eventually took his life.
There are no details as to when and where the late Kabiri Fubara was born. He was said to have spent some part of his life outside of Nigeria and studied Chemical Engineering at The Ohio State University.
Where is Yolanda Okereke Now?
Yolanda currently lives in Nigeria where she has successfully established her career and business as Nollywood’s go-to costume designer. The mother of one recently resumed her social life after months of mourning her husband’s death.
The stylist was spotted at the Africa Magic Viewer’s Choice Award where she was nominated as the Best Costume Designer in the movie La Femme Anjola. She was also among the top celebrities who graced actress Ini Dima Okojie’s wedding in May 2022.