At 21, Modupe Ozolua owned her first business in Los Angeles. Six years later, she came down down to Nigeria and pionered cosmetic surgery at 27.

Having done breast augmentation earlier, Modupe was surprised at the level of ignorance Nigerians had about the procedure. So, she paid to be on the cover of Ovation magazine to tell Nigerians what she had done and better educate them but the backlash she got from it was shocking. According to her, whenever she looked back, she wishes she never mentioned it.

She said,

I was married at 21. I had my son at 22. I have taken on responsibilities that many people have not been able to take in, or probably cannot take on at such a young age. From a woman being pregnant, the body changes, sometimes, it may not be in the best ways, so, from my own personal interest a friend of mine was working for a renowned plastic surgery in Beverly Hills and she had some works done and I was amazed and decided I wanted to have something done and it dawned on me that there are women like me that could benefit from this and that was what prompted me to body enhancement limited in Nigeria in 2001.

At that time, we were offering both cosmetic surgery and reconstructive surgery for paying clients and people welcomed it because they were so fascinated that they could do something like that. The fact was that, even before then, some wealthy people were already leaving Nigeria to have it done abroad, so, bringing it home was a great opportunity for people to have easy access to it and also the opportunity to know they could do and benefit from it and that was how it started.

On if people’s judgement got to her

At some point it did because my parents sent me out of Nigeria when I was 17. I didn’t started coming home until I was 23 on holidays . So, when I started body enhancements, I didn’t live in Nigeria. I wasn’t used to the mentality and the people around me, my family are very open minded people. So, I was a little surprised hearing peple asked things like “if I had a nose job done, can I get pregnant?”

And then people felt like it was going against the will of God and it was going against the culture and tradition. And I’m like, “do you understand the suffering people have in their personal lives? Do you know how many women have not been intimate with their husbands for years because of the way they looked?”

The funny thing is that, even till date, it’s more men that thank me for introducing that to Nigeria than women.

On why she went public that she did cosmetic surgery

Initially, I wasn’t, because it’s a personal choice and it’s nobody’s business. I didn’t have to tell anybody I did anything but the level of ignorance was very disturbing. People said if you did your stomach or nose and you are on a plane, you would die. I was like, “are these people really serious?” That was what prompted me to pay to be on the cover of Ovation magazine where I finally said what I had done. That was the first time I said it and many times, I look back and wished I never did. Because prior to that, I was being celebrated as the young genius (but) the minute I said I had done augmentation, I was now the boobs lady.