About Dale OGunfowora

What’s going on?

My name is Dale OGunfowora. I’m an artist, poet, designer, student of life, soldier of God, and It’s my pleasure to be your host here at THisLIFE.

While I am 32 at the time of writing this, I have been growing with and alongside THisLIFE since I started it back in 2010, when I was 18.

Although now called THisLIFE (pronounced This is LIFE), my brand hasn’t always been called that. It was originally called LiveLoveURBAN, and it was birthed at one of the lowest points in my life.

Allow me to share that story with you now. 

BORN FROM PAIN

When I was 18, I graduated high school and had absolutely no clue who I was, what I was doing, or where I was going.

I was lost, confused, scared, lonely, depressed, and on top of that, my parents wanted me to start college right away.

I felt like that was an insane amount of pressure, considering that I had just barely made it out of high school.

Being young and unprepared to deal with this new shift in life, I felt like the only way to find release, was suicide.

(Now that I’m older, I know better, but at that point in time, I was just so deep in my feelings that taking the most drastic action was all that I could think about.)

I wrote a whole letter and everything, ready to take my life, but before doing that, I decided to call my best friend and run away from home.

Being notorious for not answering his phone for hours at a time, he picked up on the first try. I told him what was going on, what I was thinking, and he came and picked me up.

We ended up spending the night with some friends, but unfortunately, due to the letter I left and my disappearance, my parents and the cops were out looking for me.

After asking my friends to lie and say they didn’t know where I was, the search party finally caught up with me, and that night, I was admitted into a hospital where I was put on suicide watch.

FROM PAIN TO PURPOSE

Believe me when I say this, that laying in that hospital bed with a lady keeping watch over me, was one of the most jarring and reality shifting moments I’ve ever had in my life.

I distinctly remember laying there, looking around, as if I’d just woken up out of some bad dream, wondering what the fuck was I doing here? How did I get here?? How did this happen??? Wtf was going on?!?

I didn’t realize it then, but at that point in time, God started speaking to me. He had me asking myself all these questions, trying to figure out where I went wrong, and how I got myself here.

It was within that line of questioning, that I began to face and accept the fact that I wasn’t happy, and began to ask myself when did this come about.

And it was within that line of questioning, that God blessed me with the unveiling of my purpose..

BACK IN THE DAY

When I was asking myself what made me happy, I remembered that I used to love art, designing clothes, and the urban culture.

I was always an artist, drawing comics and cartoon characters, but when I grew out of that, I began drawing on clothes.

As time drew on, I would start to file these designs under a brand name called Monkey Star.

My parents never really got us all the new hot and trendy stuff that I saw my friends wearing, so I guess I began creating the stuff I wanted for myself. I ended up drawing designs at home, at school, at church, anywhere. My mind was all consumed with this new found passion.

Maybe it was a lack of confidence or just not the right time, but I never actually took or looked into the next steps of bringing my artwork to life. At that time, It was all just good feeling, passion, dreams and artwork.

Little did I know it then, but the time spent drawing out those designs would give me a new lease on life years later.

LiveLoveURBAN

While lying in the hospital bed after taking a fresh jog down memory lane of happier times, I immediately felt fire in my bones. I can remember it like it was yesterday - me starting to think about designing again. Me starting to feel happy again. Me starting to feel alive again.

While thinking of my past happiness and how I was going to get back to it, for some reason, the slogan ‘Live Laugh Love’ kept running through my mind. I had seen it many times before, but it never meant anything special to me, until now.

With that phrase orbiting my thoughts, me being in a hospital bed on suicide watch, me not being happy but wanting to be, and me remembering my love for designing and the urban culture, the name ‘Live Love URBAN’ appeared, and when it did, I knew that it was something. It felt right. It had meaning, and I loved it from the minute God gave it to me.

I remember being so fired up, so alive, that I asked the lady next to me for a pen, and proceeded to write out the name ‘LiveLoveURBAN’ on the top of my hospital forms. I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure I went to sleep with a smile on my face that night.

OFF TO THE RACES

After getting out of the hospital some time later, starting LiveLoveURBAN was all that I could think about.

All this had taken place about two months before college was to start, and my past angst about starting and not knowing what I was doing was now gone 

I was so focused on this God given vision, that nothing that was bothering me before, could bother me now. I was happy once again, and that’s all that mattered.

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I officially started LiveLoveURBAN by releasing my first design in September 2010, the same month I started college, and from there, it’s been a non stop journey of learning, growing, and doing.

 

I’ve experienced some pretty hefty highs and some lofty lows and I am proud to say that you can see it reflected in the maturing/development of my brand throughout the years.

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Now that you are familiar with my history, I’d like to take the time to thank you for being here.

My plan is to turn THisLIFE into a brand where people can feel seen, heard, and spoken for.

Even though it’s been 13+ years, I’m in it for the long haul and I feel like this is the beginning of a whole new era.

Through the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, THisLIFE.

Much love,

MrDaleOG