Orala

Orala is now a final year student at Reading University, though she still feels much more at home in London, where she can pursue her passion for songwriting and performing. She considers her sisters to be her best friends, as they all ‘get each other’, and she doesn’t really join in with the social side of university, which seems to her to be mostly about drinking.

A committed Christian, faith plays a large part in determining Orala’s decisions and she feels very secure about her future.

We’ve seen you aged seven and 14 – but where are you now?

"In the new instalment you see me at the beginning of my final year at university, however I have since graduated. I split my time between songwriting and performing, blogging about food, music, books and natural hair, as well as making videos on YouTube and working on my line of natural hair and skin products and accessories."

Are you following the path you imagined for yourself when you were those ages?

"I definitely expected to graduate in a scientific field and to still be involved with music at 14. I'm not surprised that I'm blogging because I used to blog at 14 as well. However, I definitely wouldn't have imagined creating a cosmetics line or designing accessories. And I wouldn't have expected to be writing about so many different things, as opposed to just music.

And how have your relationships changed?

"I would say that as I left education the sheer number of people that I interact with on a daily basis decreased, naturally. And the relationships that I do have are ones that I have chosen instead of those that arose out of circumstances, so they're that much better."

Looking back to those ages, what advice would you give yourself?

"The advice I would give to myself at 14 would probably be along the lines of: nobody is judging you the way you think they are, and if they are, stop caring, it doesn't matter."

Are there any moments you look back on and think ‘perhaps I would have done that differently’?

"Maybe, but then I also think that everything happens as it should so I don't think I would really change anything."

Where should we expect to find you when Up returns in seven years' time?

"I have no clue! So many things can happen in seven years. I think the one thing I can (probably) say for certain is [I'll still be] singing and surrounded by family."