I Started With a Carton Shoe: How I Found My Way to Hive

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‎Hello everyone 😊 My name is Emmanuel, but most people on Hive know me as @emmanuel50. I decided to join this contest because I think it is a nice opportunity for us to talk about ourselves again and also tell the story of how we came to Hive.
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‎So let me start from somewhere that may surprise you.
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‎A little about me
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‎I love singing and playing drums. Actually, sometimes I don't even need a real drum before I start playing.
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‎Whenever I hear a song I really love, I just start using my hands to create beats. It has become a normal thing for me. Sometimes when my family members and I are singing together, I will just start creating the beat with my hands and they enjoy it so much.
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‎They even wonder how I am able to create a nice beat without a real drum. My family members really enjoy it whenever I start doing it.
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‎Apart from music, I am a shoemaker. I really enjoy making shoes and trying different designs. Whenever I see a shoe style that I have never made before, I always want to try my best to bring that exact design to life.
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‎But the funny thing is that shoemaking did not start for me the normal way.
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‎The carton shoe that started everything
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‎I started making shoes when I was about 13 years old, in 2020.
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‎One day, I was playing with my friends and everyone was doing different things. Suddenly, I got an idea. I looked for some carton and started drawing the shape of a shoe on it.
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‎At that time, I didn't even know that scissors were used to cut things like that. 😂 I used a sharp object to cut the carton after drawing the shape.
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‎I don't know where the idea came from because I had never watched anyone making shoes before. I just had the idea in my head and decided to try it.
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‎After doing everything, I made a kind of slippers from the carton. The funniest part was that I actually wore it on my leg. 😂
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‎My friends didn't know what I was doing until they saw me wearing the carton shoe. They were surprised and kept asking how I got the idea.
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‎I was so proud of it that I went home wearing the carton shoe while holding my normal shoe in my hand.
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‎When my mother saw me from a distance, she thought I was just carrying a shoe. When I came closer, I showed her what I had made.
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‎She was very surprised that I was the one who made it.
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‎My mother was happy with what she saw and immediately decided that she would take me to learn shoemaking because she didn't want the talent to waste.
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‎The next morning, she took me to a shoemaker around our area and paid what I needed to start learning.
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‎That decision from my mother really helped me.

‎I made this carton shoe recently because I wanted to show what that first idea looked like. The original one I made when I was 13 is no longer with me, but making this one again brought back the memory of where my shoemaking journey started.
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‎Today, I make different types of shoes, and people bring their work to me because they know I always try my best to make the work beautiful and good.
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‎I am still learning and improving because I want to become much better at what I do.
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‎When I look at where I started and where I am now, I am really grateful.
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‎Where I am from
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‎I am from Nigeria. I was born and brought up here, and I really enjoy my country.
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‎There is one funny thing I must talk about. 😂 Nigerians don't joke with food, especially when hunger comes.
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‎There is a popular food here called garri. It is cheap, easy to prepare and you don't need to spend much time making it.
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‎When hunger catches me and I don't have the strength to cook, I can just soak my garri in water, add what I need and start eating.
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‎There was even a time when my friends noticed that I was taking garri regularly. They started calling me “Garri Lord.” 😂
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‎I actually carried that name for some time.
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‎Nigeria has many challenges, but it is still my home and there are many things I love about living here.
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‎How I found Hive
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‎I first heard about Hive in 2024, but honestly, I didn't take it seriously at that time.
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‎I didn't really understand how the platform worked or what people were doing there. I thought it was just another normal platform.
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‎Then one day, a friend was talking to my brother about Hive. He wasn't even talking directly to me, but I heard the conversation and became interested in what they were saying.
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‎I joined the conversation and told him that I was interested.
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‎That was how I eventually met @Ovey, the person who introduced me properly to Hive.
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‎He didn't just help me open an account and leave me there. He taught me how the system works, what to do, what not to do, what Hive accepts and many other things.
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‎He really took his time to teach me, and I am grateful for that.
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‎I joined Hive in October 2025.
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‎My early days on Hive
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‎When I first started posting, I usually didn't get much curation.
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‎Some of my friends joined around the same time as me, and they were getting better curation on their posts. They started asking me if something was wrong with my account.
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‎One of my friends even told me that if he were in my position, he would have stopped because he felt it was a waste of time.
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‎But I didn't stop.
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‎My sister, who is not even on Hive, told me something that stayed with me. She said:
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‎“Consistency is the key.”
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‎That really encouraged me.
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‎After some time, I stopped worrying too much about the rewards. I just wanted to make good posts, share what I could and engage with other people.
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‎Then one day, I made a song presentation on Hive Open Mic. After posting, I went around engaging with other people's posts and replying to comments. Later, I went to sleep.
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‎When I woke up and logged into Hive, I saw that my post had received about 10 Hive in curation.
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‎I was very happy because it was the first time I had received that kind of reward.
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‎I quickly went to show my friends because they had been wondering if something was wrong with my account. 😂
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‎That moment really made me understand what my sister meant when she said consistency is the key.
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‎This is one of those moments from my early Hive journey that I don't want to forget.
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‎People who have helped me on Hive
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‎There are also two people I really want to mention because they have helped and encouraged me during my Hive journey.
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‎The first person is @Jesuslnrs. When I first joined Hive and started posting my music content, he was one of the people who really encouraged me. He gave me good guidance, motivated me to keep going and encouraged me to do better. I am really grateful for all the support he has given me.
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‎The second person is @fieryfootprints. I am really glad that I met him. He has also been a good leader to me and has motivated me to grow more on Hive. I really appreciate him for all the support, guidance and encouragement.
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‎I am grateful that along this journey, I have met people who are willing to support and encourage me to become better.
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‎The time I almost lost my Hive account
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‎There was also a time when I almost gave up on Hive completely.
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‎One day, whenever I tried to log into PeakD, I kept seeing a warning telling me that someone was trying to access my account and that I should change my password.
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‎I saw the warning many times, so I decided to change my password and keys.
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‎I didn't ask anyone for help before doing it. After changing everything, I logged out and tried to log back in with the new keys.
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‎Nothing worked.
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‎I tried again and again, but I couldn't get into my account.
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‎It was at night and everyone was sleeping, but I couldn't sleep because I was worried. I knew that losing my Hive keys could mean losing my account.
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‎I spoke to my friend and he told me about Discord, where I could talk to some people who might help.
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‎That was when I contacted @hivewatchers. He listened to what happened and directed me to @acidyo.
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‎I contacted @acidyo and explained everything from the beginning. He was very understanding and tried to help me with the account recovery.
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‎But even during the recovery process, things were not working with my keys. At one point, I honestly started thinking that I had lost my account.
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‎Then I remembered @ovey10, the person who introduced me to Hive.
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‎I contacted him and explained everything. He told me not to worry and that he would get back to me.
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‎I was still worried because the recovery period was getting close to 30 days.
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‎Then, around the 28th day, ovey10 10 contacted me and asked me to send him my old keys.
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‎After waiting for some time, I got my new keys.
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‎I tried them, and they worked.
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‎Honestly, I was so shocked and happy. I thought I had lost my account, but I was back in.
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‎That experience made me appreciate the people I have met through Hive even more.
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‎What I like about Hive and what I would change
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‎The biggest thing I like about Hive is the people and the opportunity to learn.
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‎Whenever I log into Hive and start using the platform, I sometimes feel like I have entered a different world. I meet people from different places, see different talents, learn new things and also share what I know.
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‎I have met people through music, shoemaking and other communities.
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‎For me, Hive has started feeling like another home.
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‎There are also things I would like to see improve.
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‎One thing that sometimes discourages me is seeing people power down a lot of their Hive Power. I understand that everyone has their own reason for doing it, and I am not saying people should not power down when they need to.
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‎But personally, I believe in building my account for the long term. I have been powering up my rewards for a long time because my goal is to grow my account and become a better Hiver.
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‎I would really love to see more Hive members come together, support each other and stay consistent on the platform.
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‎I believe Hive can become stronger when more people come together and put their energy into growing the platform.
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‎Have I introduced anyone to Hive?
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‎Yes, I have introduced Hive to two of my friends.
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‎One of them became interested after I explained how Hive works. At that time, I had not properly learned how to onboard people myself, so I directed him to the person who introduced me, ovey10. He eventually created his account.
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‎The other friend also became interested while we were talking about Hive, but he later travelled and I lost contact with him, so he didn't get to register.
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‎So, I have not brought many people yet, but I hope I can introduce more people to Hive in the future.
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‎Why I am still here
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‎I joined Hive in October 2025, so I am still relatively new compared to many people here.
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‎But in this short time, Hive has already given me many experiences.
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‎I have learned new things, met people from different places, shared my music, shared my shoemaking work and even had a moment when I thought I had lost my whole account.
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‎I have also learned that sometimes you don't see the result immediately.
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‎My early days taught me that.
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‎I kept posting even when my rewards were small. I kept learning even when I didn't understand everything. And today, I am still here.
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‎That is why I still remember what my sister told me:
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‎“Consistency is the key.”
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‎I don't know where Hive will take me in the future, but I know I want to keep learning, keep creating and keep growing.
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‎And honestly, when I log into Hive now, I don't just feel like I am using another platform.
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‎I feel like I have found a new home. 😊
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‎Thank you for reading my story, and thank you @rozioo for giving us the opportunity to introduce ourselves again.
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