Soni Irabor, the award winning media guru, veteran broadcaster, first class advertiser and his wife, Betty Irabor recently celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary.
Soni Irabor, who grew up in Benin, had his youth in a fairly large family. Few years ago, he said about his youth: “I went to school in Benin and I enjoyed it mainly because I had all my friends and peers. We grew up in a lively environment.
“I come from a fairly large family and we never displayed wealth. This is because we are not from a wealthy family, but I say with all pride that we were not poor either. Even if we did not have money, we were not desperately in need of money…”
Irabor had first worked with the then Nigerian Prison Service before switching to media practice. Talking of his experience in the place, he reportedly said: “I left the place because that was not what I wanted but working there made me see life differently. I appreciated life differently because I saw powerful people reduced to nothing either because of their guilt or they were framed”.
Soni Irabor who have been romancing media, particularly radio and television since 1974, fully got employed in 1977. According to him: “The media had always been part of my life. I ventured into the media because I wanted to be a media person”.
The wife, Betty Irabor is a Nigerian columnist, writer, publisher and founder of Genevieve magazine. She previously had a column in Black & Beauty magazine in the United Kingdom. She also has a foundation that promotes breast cancer awareness, early detection and treatment.
Betty studied English in university and then ventured into journalism. She worked as a journalist at Concord Newspapers, took freelance writing jobs at the Vanguard, The Guardian, This Day as well as Black & Beauty magazine and others abroad. She later ventured into telecommunications.
In 2003 she founded the glossy magazine Genevieve Magazine, which has been described as “Nigeria’s leading inspirational and lifestyle magazine”. It is headquartered in Lekki, with a staff of fourteen. Ten issues are published each year. The magazine website focuses on celebrity news. Irabor is the editor-in-chief and chief executive officer.
In 2018, her memoir “Dust to Dew” was published. In it she chronicles her struggles with depression.
She is also the host and presenter of Life’s Lessons with Betty Irabor through which she speaks with ambassadors who share promotional and modeling shots.
The couple got married on 29th July 1983 and are blessed with two children.