Talk Show Promotes Positivity And Features Creatives Living In Their Purpose

Jewel Ifeguni is the host of “Every Day is a Yay!,” a talk show that highlights creatives and changemakers with Chicago ties. Photo provided by Swank Publishing.
Jewel Ifeguni is the host of “Every Day is a Yay!,” a talk show that highlights creatives and changemakers with Chicago ties. Photo provided by Swank Publishing.

Talk Show Promotes Positivity And Features Creatives Living In Their Purpose

By Tia Carol Jones

Jewel Ifeguni has always been a creative and a hustler. Ifeguni was a product manager and producer in the video game industry. At the same time, she was balancing that work with filmmaking. Her positivity while juggling multiple projects led to her motto “Every Day is a Yay!,” which is also the title of her talk show. Ifeguni likes to say that while every day is not easy, everyday people have the ability to live in their purpose.

“As long as you can find that yay, find that gratitude, that’s how you keep going on this marathon of life,” she said.

Ifeguni would use “yay” at her day job, greeting people with “Happy Mon-Yay.” She really wanted to develop a platform for other creatives who were creating for fun, but also because it was their calling and they are purpose-driven people. With “Every Day is a Yay!,” Ifeguni wanted to bring together multihyphenate creatives. 

“Every Day is a Yay!” started with Ifeguni interviewing people in her apartment in the summer of 2023. Then, the show was picked up by CAN-TV, where it became the No. 1 show in its first season. Each time Ifeguni host an event for Every Day is a Yay it would sell out. She said the reason why the events were so well attended was because the creatives, although they were from different backgrounds, were able to connect around the positivity and gratitude of living a purpose-driven life. Now, the show has begun its fourth season on YouTube.

Prior to the talk show, Ifeguni created You Matter Studios when she was in college because she really wanted to see more representation in media. Studying computer science, she was used to being the only Black girl in the room in tech classes. Her first project with You Matter Studios was a video game that had characters with backgrounds that reflected her world. In 2019, You Matter Studios created a project called “The Drive.” It was a virtual reality film that re-enacted a police stop from three different perspectives. It went on to place in more than eight festivals, and it was the winner for Indie Film Night at France’s 360 Film Festival.

The success of You Matter Studios and “The Drive” set Ifeguni on the path to create “Every Day is a Yay!,” because she wanted to create platforms that included the stories of people from different backgrounds and the conversations that were taking place centered on joy. Ifeguni also created a docuseries that looked at the history of the United States and the idea that the Black community built the foundation of the country and how Black people could remind others of the nuances of that message through meaningful conversations and stories. She said she named her studio You Matter Studios because when people hear that they matter it helps inspire people to ensure they are living in their purpose.

Some of Ifeguni’s first guests for “Every Day is a Yay!” included Marshall Callery, an actor and Hyde Park native; actress, comedian and producer Saloni Nahar; and Dashawna Wright, a Chicago native who is an up-and-coming producer and director, Malcolm Crawford, who has a popular video gaming platform. Ifeguni said Wright was a powerful guest because they talked about the power of mindset, building community and owning your voice. She said those guests were her friends and they happened to also be changemakers. She said she really wanted to amplify Black voices in the video gaming space, like Keisha Howard, Founder and CEO of Sugar Gamers, and a pioneer in Black representation in video games.

Ifeguni said she wants people who watch the show to know that they do have a purpose, their purpose is power, and they deserve to live a full life where they are able to live in their purpose. She also wants people who watch the show to know that positivity is a choice.

“It’s not easy and it’s not delusional, but it’s intentional,” she said. She added that people have to intentionally move from a fear perspective to center their mindset to a gratitude perspective. She quoted a guest on the show, “because behind fear, is everything you’ve asked for.” She hopes that people are inspired to go after their dreams.

“Every Day is a Yay!” is available on YouTube. For more information about Jewel Ifeguni, visit www.jewelifeguni.com.

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