When you need a golden-nugget of unfiltered, empowering advice, Adeola Patronne and Mariam Musa are the ultimate hype girls. The best-friend-duo, and hosts of BBC 1XTRA’s “Pressed” podcast, are known for their hilarious, honest, and fearless take on every group chat dilemma. With their unwavering confidence, it makes total sense that they’ve now stepped out of the recording booth and straight into the new Ann Summers’ Glow Time campaign – and their mission is to make us all feel body confident this party season.
“The campaign is all about empowering women, and Adeola and I have our podcast where we are very open and talk about things like sex and relationships, so it’s just really on brand for us. It feels so nice to be a part of it,” Mariam tells POPSUGAR. Wearing an array of ultra glam lingerie sets in black lace and jewel-toned green in the campaign, the pair ooze a confidence that’s not always easy to come by. Yet they have a belief that these major opportunities are meant to be.
“I’m not sure if this is main character syndrome to be like ‘I inspire myself’, but I do think it’s important to believe in yourself and know what you’re capable of doing.”
“It’s several-pinch-me moments. When I was growing up, Ann Summers was one of the first places that I would save up my money and buy for special occasions,” Mariam adds. “My younger self would be screaming – she’d also be like, ‘yes I knew it, I knew you were meant to do this, and this is just the beginning, don’t forget it and just keep going’.”
They both found success on Youtube and now boast a combined following of over two million across all social platforms, Adeola, 29, and Mariam, 28, are proof that if you back yourself, anything can happen. “I love a lot of people’s work like Maya Jama and Amelia Dimoldenberg. I’m not sure if this is main character syndrome to be like ‘I inspire myself’, but I do think it’s important to believe in yourself and know what you’re capable of doing,” says Mariam.
Their positivity is undoubtedly infectious, but that’s not to say they don’t have the odd wobble, too. “There’s been times when I’ve wanted to give up. But at the same time, you can’t let that demotivate you. Don’t let that take away your confidence to try something else,” Adeola says.
With their natural banter and magnetic bond, you’d be forgiven for thinking their friendship goes way back, but really their closeness grew more recently. “We’ve known each other for a while, but the past three years is when we started getting really close and actively started to learn about each other and open up,” Mariam says. “If I’m stressed out I know Adeola will understand and vice versa. We have periods where we will talk every single day for hours and then we have times where we don’t talk for a couple of days and we’ll have a good catch up.”
While an innate sense of confidence is key, surrounding yourself with those who build you up is essential, too. And that’s what the pair have found in each other. “Having someone you can talk to, that understands what you are going through, and makes you feel like ‘ok, I’m not crazy’, makes a difference and it’s why I appreciate Maz [Mariam] a lot,” Adeola tells us.
With social media at the centre of their careers, it’s inevitable they’ve faced negativity on the platforms, but have both found coping mechanisms to help manage it. “I deactivated Twitter [now X] before I went on holiday. Sometimes it’s a lot and I think it’s important to have breaks. Your mental health and what you consume is important, so I’ll block certain words, mute things, and just switch off,” says Mariam. “I’ll put my phone on ‘do not disturb’,” says Adeola.
“[W]hen I do wear a sexy set, I just feel like I can perform. It’s an ego boost and you just feel so sexy.”
While their outlook on life is in sync, so is their style. “We’ll often see each other and we are wearing the exact same thing or something really similar,” Adeola says, who even inspired Mariam with her underwear, too. “Adeola is someone that always matches, as it makes you feel confident every day when you wear something that’s sexy – and you never know what’s going to happen either!” Mariam teases. “I’m usually a thong girl, but when I do wear a sexy set, I just feel like I can perform. It’s an ego boost and you just feel so sexy.”
As they both plan to head home to Nigeria for Christmas and New Year, they’ll be taking their favourite party season lingerie with them. “My favourite is the emerald two-piece corset, I love anything with a suspender belt,” Mariam says. For Adeola, “the Euphoria body with the chain is one of my favourites. It just gives dominance.” Suddenly, we feel the need to up our underwear game . . .
The Ann Summers Glow Time collection is available to shop online and in store with prices ranging from £6 to £60.
