Waje is the stage name of Aituaje Iruobe, a singer from Nigeria. A few years ago, before her music career took off, she claimed to have worked as a church secretary for N1,000.
The single mother made this statement in the most recent episode of "theTea" with Tay.
Because she felt ashamed about being pregnant at such a young age, she claimed that she was forced to relocate from Benin to Enugu where she now lives with her aunt.
In addition, she claimed that her abilities were acknowledged at the church where she worked.
Her first contract with a record company was made when she was 19 years old.
“I think ‘Do Me’ came out in 2006 or 2007. At the time ‘Do Me’ came out, I was already signed to a record deal five or six years in. I got signed because I remember my daughter was just about one, and I was about 19 at the time.
“So I got signed, and I moved to Enugu. When I had my daughter, the stigmatization and everything, you know, teenage pregnancy and all of that, so I couldn’t live in Benin anymore, so I left Benin and moved to Enugu, to my mum’s sister’s house.
“I now stayed, such an amazing woman, I call her big mummy. I stayed with her; she used to attend a church called Almond Chapel. Because I hadn’t gotten into school yet, I started working as a church secretary.
“So my salary was one thousand naira, and this was the year 2002, and one thousand naira maybe would be five thousand naira today. I needed to be a grown-up. It was a growing church, but I enjoyed it because I used to wear my aunty’s skirt suits.
“I was in the choir, and one Sunday after singing, that was when I met my mentor, Chris Madubuko. So when I met him, he heard when I sang, and he was like, ‘I have a record label, you sing well, and you should be signed.’
“I was like, no, I wasn’t called to be signed. I was called to sing the gospel. Even if it wasn’t gospel, I didn’t want to put my voice on a track. I thought, as far as music was concerned, it was church.
“I was fine with singing from church to church. Then he convinced me, ‘ God gave you such a beautiful gift. You can’t just be there, and you can make money from this gift.’ So I signed with him”, she said.