BIO

Olayemi Olurin is a writer, creator, lawyer, cultural commentator, and filmmaker, and the founder of Olurinatti Media, an independent media company producing original commentary and entertainment across culture, politics, film, television, and the internet.

Born and raised in Nassau, The Bahamas, Olurin is Bahamian-Nigerian and moved to the United States in 2008. She earned her B.A. from Ohio University, graduating cum laude and with departmental honors in Political Science, with a minor in African American Studies and a certificate in Law, Justice & Culture. She completed her undergraduate honors thesis, Colored Bodies Matter: The Relationships Between Our Bodies & Power. Olurin later attended St. John's University School of Law on a full academic scholarship, where she earned her J.D.

Before building Olurinatti Media, Olurin practiced law as a public defender in New York City, representing people who could not afford counsel and becoming a prominent voice on criminal justice, policing, incarceration, and the movement to close Rikers Island.

Olurin's work and commentary have reached national audiences through The Breakfast Club, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, MSNBC, NBC, CBS, NPR, The Hill, iHeartRadio, and numerous other platforms. In 2024, her appearance on The Breakfast Club alongside New York City Mayor Eric Adams became a major cultural and political moment after Olurin forcefully challenged the mayor's rhetoric and record on crime, policing, and public safety. Clips from the exchange generated millions of views across social media and prompted widespread national media coverage and discussion. In the aftermath, The Cut profiled Olurin in a piece memorably titled “The Woman Who Ate the Mayor for Breakfast,” cementing the interview as one of the defining public moments of her career.

Her legal background remains an important part of her perspective and continues to inform her analysis of power, institutions, inequality, and American society, even as her work has expanded far beyond law and politics.

Known for her incisive analysis, humor, curiosity, and willingness to challenge conventional narratives, Olurin has built a substantial independent audience through long-form video essays, cultural criticism, political commentary, interviews, storytelling, and personality-driven entertainment. Her work is distinguished by an ability to move freely between the serious and the seemingly unserious—examining politics and criminal justice with the same intellectual curiosity she brings to film, television, internet culture, media, technology, and the forces shaping contemporary American life.

At the center of Olurin's work is Olurinatti Media and its expanding network of original programming, known collectively as the Olurinattiverse. Its flagship, Olurinatti, is home to Olurinatti Productions, Olurin's signature long-form video essays and documentary-style works exploring culture, politics, media, technology, identity, and American life. Some of her major works include If Pretty Is a Privilege, Ugly Is a Curse, How “This Didn't Age Well” Destroyed Media Literacy, How Men Become Aziz Ansari, and Why Serial Killers Aren't “Monsters.” Together, these Olurinatti Productions reflect the central project of Olurinatti: using ambitious long-form storytelling and analysis not simply to comment on contemporary culture, but to develop original arguments, concepts, and frameworks for understanding it.

Beyond its flagship, the Olurinattiverse spans an unusually broad range of programming. As the second-largest channel in the network, OlurinattiPOP is the Olurinattiverse's home for film and television criticism, combining cultural analysis, character studies, retrospectives, and Olurin's distinctly opinionated approach to the movies and shows that shape popular culture. Rather than traditional reviews, the channel uses entertainment as a jumping-off point for larger conversations about culture, politics, relationships, gender, morality, and the ideas embedded—intentionally or otherwise—in the stories audiences love.

Olay & Chill is the Olurinattiverse's more laid-back, personality-driven home for internet chaos, bizarre stories, scandals, online rabbit holes, and whatever else has captured Olurin's attention. Less formal than an Olurinatti Production and driven by Olurin's humor, curiosity, and conversational storytelling, the channel turns the internet's strangest people, controversies, subcultures, and moments into entertaining long-form discussions that feel as much like hanging out with Olay as they do diving into a story. OlurinattiBITES is home to Olurin's more immediate and conversational takes on the stories, controversies, and cultural moments she can't stop thinking about; while OlurinattiEXTRAS extends the network into music and album criticism.

OlurinattiPOLITICS is home to Olurin’s Political show Osquared, which brings together political thinkers, writers, organizers, experts, and commentators for substantive conversations about the issues shaping public life. Among its notable conversations, Zohran Mamdani appeared on the show for an in-depth interview during his campaign for New York City mayor, before ultimately securing Olurin's endorsement, reflecting the show's role as a space where consequential political figures and ideas can be examined seriously without sacrificing the independence of its host.

The Olurinattiverse also includes Olurin's collaborative programming. Olay & Friends was a culturally resonant Black roundtable series known for bringing together some of the smartest, funniest, and most compelling Black thinkers, creators, commentators, and cultural voices for nuanced and deeply entertaining conversations. Hosted by Olurin alongside a rotating group of guests and recurring personalities, the show created space for the kinds of expansive, candid discussions that rarely fit neatly within traditional media—moving freely between politics, culture, relationships, identity, race, sex, media, and the realities of everyday life.

Olay & Kennie, created with Kennie J.D., pairs two longtime friends and commentators for conversations shaped by their chemistry, humor, and perspectives on culture and life. Together, these projects have transformed Olurinatti from a single creator platform into a growing independent media operation spanning political analysis, cultural criticism, entertainment, storytelling, conversation, and original programming—all anchored by Olurin's distinctive voice and point of view.

Outside of her work, Olurin lives with her husband, CJ, and their four beloved pets: Raheem, Assata, Cleofus, and Dennis.