Gloria Oloruntobi, better known as Maraji, has carved out an impressive space in Nigeria’s digital entertainment landscape. What started as a bored university student making lip-sync videos has blossomed into a multi-million naira content creation empire. Today, she’s not just a comedy queen with over 2 million Instagram followers, she’s also a wife and mother of three juggling family life in Ghana. She is also one of Nigeria’s most sought-after female comedians.
Biography
Maraji was born Gloria Oloruntobi on February 6, 1997, in Edo State, Nigeria. She grew up in Lagos alongside her siblings, one sister and two brothers, in a supportive family environment. Her parents kept a relatively low profile, though her father reportedly didn’t know about her skit-making activities in the early days. It’s quite funny how parents are sometimes the last to find out what their kids are up to online.
She attended Covenant University in Ota, Ogun State, where she studied International Relations. Graduating at just 19 years old with a Second Class Upper (2:1) degree shows she wasn’t just playing around in school. After completing her degree she went on to fulfill her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) requirement like every Nigerian graduate.
Her comedy career actually kicked off during her third year’s second-semester break in 2016. Sometimes boredom births brilliance, and that’s exactly what happened with Maraji.
Career
During her university break in 2016, she made a lip-sync video to a Nicki Minaj song just for fun. She was actually too scared to post it herself, worried people would laugh at her. So her friend took matters into her own hands and uploaded it to social media.
That single act of friendship changed everything. The video started gaining traction, but the real breakthrough came when she created a lip-sync to Reekado Banks’ “Sugar Baby.” The artist himself reposted it on Instagram, and suddenly her follower count exploded. Similar reposts from Korede Bello and Skales kept the momentum going, and Maraji found herself with a rapidly growing audience hungry for more content.
She didn’t stop at lip-syncing songs though. Maraji began lip-syncing to popular comedy audio clips, often acting “crazier than the original character,” which her fans absolutely loved. Eventually, she made the strategic pivot that would define her career. She started creating original comedy skits, portraying multiple characters in a single video.
She handles everything herself. From ideation and scripting to filming and editing, Maraji is a one-woman production team. A typical video takes her over two hours to shoot, but the results speak for themselves.
Her early success wasn’t just viral fame. In 2016, she won $5,000 in a lip-sync battle. She also landed lead roles in major music videos, including Falz’s “Something Light” featuring Ycee in 2017 and Yemi Alade’s “Single and Searching” the same year.
Today, Maraji commands an impressive multi-platform presence. Her Instagram account boasts approximately 2 million followers with an average monthly reach of 4.8 million people. On YouTube, she’s built a subscriber base of over 574,000 across 291+ videos, accumulating around 82.94 million total views. Her TikTok following stands at 388,900 with 6.6 million likes, while her Twitter/X account has about 131,500 followers.
Her content resonates particularly well with women, who make up 69.4% of her audience. The largest demographic falls between ages 25-34, which makes sense given her recent focus on motherhood and family-related content.
Maraji has partnered with some seriously impressive brands throughout her career. Her portfolio includes Mastercard, Amazon Prime Video, Coca-Cola, Google, Meta (Facebook), LG TV, Maggi, Nivea, Tecno, Cowrywise, Indomie, and Opay. In 2024, she collaborated with Opay on the #MyOpaySecurityVoteChallenge campaign featuring a ₦1 million prize.
When it comes to pricing, Maraji doesn’t play around. She publicly disclosed her rates as early as 2018, charging between ₦500,000 to ₦1,000,000 per sponsored Instagram post. That’s approximately $300-$625 USD at current exchange rates. For one-minute comedy skits, she charges a minimum of ₦500,000, with premium pricing available for YouTube integrations, TikTok videos, and Instagram Stories.
Her contributions haven’t gone unnoticed. She won the 2017 Future Awards Africa Prize for Online Humor and received multiple nominations including the 2017 and 2018 Future Awards Africa (Prize for Comedy), the 2017 Nigerian Teen Choice Awards (Choice Instagrammer), the 2018 City People Music Awards (Comedy Act of the Year), and the 2018 Nigerian Entertainment Awards (Best Comedy Act Online). YNaija named her among the “100 Most Influential Nigerians In Film in 2019,” while CNN and Christian Science Monitor profiled her in 2020 for breaking into comedy’s traditionally male-dominated space.
Personal Life
Maraji’s love story is the kind of drama that could fuel a Netflix series. She met Joshua Mensah, a Ghanaian mobile filmmaker and CEO of production company Moment Pro, under unusual circumstances. He initially contacted her professionally to record a video of his then-girlfriend. Yes, you read that right. From that awkward beginning, they somehow developed a friendship that evolved into romance.
They dated for two years before things fell apart dramatically in August 2020. Joshua ended the relationship abruptly, reportedly for someone else. On September 11, 2020, a heartbroken Maraji took to Instagram Stories in tears, sharing her pain with her followers: “Recently I was dumped by my ex for no reason. Apparently, he likes someone else. It has been a tough month.”
But here’s where the story takes a turn. The couple reconciled within months, and by 2021, they married in a private ceremony witnessed only by close family members. Following the wedding, Maraji relocated from Lagos to Ghana to join her husband.
In a March 2022 Instagram Q&A, she addressed the situation with her characteristic humor: “This same guy, this same housemate of mine, na em break my heart. I would have given you guys the full story but let’s just move past it.”
Their family has grown rapidly since then. Their first son, Jayden Mensah, was born on April 21, 2022. A second son, Jordan Mensah, arrived on New Year’s Day 2024, prompting Maraji to announce joyfully: “Baby is here, Jan 1, 2024, THANK YOU JESUS.” Most recently, they welcomed their first daughter on September 15, 2025, after Maraji playfully shared her pregnancy announcement in April 2025 with the caption “you dey carry belle every year.”
Life in Ghana with three young children hasn’t been without challenges. In 2024, Maraji and her entire family were involved in a serious car accident while returning from church. Their vehicle was struck from the side, spun multiple times, and ended up in a ditch. Miraculously, no one sustained injuries. She later reflected: “If you have ever been in a car accident, you know it feels like you are in between life and death.”
This near-tragedy prompted a social media hiatus beginning in June 2024. Maraji stepped back to focus on rest and family, though she has continued creating content centered on parenting, pregnancy, African mother stereotypes, and family dynamics. These themes resonate strongly with her predominantly female audience navigating similar life stages.
Net Worth
Estimating Maraji’s net worth range between $240,000 and $250,000.
Her primary income stream comes from Instagram sponsored posts, where she commands those impressive ₦500,000 to ₦1,000,000 rates per post. Brand endorsements add substantially to her earnings, while YouTube provides supplementary income estimated at around $55 to $400 monthly, though this fluctuates based on her posting consistency.
Unlike some of her peers like Taaooma who have launched separate businesses, Maraji’s income relies entirely on content creation and her personal brand. She hasn’t documented any business ventures outside of her comedy work.
What makes her financial success even more impressive is her selective approach to partnerships. She could probably double or triple her income by accepting every brand deal offered, but she’s chosen sustainability and audience trust over quick cash.