PERFECTLY PAIRED: What happens to balance when an intelligent woman marries a creative Man? Micheal Jeremiah and Yami Ashama Story.
- Sarah Ayodola
- Feb 14
- 7 min read
Micheal and Yami
“PERFECTLY PAIRED” is A Valentine's Day campaign By The Baton to celebrate Love, Romance, and the creator of it all - God.
We commissioned a campaign around three perfect pairs that go well together. Our secondcouple are Micheal and Yami who have been married for a little over a year.
We interviewed Michael and Yami, gleaning insight into their story to understand what being perfectly paired is.
Can you both introduce yourselves and share a bit about what you do?
Micheal: I am Micheal Jeremiah, a designer and thinker. I work with Touri Craft, a brand I started some years ago. Basically what we do is functional art pieces.
Yami: My name is Yamirama Ashirma. I work at CowryWise as a product manager. Imagine you have an orchestra and there is a conductor who organizes everyone to create a harmonious sound, that's how I like to think of my role. If you think of the digital product that you interact with, there is one person who is bringing all the departments together to make that happen, smoothly, and easily to use. So, yeah, that's what I do at Cowrywise.
We are focused on helping people build wealth for the long term and so we make it easy for people to access savings and investment products through their smartphones or any digitally-enabled device. So, yeah, that's me in a nutshell.
As a creative expressionist and craftsman, how has God used your unique gifts to strengthen your love and marriage?
Micheal: There is something I say, she is the intelligent one and I am the creative one. That very fine balance is one of the things that has strengthened our marriage. There are some intelligent decisions I would need to make sometimes, and I know to go to her because she will help me fashion it better. For instance, I needed to work on a survey for a product I needed to launch. I started the survey but I sought her opinion to finish it because I trust her intelligence in such matters.
Today, I was at the market to get wood to be used in our dining set. I called to ask for her opinion and all she just said was, “I trust your judgment on that” because she knows whatever I will create will make so much sense. That's how God has used our strength to foster this union.
Yami: I tend to be more logical, with numbers and structures. And for me, that's how I express creativity. If we want to do something, I always go thinking, 1, 2, 3… what next? What should be in place? what structures can be set, all of that
I will want to dot my Is and cross my Ts. He is the creative one, and we've been able to recognize our differences in strength. Just as he mentioned, there are some things I will typically defer to him to handle, and there are certain things he would defer to me because that would be within my strength.
Romance is often seen as grand gestures but it is also in the little things. What are some simple, everyday ways you keep the spark alive?
Yami: I think we play and goof around. I think something as simple as looking out for moments to play is very important. Like you said it's not just about the grand gestures like going for fine dining at one expensive restaurant or traveling. Those things are good and sometimes should come in but ideally, it can't be done every day so I will say one thing is goofing around.
One other thing we do is watch a show together. That makes us have conversations, laugh, make jokes, converse about what we watched, etc. In fact, this interview is eating into our favorite movie showtime. So, yeah those are some of the little things we do.
Micheal: Oh yeah, I agree with pretty much everything she said. As I mentioned, she is the more structured one. Those are the things we do daily that help keep the spark. We play, just like today, except that I've been the one playing a lot. She's been very serious today. And yeah, watching a show together, and analyzing it together. Just to be able to have such conversations among ourselves to keep the spark in the marriage.
What have been some faith-defining moments in your marriage that made you see God's hand at work?
Micheal: I can give you two. It is interesting you know when they say Love would be tested. I feel like two things have happened and one is a test of my faith and strength. There is a scripture in the Bible that says, “If you fail in the days of adversity, your strength is small". It was earlier last year, two months into our marriage when there was some sort of EFCC case that sprang up from one very old business my wife had opened. Unknown to her, the thing became an issue even after she had handed over everything to her friend. And months after getting married, the issue sprang up. We had to go to Ibadan from Lagos every single week, at least twice but it eventually got to once a week. Having to report to EFCC station in Ibadan every single week was draining. At one point, I told a couple of my friends at the time that all I did was get married because “Wetin concern me with the EFCC matter?”
It got to me but one of the things that helped me that season was the gift of community; having friends around that you are accountable to and also, the gift of fellowship with God. At the time, I had to be the one comforting my wife because she was broken. The whole family was in chaos.
As newlyweds, everybody, our pastors, and friends, were unsettled and it boiled down to what God wanted us to do. Our friendship with the person we handed the business to could have been broken even though He was an amazing person. It was a fraud case and EFCC didn't do their homework properly. My point is that the relationship would have been broken if God had not intervened.
Throughout that season, there was a particular Bible verse we held onto that is Deuteronomy 36:21. That was our anchor scripture throughout that season. It was that verse we held onto that season and gradually, the issue that had lingered for six/seven months fizzled out.
That is one. The other is moving to our new space. However, I would love my wife to talk about that.
Yami: I think for us that was truly God. We had to move because he was to start a workshop. I didn't have to go to work daily so it just made more sense to move closer to where my husband's workshop was going to be. In making that move, we didn't have to stress to find a house but the house had some issues that needed to be resolved and it was going to be a lot of trouble financially, and emotionally but somehow at different intervals, we had God's provision.
I think one time, God doubled my salary in a month. My husband was also getting jobs. There was just God's provision in abundance. There was a time when we said to ourselves that this project would have to pause but that never happened because God truly supplied.
What role has your faith community (starhub) played in shaping your marriage?
Micheal: I think accountability. The fact that there is a community you are accountable to is beautiful. Interestingly, I had known her in church, up until I started seeing her differently. I went to her closest friend and then her mentor who also knows me personally. I mean, that has helped a great deal. The EFCC case I mentioned earlier was solved because of the community we had. The Christian body we were surrounded with has played a great role in shaping our marriage.
Yami: Starhub is the youth dimension of Daystar. One of the things about the church is the provision of counsel, especially for people who are getting married and that was super useful to us. The fact that we could go through the period of counsel and also have serious conversations so we are not taken aback at things we see in the marriage was beautiful. Going through the counsel exercise where we had to talk through our personalities and how we approach matters. Training is one thing the church has provided that will continue to make a difference in shaping our marriage.
If you could describe your marriage in three words, what would they be, and why?
Yami: Let me use the word safe space. I will use that one word. Safe space because of my personality. People don't usually see the emotional part of me because of how structured I am. However, my marriage is that safe space where I can be everything without holding back.
Micheal: I would say adventurous. Because it's been God taking us through an adventure. One where you'll need to lean on him and trust him. One of the things I told God while entering marriage is that I've never done this before, I have no clue, so help me and it's been such an adventure. That was how I finished praying one time and I just said, “Babe, we are moving", and here we are.
What's a scripture that has anchored your love and continues to shape your journey together?
Micheal: I mean there is Deuteronomy 31: 26 because I feel like for each season, there is something for us in the scriptures.
Yami: The second scripture is Romans 8:31-39 which speaks of nothing being able to separate us from the love of Christ.
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