Older, wiser and just as magnetic as the last time she graced our cover, Oti Mabuse opens up about career pivots, mourning her dancer’s metabolism and the chat she had to have with Motsi before her sister joined Strictly
If you thought enjoying her first A/W season in seven years without the notoriously gruelling Strictly Come Dancing training schedule to contend with means our cover star is having a chill one, you’ve not got the measure of the youngest Mabuse sister. We’re chatting on an autumn afternoon and even my innocuous first question – asking after her day – provides an opportunity for the 32-yearold performer turned broadcaster and entrepreneur to lay out a business plan. Before our call, Oti attended her go-to Pilates class and learned her instructor is starting her own studio; now she’s eyeing a collaboration. Oti wants to move her eponymous dance school from its industrial north-west London location to an area with plenty of well-heeled footfall and ultimately evolve it into a wellness destination. ‘I’m thinking a nice lifestyle studio [with] Pilates, yoga, spinning, dance classes…’
It might surprise you to learn that someone who came up on the glitziest, campest, most showbiz of shows in the UK television calendar is currently getting her kicks from leading meetings discussing project timelines and logistics on Teams. But it soon becomes clear that the pivot fits our cover star like a body-con sequin dress. ‘I love being like, “We need a meeting now!”’ she laughs. ‘It also keeps me on my toes because I need to get my things together and be really focused. I’m leading teams and people really want to work, and I’m pushing them and motivating them.’ The change has come about, largely, by necessity. Since Oti’s husband of eight years, Marius Iepure, was appointed director of Dance Sport England in February, the couple have had something of a role reversal, with Marius now the one with the frenetic work schedule. ‘For so long, the focus has been really to support and help my career,’ she explains. ‘I’m really grateful to have a supportive husband and now, for me, it’s time to return that, to support him and help him. He’s going to be travelling all over the world judging, so now I need to take on the [dance] school and the other businesses and head those things up.’ But as Oti’s performance duties have evolved into executive ones, the intensity and passion for her work – along with the unorthodox sleep schedule that made headlines after Oti’s last WH cover interview – remains present and correct. In case you missed it, Oti wakes up in the early hours of the morning, works, and then goes back to bed for a few hours before beginning her day in earnest. ‘I think it’s in my bloodstream now,’ she focused. laughs. ‘But what’s chang
