Babalola began her career working as an assistant writer and producer for BBC Comedy, contributing to
The Javone Prince Show and ''
Tracey Ullman's Show. She pitched the Cecile Emeke web series Ackee & Saltfish'', assistant producing the pilot episode. As of August 2020, she was working on a television programme with
Tiger Aspect. She has written for publications such as
Vice,
Vulture,
GQ,
Cosmopolitan, and
Stylist. A television and film columnist for
Dazed, Babalola is a self-professed "
Romcomoisseur". She named
Insecure by
Issa Rae and
Larry Wilmore,
Brown Sugar,
When Harry Met Sally, ''
My Best Friend's Wedding, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Lovesick, and New Girl'' as her favourite romcoms. She praised
Michaela Coel's
I May Destroy You. She called the characters Ashley Banks from
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and the titular character of the series
Moesha, played by Brandy Norwood, important examples of "just dark skin black girls living". On September 10, 2021, the television show she wrote, executive produced and created,
Big Age, premiered on Channel 4. In 2018, Babalola sent a tweet with a photoshopped image of her and Michael B. Jordan, asking Twitter to help find her "holiday romance" as a joke. and was featured on
Entertainment Tonight and
The Steve Harvey Show. Jordan and Babalola later met when he was promoting a film in London. Babalola explained: "At the Q&A at the end, I stood up and said: "Hi, it's me, the love of your life." It was mortifying, but he was so lovely." A Twitter humourist, she has said that Twitter is an important space for building community, especially among Black women. Babalola changed many of the stories to make the female characters more empowered, and to demonstrate consent and love without suffering. She has said that its important to her to write about and for Black women, Fellow writers
Candice Carty-Williams,
David Nicholls, and
Meg Cabot have praised
Love in Colour, with Babalola saying "That's when it felt real... Meg Cabot who I adored growing up, who I still adore, loves the book… That's the moment when it sunk in." The anthology has been translated into Dutch, German and Portuguese (Brazil).
Honey & Spice In August 2020, Babalola began teasing her next novel, "a collegiate rom-com set in an Afro-Caribbean Society in a UK university, where enemies become friends and eventually lovers".
William Morrow and Company acquired the North America rights.
Honey & Spice was published in summer 2022. The sequel to
Honey & Spice,
Sweet Heat, was published in fall 2025. ==Bibliography==