Ayo (which means 'joy') comes from southwest Nigeria but moved to Fidenza in 2004, where she lives with her mother Mariam and father Emmanuel, a mining geologist. Her talent emerged in school competitions, thanks to coach Chittolini. She did not manage to compete in the Italian colours at the 2013 U18 World Championships despite having achieved the minimum qualification in five specialities because her Italian passport arrived a few days after the event. A semi-finalist at the Rio Olympic Games where she set the Italian record with the Italian 4x400 relay team, in 2018 she set the national indoor record for the 4x400 at the World Indoor Championships and ran 55.16 in the 400 hurdles. In 2019, she clocked 52.57 in the 400 in the hall, the best Italian time in 20 years, while outdoors she broke the 55-second wall by winning in 54.75 at the Universiade in Naples, the second Italian ever. A medical student and aspiring paediatrician, she is passionate about fantasy reading, and also studies the Holy Scriptures in the Pentecostal community to which she belongs.