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Omoshalewa Onayemi is a Tri-qualified lawyer licensed to practice in Alberta, Ontario and Nigeria.

She currently works at a global recruitment firm and handles all the commercial and legal operations of the business Canada-wide.

Apart from being a career woman, she is a serial entrepreneur, a blogger, and an influencer.

She channeled her passion for fashion and food into businesses. She established, @kz_by_shally, a one-stop hub for all things fashion and accessories.  Omoshalewa Onayemi also launched @the_yum_cuisine, a food blogging page where she also sells e-meal plans and e-recipes.

Meet the founder of Naijapreneur Canada
Canadian-based lawyer – Omoshalewa Onayemi T, Founder, Naijapreneur Canada

A mom to 2 princesses, she blogs about all things motherhood from bump to birth and beyond, on her page @mumsaffair_ng

Shally O” as she is fondly called by many, is also a community personality who dedicates her time to promoting and creating visibility for Nigerian businesses in Canada through her platform @naijapreneurcanada.

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Ethiopian members of parliament have elected Sahle-Work Zewde as the country’s first female president, making her Africa’s only female head of state.

(Photo: BBC)

President Sahle-Work, at her swearing-in ceremony, promised to work hard to make gender equality a reality in Ethiopia, and promote peace in the country:

“I urge you all, to uphold our peace, in the name of a mother, who is the first to suffer from the absence of peace.”

She was voted in after the unexpected resignation of her predecessor, Mulatu Teshome. President Sahle-Work has previously served as an ambassador for Ethiopia in Senegal and Djibouti. She has also held a number of UN positions, including head of peace-building in the Central African Republic and, most recently, the UN representative at the African Union.

On Tuesday, October 16, 2018, in Los Angeles, top singer and actress Lady Gaga was honoured as one of Elle’s Women In Hollywood.

Gaga delivered her Women in Hollywood acceptance speech from an extremely vulnerable and honest place. She opened up about her sexual assault, mental illness, and a plea for women to lift up each other’s voices and “beckon the world towards kindness.” “I wanted to take the power back,” she said.

And part of reclaiming that power had to do with what she wore. While promoting A Star Is Born, Gaga has worn dramatic, glamorous, Old Hollywood gowns.

At ELLE’s Women in Hollywood event, she wore an oversized Marc Jacobs suit, her hair in a low bun. For Gaga, it was stripped down.

25th Annual ELLE Women In Hollywood Celebration - Arrivals

Here, an extended excerpt from Gaga’s moving acceptance speech:

“I tried on dress after dress today getting ready for this event, one tight corset after another, one heel after another, a diamond, a feather, thousands of beaded fabrics and the most beautiful silks in the world. To be honest, I felt sick to my stomach. And I asked myself: What does it really mean to be a woman in Hollywood? We are not just objects to entertain the world. We are not simply images to bring smiles or grimaces to people’s faces. We are not members of a giant beauty pageant meant to be pit against one another for the pleasure of the public. We women in Hollywood, we are voices. We have deep thoughts and ideas and beliefs and values about the world and we have the power to speak and be heard and fight back when we are silenced.

So, after trying 10 or so dresses, with a sad feeling in my heart, that all that would matter was what I wore to this red carpet, I saw an oversized Marc Jacobs suit buried quietly in the corner. I put it on to a resounding view of eyes glaring at me in confusion. But the Rodarte was so beautiful! one said. But the Raf Simons for Calvin Klein was so stunning on you! said another. But what about the Brandon Maxwell? What about the Dior? Lots of questions. They were all dresses. This was an oversized men’s suit made for a woman. Not a gown. And then I began to cry. In this suit, I felt like me today. In this suit, I felt the truth of who I am well up in my gut. And then wondering what I wanted to say tonight become very clear to me.

As a sexual assault survivor by someone in the entertainment industry, as a woman who is still not brave enough to say his name, as a woman who lives with chronic pain, as a woman who was conditioned at a very young age to listen to what men told me to do, I decided today I wanted to take the power back. Today I wear the pants.

In an age where I can barely watch the news, I gasped at the unjust men, and some women quite frankly, that I see running this country. I had a revelation that I had to be empowered to be myself today more than ever. To resist the standards of Hollywood, whatever that means. To resist the standards of dressing to impress. To use what really matters: my voice.

After I was assaulted when I was 19 I changed forever. Part of me shut down for many years. I didn’t tell anyone. I avoided it myself. And felt shame even still today standing in front of you. I feel shame for what happened to me. I still have days where I feel like it was my fault. After I shared what happened to me with very powerful men in this industry, nobody helped me. No one offered my guidance or a helping hand to lead me to a place where I felt justice, they didn’t even point me in the direction of the mental health assistance I was in dire need of. Those men hid because they were afraid of losing their power. And because they hid, I began to hide.

I hid for a long time until I started to feel physical pain. Then I had to go to the doctor because I didn’t know what was wrong with me. And then I was diagnosed with PTSD and Fibromyalgia, which many people don’t think is real, and I don’t even know what the fuck to say about that. But I’ll tell you what it is. It’s a syndrome that is essentially a cyclone of stress induced pain. And I really wish my friend Lena Dunham was here tonight because I think she could probably articulate this much better than me. And I hope we can all agree that she’s a remarkable woman.

Depression, anxiety, eating disorders, trauma—these are just a few examples of the forces that can lead to this tornado of pain. So what I would like to say in this room of powerful women and men today is let’s work together to beckon the world towards kindness. I’m fortunate enough now to have the resources to help me. But for many, the resources either don’t exist or people don’t have the ability to pay for or access them. I want to see mental health become a global priority. We’re not able to control all of the challenges and tragedies that life throws our way. But we can work together. This room can work together to heal each other. And we can also try to find the strength in the best way that we can to ask for help if we need it.

It is my personal dream that there would be a mental health expert teacher or therapist in every school in this nation and hopefully one day around the world. Let’s lift our voices. I know we are, but let’s get louder. And not just as women. But as humans. And see that there are great men in the world. And ask them to hold our hands. For justice. That our voices be heard. Whatever our story may be. For an equal standing. We will fight for justice for women and men and those with other sexual identities. For me, this is what it means to be a woman in Hollywood. It means, I have a platform. I have a chance to make a change. I pray we listen and believe and pay closer attention to those around us to those in need….Be a helping hand. Be a force for change”.

Culled from Elle

Hannah is a 29-year old fashion designer who is contributing to girl-child education in Makoko, a floating slum in Lagos.

Hannah is helping the girls build a better future by sharing her skills with them and also engaging the services of her husband who works as an English Language tutor.

Hannah, who is also a teacher and an entrepreneur, makes clothes for people living in Makoko and elsewhere in Nigeria.

Hannah is trying to help women by sharing her skills with them, so they can succeed in business as she did. She speaks to BBC Minute about her work.

Watch below.

Credit: Bella Naija

The fear of getting into a studio was one of the troubles Nicki Minaj had to deal with in an abusive relationship which caused her to lose confidence in herself.

This is captured in her “Queen”documentary which is yet to have a date of release.The rapper dropped two teasers on her IG on Tuesday, both talking about her experiences as a little girl who was exposed to domestic violence and a bad relationship.

In one of the clips, she recalls rushing in to protect her mum from a father who is reportedly abusive.

“I let one human being make me so low that I didn’t even remember who I was. I was scared to get in the studio. I didn’t believe in myself,” 35-year-old Minaj mentions while talking about an abusive relationship

Spending time away from New York helped her handle this challenge. In Miami she recorded ‘Coco Chanel’ and ‘Good Form’ both captured in her August album “Queen”.

Credit: Pulse

Nigerian singer, Omawumi, in a recent interview, opened up about life as a mother and marriage in general.

She said:

“Marriage and motherhood has taught me to be extremely patient; it has taught me to always understand that everybody has their side to a story. It has also taught me to be very understanding towards everybody.

To an extent, it still boils down to patience; you don’t put too much load on people or have too much expectation of people. Always be ready to receive people with love and forgiveness. I think the best way to explain it is that being a parent has made me understand my relationship with God”.

When asked if both has impacted her music career , she said:

“Yes of course. It has really helped and influenced or rather shaped my music and the way I put music out right now. Of course, one has to be extra careful; because you don’t want to pass the wrong message. Motherhood has been a blessing to my music; it has been a blessing to me. It has been a blessing to everything surrounding me”.

Serena Williams is participating in an I Touch Myself Project, which was inspired by late singer Chrissy Amphlett, who passed away from breast cancer in 2013.

Serena Williams posted on Instagram:

This Breast Cancer Awareness Month I’ve recorded a version of The Divinyls global hit ‘I Touch Myself’ to remind women to self-check regularly. Yes, this put me out of my comfort zone, but I wanted to do it because it’s an issue that affects all women of all colors, all around the world. Early detection is key – it saves so many lives. I just hope this helps to remind women of that.

Watch below.

Award-winning Hollywood actress, Meryl Streep in an open letter on journalism, praised journalists across the world for their bravery, while calling on everyone to protect, defend and thank them.

“I applaud and revere our female journalists,” she noted in the letter commissioned by PORTER Magazine for its winter issue.

She mentioned Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia who was killed by a bomb planted in a car for reporting on the Panama Papers.

She also praised Mexican journalist Patricia Mayorga and CNN correspondent Arwa Damon.

The letter read in part:

We need to protect, defend and thank the current crop of journalists around the world because they, their scruples and their principles are the front-line defense of free and informed people.

Journalists today, investigative journalists, and especially female journalists, are vulnerable and come under a special scrutiny online.

They must vouch for their stories, put their names on them, and as a result they attract the cowardly, the bullies, the brotherhood of bots and their easily aroused armies of haters.

We need the brave ones out front picking through the field ahead of us for land mines so we don’t step on one, or elect one.

Bravery is terrifying and actual, bravado is a parade. We see enough examples of Braggadocio and Bravado strutting around on the public stage…but true bravery is Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, blown up in her car for reporting on the Panama Papers….I applaud and revere our female journalists – I love them, and their equally undaunted brothers. We need them now more than ever….

The full letter will be available in PORTER’s next issue which can be gotten HERE.

Photo Credit: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images

 

 

Credit: Bella Naija

17-year-old Mikayla Lowry’s family was having financial difficulties, and the chance of her going to the university was quite slim.

However, all that changed after she attended Beyonce and Jay Z’s On the Run II concert. The young girl was to be the recipient of a scholarship worth over N36million courtesy of the power couple.

The good news was announced by rapper, DJ Khaled, and Mikayla and her friends got to know she was the receiver of the award after the rapper took to describing her.

Khaled described the winner of the scholarship as a future marine biologist and keystone vice president among other things.

The young girl could not contain her excitement and on camera, she said:

“I’m shaking! Thank you so much.’”

Beyonce and Jay Z hope to award up to N362.5 million worth of scholarships in 11 cities through the Shawn Carter Foundation and the BeyGOOD Initiative.

 

 

 

Credit: Naij.com

Fatima Askira is the founder of Borno Women Development Initiative; a Maiduguri-based NGO working with women victims of the Boko Haram insurgency in Internally Displaced Persons camps and host communities in Borno state. In a chat with with Women of Rubies , the 26 year old graduate of Botany speaks about her efforts of alleviating the sufferings of the women, most of whom have lost their husbands

Growing up with a Passion
Actually no. I grew up with an ambition to be a medical doctor, unfortunately, growing up, I find things changing and I start to develop passion through looking at how people live, from their day to day activities especially from the poor perspectives. I really do not have an idea of how or what I want to do with that, but I feel I should do something.

Meet Fatima
Fatima Askira was born and brought up in Maiduguri, I attended my primary education in Maiduguri, Secondary school at F.G.G.C Potiskum, Yobe state and University of Maiduguri, where i studied Biological science, Botany. She single living with her family in Maiduguri. From this little background, you will understand that my childhood didn’t in anyway prepare for the work I am currently doing now. But growing up, life changes its faces and then, one has to make a choice of being who is.

Inspiration Behind Borno Women Development Initiative
Borno Women Development Initiative was inspired by my passion to protect/support women and make them independent. As a result of insurgency, people from surrounding towns and villages of Maiduguri found themselves fleeing from their homes, into the state capital (Maiduguri). My observation at the time was, the majority of the people coming in were women and children, and they come in half covered, because they had to run for their lives. This situation made posed for a second to think of a way I can be of help to these vulnerable women. Then, IDPs mostly lived in an under-resourced camp, before the camps become official. I started to collect clothes from family and friends to donate to some of the displaced women and their children. With the help of a social media campaign, my charity drive took a turn from a small-scale local collection into a national volunteer network which brought about many people reaching out to me to donate clothes, toiletries and food to the internally displaced persons from across Nigeria. As a result of the network I was building, I felt the need to formalize the process, so that people will feel safe, and through the process access wider network of support. Then I started an organization “Borno Women Development Initiative’ (BOWDI).

Rehabilitating the women
Rehabilitation and Reintegration is quite a difficult program to run, especially looking at it critically from challenges of stigmatization and fear in our communities today, but if you hold to your mission, gradually you get to a point where you convince people to accept reality. In some cases, it has been successful as some of the women were reintegrated into camps, and those who are successfully returned back to their communities. But in other cases, some of these women are still being kept safe in isolation, until further arrangements are made for reintegration.

Activities of BOWDI
BOWDI is currently running many projects like; 1. mitigating and preventing Sexual and Gender Based Violence(SGBV) within camps and communities around MMC, Jere, Konduga and Mafa Local Government Areas of Borno State. The consequences of every war has its negative effects on the society, as a result, young girls, boys and women are vulnerable to all acts of violence . Child labour, rape, exploitation, domestic violence and many more are few to mention among many other effects. Therefore, BOWDI felt the need to protect the vulnerable groups through sensitization and educating these groups by conducting interactive sessions focusing on effects and ways to protect themselves from falling victims of abuses, we also provide them with the referral pathways to report all cases and get medical and all forms of support for victims. After every Session, we provide them with basic materials for their immediate needs. 2. BOWDI is running 24 non-formal learning centers in Konduga Local Government Area, under education intervention, providing access to education for children, Adolescent girls and youth. From this particular project, I believe that it is not the people who do not want to go to school, but it is lack of access, or necessary teaching and learning facilities. 3. BOWDI is also economically empowering 833 women with business startups as Small Loan Associations across Mafa LGA.

Funding
Like every organization, BOWDI apply for funds through call for proposals and expression of interest by donor agencies, Previously, when the capacity of the organization was very low, we solicit for donations from individuals, philanthropists, etc. through fund raising activities and distribution of fliers in various communities, within and outside Maiduguri, and with my personal income to sustain the organization.

Award and Recognition
Over the years, the smile on the faces of those I helped had been my greatest reward. Until recently when I was awarded a peace award by the 2face foundation together with couple of other peace workers across Nigeria.

Being a Young Woman from the Northeast
Some of the challenges I have faced through this work was how to start and moving forward, especially being a young woman from the Northeast, it was very difficult for me trying to get people support the process, as most people initially thought it will not work out. I had to prove that determination leads to success by trying and trying harder until I was successful. Another Challenge is in trying to finance some of the organization’s activities at the beginning.

If I have an Audience with the President
If I have an opportunity to ask the President one thing on behalf of these women, I will request on their behalf for a social investment platform created specifically for their benefits, a project that is sustainable which would exist from gov’t to gov’t. Some of these women are young girls that happened to be victims of early marriage, some of them have a bright future, some can be enrolled back to schools, some are business oriented, they can be supported with startups, some have already existing skills, they can be supported with basic equipment for support. Such platform I am requesting on their behalf will serve both as empowerment and a method to prevent violent extremism in our communities, especially now that we have thousands of unaccompanied children, roaming on our streets because their female parents cannot afford to cater for all their needs.

Support from Nigerians
To be honest, Nigerians have been supportive to our people, but to be precise about the women, there haven’t been specificity in looking at their situation. I can say this may have happened because of the overwhelming situation of insurgency in the region, which left everyone in need of support. But, for these women, i personally feel there is need for a special intervention and support from everyone, especially our women representatives both in government and private entities. I was hoping to see a movement from women all over the country standing out to bring smiles and hope to the faces of these broken women. I am still yearning to see such and optimistic that women all over the world would realize the need to assist.

I am a Woman of Rubies Inside Out
I grew up looking at successful women and hoping to be like them somedays, but in a way I define my success as the ability to touch the lives of the less privileged in a way no matter how little, put a smile on a woman’s face. Even though, I am not only inclined to women, BUT I give them a priority because I see them as a backbone of development that are always neglected or sidelined, and therefore, the society suffered from the consequences of leaving them idle. My work to inspire women and build them into independent/resourceful women, and also a role model to most young women makes me a ‘woman of rubies’.

Advice to Women
I would love to close by telling all women around the world that, we all are responsible for our growth, We are responsible in making our societies prosperous and violent free by empowering and supporting each other through our little different ways. Also, we have to form a bond of sharing our innovations and ideas which i believe will help us transform each other and build more on our individual work in our various fields and communities. And lastly, for our elderly women to consider young girl’s contributions and carry them along as we may have great ideas to share.