At its 318th graduation ceremony, Yale University presented honorary degreesto 11 individuals who have achieved distinction in their fields. Among them is Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Zimbabwean entrepreneur and philanthropist Strive Masiyiwa.
Chimamanda was conferred a Doctor of Letters degree from the university, while Strive received a Doctor of Humane Letters degree.
This is Chimamanda’s second degree from the university. In 2008, she received a Master of Arts degree in African studies from Yale.
The degree from Yale is coming days after Chimamanda got two Doctor of Humane Letters honorary degrees from American University and Georgetown University.
Your stories of war, migration, home, and heartbreak bring the great richness and multiplicity of human experience to life. With courage and clarity, you call us to “do better” for women and girls, for ourselves and future generations around the globe.
In appreciation for your superb talent and leadership in literature and the public sphere, we are honored to present your second Yale degree, Doctor of Letters.
You see opportunities others miss and demonstrate the courage of your convictions at every turn. Brave visionary, bold business leader, and devoted humanitarian, your innovation and generosity have transformed a continent and improved countless lives.
For inspiring us to tackle great challenges, lead with honor, and serve others, Yale is privileged to confer on you this Doctor of Humane Letters degree.
In 2009, Nelly Tuikong was a nurse in America but there was something tugging at her heart about makeup for the African woman.
Her entrepreneurial instincts kicked in after looking around stores for makeup that suited her African skin and didn’t find any.
With no prior knowledge in manufacturing makeup, but armed with a passion, Nelly started her journey that birthed Pauline Cosmetics (named after her mother) after three years of learning, research, and trials.
Nelly Tuikong
Pauline Cosmetics is a makeup brand that designs, develops and manufactures makeup products with the African woman in mind.
The brand has now grown to become an established makeup brand with a line of lipstick, lip-gloss, eye shadow, and mascara.
Enter Caroline Mutoko, a celebrated renowned media personality, a woman of her own caliber.
With more than 20 years of experience in the media, her name speaks for her in the Kenyan entertainment industry. Caroline Mutoko also has a YouTube channel where she takes the spotlight that is on her and shines it on you.
In 2017, she was featuring Kenyan women who were making strides and shattering glass ceilings on her YouTube channel. One of these women happened to be Nelly Tuikong of Pauline Cosmetics.
In November 2018, Caroline Mutoko challenged Nelly to work with her to come up with a lipstick line for all the women who are ‘becoming, women in different spaces and phases of their lives and for every woman in you. This brought about the I AM limited edition lipstick.
Caroline Mutoko
To add more synergy to this powerful collaboration, these two amazing women, Pauline, and Caroline Mutoko, didn’t just stop there.
They collaborated with Wandia Gichuru of Vivo Woman to distribute the limited edition lipstick in 8 of the Vivo Woman stores in Nairobi. Wandia Gichuru has rewritten the narrative of modern day fashion.
She founded Vivo active wear in 2011 to offer comfortable casual wear for the sporty woman and official clothing for the professional woman.
Wandia Gichuru
Here are the 5 things I have learned from the partnership of these three glamorous women.
1. Collaborate instead of compete
An African proverb says “If you want to go fast if you want to go far, go together”.
Nothing is better than working with other women who get your perspective and challenges you face as a woman in business.
2. Have a defined purpose and vision
When you have every partner pulling in different directions, there is bound to be no progress. To collaborate, you need to have a clear and shared vision and an agreed direction on how to achieve it.
3. Bring a unique value
Each partner should bring a differentiating factor into the equation. This helps to ensure that you do not view each other as competition.
4. Have mutual benefits
The partnership should be beneficial to all partners. This removes the perception that one person is bearing a bigger load than the other.
5. There is room for more than one queen
There is no winner takes all award in entrepreneurship. As women, we need to get over this attitude and view women as a community to help each other grow and not competition.
“My advice to girls is always this: Be supportive of each other. I can’t say this enough. We have to be our best friends, each other. That means we cannot be catty, we cannot compete and see one person’s failure as our success.
We can all rise together, we can all win!
We’re sometimes taught in our societies that we have to compete and we have to hold each other back in order for one of us to succeed.
That is not true. We need each other.
And all over the world, we have to be a team of women and girls who love each other and value each other and cherish one another.
Because if we don’t cherish each other, no one else will,” – Michelle Obama
A Nigerian woman, identified as Patience Ifediora has made history in Nottingham, United Kingdom.
Ifediora emerged as the first female of African heritage to become a Sheriff in the United Kingdom. She was a councilor of Aspley police station before she became the Sheriff of Nottingham.
Dr. Olusegun Oluwole shared her story on Twitter on Tuesday morning saying:
“History made today in #Nottingham, UK. As Patience Ifediora, Councillor of #Aspley emerges as the first female Sheriff of Nottingham of African heritage. Congrats Ma’am,” he said.
The first woman to read the news on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), has died at the age of 93.
The broadcaster, Nancy ‘Nan Winton’ Wigginton, was taken to the hospital on May 8 following a fall at her home in Bridport, Dorset. Her condition worsened and she passed away at Dorchester County Hospital on Saturday, May 11.
An inquest into her death was opened and closed at the coroner’s court in Bournemouth on Thursday.
Winton who started reading the 6pm news in 1960 also read the weekly news bulletins on a Sunday evening.
She also worked as a BBC TV continuity announcer and her other work included Panorama and Town and Around, a nightly magazine show.
After stepping down from reading the news, Winton remained a television and news reporter. She was also a regular panelist on the radio panel game show Treble Chance.
According to Dailymail, on the day Winton was taken to hospital, aged 93, it was found she had fractured her femur. Surgery was carried out the next day. She later suffered failure of the heart, respiratory system and kidneys. She was taken to critical care, but died in the ward.
A cause of death was given as congestive heart failure, hypertension and frailty of old age.
A full inquest is scheduled to take place on January 29 next year.
In a new episode of Red Table Talk, Jada Pinkett Smith opens up about her past addiction to porn, at a point in her life when she was trying to practice abstinence.
The 47-year-old actress explained:
I wasn’t in a relationship when I had a porn addiction, believe it or not, thank goodness…I actually feel like I was using ‘addiction’ a little lightly. And maybe I’ll say now that I had an unhealthy relationship to porn at one point in my life where I was trying to practice abstinence. It was actually like filling an emptiness, at least you think it is…It gives you false expectations as far as sexual interaction. I can definitely see with men: how a woman should always be willing and ready, he should be able to have sex however he wants anywhere and any position, anywhere, and you should enjoy it no matter what.
While talking to her daughter Willow and mother Adrienne, Jada also went on to discuss the detrimental effects of porn on a person’s career and personal relationships.
The 24-year-old came on in the 87th minute of the game, when her team was suffering a 4-0 loss to Lyon. She put a smile on the faces of the fans by scoring just two minutes after entering the pitch, delivering the only goal for her team.
Although her efforts weren’t enough to win her side the trophy, that goal made her the first Barcelona player to score in the Women’s Champions League final. Even without that goal, she had already made history as the first Nigerian to play in the final.
Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie served as a speaker and honorary degree recipient for the 2019 Georgetown College Commencement ceremonies this weekend, on May 18.
After speaking at the commencement ceremony, Chimamanda received the doctor of humane letters, honoris causa degree.
She also holds the same degree from Johns Hopkins, Haverford College, the University of Edinburgh, and Amherst College.
Georgetown College Dean, Chris Celenza, says:
“We are so proud to have Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie join us for the 2019 College Commencement. Her fiction and non-fiction works have spoken to countless people about the value, the power, and the meaningfulness of differences. In doing so, she has taught us all about the full dimensions of humanity.”
Nigerian woman identified as Oluwatobi Al-Bakare has become a Second Lieutenant of the United States Army. The woman was commissioned on Thursday, May 16.
Her success story was shared on Twitter by her husband, Olatunde Bakare. Olatunde Bakare had taken to Twitter to celebrate his beautiful wife for her accomplishment at the United States Army.
The husband shared photos of his wife dressed in her official army uniform as she gets commissioned at the student center ballroom A in Bowie State University in George’s County, Maryland. The woman was celebrated by her husband who showed her off on social media.
The spring 2019 commissioning ceremony had taken place around 1:00pm. Bakare celebrated his wife and congratulated her in his tweet.
He said: “My amazing wife @TobyAlmaroof will be commissioning today as a Second Lieutenant of the United States Army. Couldn’t be prouder of her accomplishments. Congratulations baby girl.”
The ability to work effectively with others on a task
involves learning to listen well, respecting the opinions of others,
communicating effectively and embracing each other’s strength to accomplish a
goal.
The ability to work effectively with others on a task
involves learning to listen well, respecting the opinions of others,
communicating effectively and embracing each other’s strength to accomplish a
goal.
So you just got a new job and you’re wondering what to do to
be successful on the job? This article seeks to address necessary skills you
would need to be successful on a job regardless of the level of your role.
Ability to handle
pressure
If you work in a fast paced environment, you’re most likely
to work under extreme pressure. This means having to deal with constraints out
of your control. Unexpected events or problems are bound to come up in the
workplace, you should learn how to work well in these circumstances, so you
don’t panic or lose sight of the job.
Collaboration/Team
work
Most workplace environment involves relating to different
kinds of people. The ability to work effectively with others on a task involves
learning to listen well, respecting the opinions of others, communicating
effectively and embracing each other’s strength to accomplish a goal.
Self-Management/Motivation
The ability to manage yourself to accomplish the required
task is important for success on the role. No manager would like to manage
someone that would need frequent hand holding. You need to take the initiative
and be accountable for every success or failure. In a workplace where most employees are
dissatisfied for various reasons which tend to affect productivity,
self-motivation is an important skill to develop which gives you the strength
to perform exceptionally.
Flexibility
The workplace is constantly changing and only people who are
flexible enough to the changes will thrive. You have to be willing and able to
adapt in order to meet individual and business needs.
Ability to accept
criticism
Nobody is totally perfect, so there would be instances were
colleagues and bosses would be direct with you and tell you as it is. Some may
be emotionally intelligent to make it constructive while some may not be. Learn
to take corrections and avoid justifying or making excuses. Learn from the
mistakes and move on. Don’t weep over spilled milk.
Emotional
intelligence
Fundamental aspects of emotional intelligence include
empathy, self-awareness, social skills, self-regulation and motivation. Being
emotionally intelligent helps you to understand your emotions, manage your
emotions as well as manage other emotions.
Time management
This is an important skill to have, especially when there
are numerous tasks within a limited time frame. One thing that has helped me is
having a To-Do list. This helps me ensure that I am deliberate in all my
activities. Google Calendar is a lifesaver, but most people think it’s too much
stress to use it.
Every morning, I write down my tasks, set a timeline for
myself, fix some on my calendar, leave some allowance for distractions and
stick with it.
Also, learn to say no to things. Learn to prioritize; and
most importantly, avoid unnecessary distractions that eat into your time.
Problem solving
Problems will definitely arise in the workplace and you were employed to solve a problem if not, you won’t be hired. For me, a star employee is someone that sees a solution in every problem. Have the mindset that nothing is impossible and work towards it. If you’re the kind of person that always goes back to their boss for issues when they arise, you may have a problem. Go with possible solutions and steps you have taken to address an issue.
