Career Gems Archives

In Career Gems October 12, 2018 By Women of Rubies

EX BBNAIJA HOUSEMATE, BAMBAM BECOMES BRAND AMBASSADOR OF NIGERIA’S FIRST WRISTWATCH BRAND

Ex Big Brother Star, Bamike Olawunmi, popularly known as “Bambam”, has become the brand ambassador for Nigeria’s first wristwatch brand, Micserah.

Nigeria’s pioneer premium wristwatch brand Micserah has announced their new relationship with the fast-rising actress as she sets to represent the brand globally.

The news was announced by Adekunle Adeniji, Micserah, the founder and CEO who said:

“We’re thrilled to welcome Reality TV star Bambam to the Micserah family; she is the perfect fit for the brand, as she has proved to being an iconic pacesetter in her field. The Bambam watch collection is an exciting moment as the brand rapidly grows and enters new markets across Africa”.

Celebrating Bambam’s new endorsement, the brand will release A 300 piece of limited edition watch collection “Bambam Luna” which is inspired by the Luna concept of the goddess of the moon, a leader and a bright light resonating with Bambam’s personality.

The watch is packed full of Bambam-specific details from strap color variants, case dials, faces and an iconic print of Bambam’s signature on the watch back making this the first of its kind.

In Career Gems October 12, 2018 By Women of Rubies

WAKANDA FOREVER: LUPITA NYONG’O, DANAI GURIRA, AND ANGELA BASSETT COVER THE LATEST ISSUE OF ELLE MAGAZINE

On the cover of Elle USA November issue, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, and Angela Bassett are part of the eleven honorees of 2018 as the magazine marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of Women in Hollywood.

These black women all played important roles in the hit movie, Black Panther.

Danai Gurira displayed strength in her character in the movie and as Clover Hope Of Elle interviews the trio, Danai speaks on their role in the blockbuster.

Read excerpts from the interview below.

Angela on black female representation in Black Panther:

The women were integral to the storytelling and the wisdom that the main character possessed. It was really important in terms of the representation of black feminine strength.

Danai on her wig-snatching scene:

I loved doing that, from the minute she’s wearing that wig and complaining about it, to the minute she gets rid of it very pragmatically. That spoke to so many things about feminine aesthetics.

Lupita on relating to her character:

Nakia was a departure from the character you see in the comic books. She is an independent woman and a bit of a rebel but also a loyalist to her country. I am also someone who depends on my family and friends and feels a connection to my people, and maybe has a sense of responsibility to make them proud. So I really related to that balancing act within oneself.

Photo Credit: Elle

In Career Gems October 11, 2018 By Women of Rubies

INSTAGRAM INTRODUCES NEW FEATURES TO DETECT BULLYING IN PHOTOS

You may remember that last June, the social media platform introduced advanced comment filters intended to wipe out hurtful remarks. Instead of just filtering out words and phrases that are seen as offensive, Instagram uses machine learning to take context into account, both helping to erase more offensive comments while flagging fewer false positives.

Now, that technology is expanding, just in time for October’s National Bullying Prevention Month. Here’s a rundown of the new features:

Detecting bullying in photos

Instagram will now apply that advanced machine learning to photos and captions so its Community Operations team can more “proactively detect bullying,” Instagram head Adam Mosseri said in a release. He also expressed concern for protecting the platform’s youngest users, since teens experience higher rates of bullying online than others. (A 2017 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that 14.9% of high school students were electronically bullied in the 12 months prior to their survey.)

This new feature is rolling out to all users in the coming weeks.

Bullying comment filter on Live videos

The advanced comment filtering techniques mentioned above, which previously were only used to hide bullying comments in your feed, profile page, and Explore tab, are now globally available on Instagram Live as well.

(INSTAGRAM)

Kindness camera effect

If you’ve played around on Instagram Stories recently, you’ve probably found yourself LOLing to a funny face filter-and now you can share the good vibes with all your friends. Instagram partnered with Dance Moms phenom Maddie Ziegler to launch a new camera effect all about spreading kindness.

In selfie mode, you’ll see hearts filling up your screen, and you’ll then be encouraged to tag a friend to show them some love. Your friend will be notified, and they can share it to their own story or spread the kindness to someone else. When you switch camera views, you’ll get an overlay of kind comments in languages from all over the world. (If you follow @maddieziegler, you should have the camera effect automatically. If you aren’t a follower but you see someone else using the effect, tap “try it” to add it to your camera.)

Credit: Pulse

In Career Gems October 11, 2018 By Women of Rubies

FG ANNOUNCES NEW MINIMUM WAGE AS N24,000

The Federal Government has revealed that the proposed minimum wage for the civil servants is ₦24,000.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, stated this on Monday while speaking with newsmen in the State House, Premium Times reports.
Ngige shared that the Federal Government has proposed to pay its workers ₦24,000, while states will pay ₦20,000.

The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) are willing to go as low as ₦30,000, he revealed, while the organized private sector came down to ₦25,000.
The deliberation on setting a new minimum wage started in 2017 after President Muhammadu Buhari approved a committee to negotiate.

In Career Gems October 10, 2018 By Women of Rubies

GENEVIEVE NNAJI SIGNS REPRESENTATION DEAL WITH AGENCY REPRESENTING ANGELINA JOLIE AND JOHNNY DEPP

The Nigerian star actress signed the deal with UTA for representation in film, TV, and production recently, Deadline reports.

The agency also represents Gwyneth Paltrow, Channing Tatum, Nicholas Hoult, Ewan McGregor, Kim Soo Hyun and Liv Tyler.

The move, it is been rumoured, will see Genevieve getting more movie roles in Hollywood.

The deal, it is also been suspected, will see the actress collaborating with top Hollywood filmmakers to produce movies from African and Nigerian stories.

UTA is one of the biggest talent agencies in the world that represents many of the world’s most acclaimed figures in every current and emerging area of entertainment and media, including motion pictures, television, music, digital, broadcast news, books, theatre, video games, fine art and live entertainment.

The agency is also globally recognized in the areas of film finance, film packaging, branding, licensing, endorsements and representation of production talent.

In Career Gems October 10, 2018 By Women of Rubies

“WOMEN ARE STILL INVISIBLE. THEIR STORIES ARE STILL REALLY NOT HEARD” -CHIMAMANDA ADICHIE

“All over the world today women are speaking up. Their stories are still not really heard,” Adichie said at the opening of the world’s biggest publishing event.

“Women are still invisible. Women’s experiences are still invisible.”

A year after the #MeToo movement went viral and sparked up a global discussion about sexual harassment, Adichie said there was much work left to be done.

“It is time for us to pay more than lip service to the fact that women’s stories are for everyone,”

“We know from studies that women read books by men and women. But men read books by men. It is time for men to read women.”

In a thinly veiled reference to US judge Brett Kavanaugh’s controversial confirmation to the Supreme Court despite accusations of sexual misconduct, Adichie slammed the tendency not to believe victims of such assaults.

“We seem to live in a world where many people believe large numbers of women can simply wake up one day and make up stories about having been assaulted,” Adichie said.

“I know many women who want to be famous. I don’t know one single woman who wants to be famous for having been assaulted.”

Adichie, who divides her time between the United States and Nigeria, said now was an “urgent” moment to stand up for what is right — particularly in President Donald Trump’s America.

“The world is shifting, it’s changing. It’s darkening,” the 41-year-old said.

“The most powerful country in the world today feels like a feudal court, full of intrigues feeding on mendacity, drowning in its own hubris.

“We must know what is true. We must say what is true. And we must call a lie a lie.”

In Career Gems October 9, 2018 By Women of Rubies

#METOO: INDIA JOINS THE MOVEMENT AS BOLLYWOOD ACTRESS, TANUSHREE DUTTA SPEAKS UP

She spoke out at the time but she was not given any attention. The global #MeToo phenomenon encouraged her to go public again and on Saturday, October 6, 2018, to file a police complaint against Patekar, who issued a denial.

Dutta also alleged that filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri behaved inappropriately towards her while shooting a 2005 movie. Agnihotri’s lawyer denied the “frivolous” claims.

Dutta said she has received threats but she has also won support from several high-profile stars, while other actresses have now started to speak out about Bollywood’s darker side.

» moreNearly 40,000 rape cases were reported in India in 2016, but activists say this is just the tip of the iceberg (AFP/File)

Over the weekend a HuffPost India report published accusations against director Vikas Bahl, one of the four founders of Phantom Films, the edgy production house behind Netflix’s first original Indian series, “Sacred Games”.

A crew member, who is not named, said Bahl insisted on escorting her to her hotel in 2015 and pretended to pass out drunk on her bed, only to awaken and masturbate on her later, HuffPost reported.

Kangana Ranaut, an actress who worked with Bahl on “Queen”, his 2014 hit film touching on female empowerment, came out and said that the director would “bury his face in my neck and hold me really tight”.

“It took me a great amount of strength and effort to pull myself out of his embrace,” she told the India Today news channel.

On Friday, Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane, two fellow Phantom Films founders, announced on Twitter that they were dissolving the production company.

Kashyap released a further statement over the weekend saying they had not acted earlier because the alleged victim had not wanted to speak out until now.

“Now in hindsight and after taking stock of things myself, I can quite see how I was ill-advised,” Kashyap said.

He added that the company had disciplined Bahl internally by suspending him and barring him from their premises.

Bahl has yet to comment publicly on the allegations.

Stories of bad behaviour are also now emerging about men in other sectors.

A Mumbai comedian, Utsav Chakraborty, last week found himself at the centre of a Twitter storm accusing him of sending lewd messages to women and young girls such as requesting topless photos.

After an initial dismissal, Chakraborty, who now faces a possible police investigation, tweeted that he has “been the exact monster I’ve been trying to fight all my life”.

» moreA woman shared screen shots of WhatsApp conversations between her and Chetan Bhagat, one of India’s top-selling authors, in which he propositions her and ignores her objections that he is married (AFP/File)

Another woman shared screen shots of WhatsApp conversations between her and Chetan Bhagat, one of India’s top-selling authors, in which he propositions her and ignores her objections that he is married.

Bhagat confirmed the veracity of the screen shots and said in a long Facebook post that he was “really sorry to the person concerned” — while also apologising to his wife.

Meanwhile The Wire, an online news site, ran an article it said reveals the “dark underbelly” of the Indian media, quoting accusations against at least three newspaper editors.

Credit: Pulse

In Career Gems October 9, 2018 By Women of Rubies

NIGERIA’S BOBSLED AND SKELETON TEAM NOW HAVE TWO NEW ATHLETES

The Nigeria Bobsled and Skeleton Federation (NBSF) now has two new athletes, Linda Okoro and April Young.

In Nigeria’s Winter Olympics debut at PyeongChang 2018, the country was represented in bobsled by the trio of Seun Adigun, Ngozi Onwumere and Akuoma Omeoga. It’s not clear which of these athletes will be making a comeback at Beijing 2022, but Okoro will pilot the team as a driver.

The Houston-based athlete has been a part of NBSF for a couple of months now. Having successfully trained in a bobsled driving school in New York, she looks ready to build on the achievements of the first team and possibly break new ground.

Once Beijing 2022 kicks off, Simidele Adeagbo won’t be slaying alone in the skeleton competition. Young will be joining her as Nigeria’s second representative in the sport. Based in Denver, she has already joined NBSF’s pre-season camp and is warming up for the games.

Credit: Konbini

In Career Gems October 8, 2018 By Women of Rubies

JANELLE MONAE TO STAR IN NEW DISNEY’S LIVE-ACTION ADAPTATION, ‘LADY AND THE TRAMP’

In the last few months, American singer and songwriter, Janelle Monae has been cast in no less that three screenplays. Most recent of all is her new role in new Disney‘s live-action adaptation Lady and the Tramp.

According to Chicago Tribune, Monae will voice the character Peg, one of the dogs Lady meets when she is taken to the pound.

Lady and the Tramp tells the tale of an American Cocker Spaniel named Lady who becomes separated from her upper-middle-class family. The movie follows the journey of Lady finding love and more.

Janelle Monae will also appear in the Harriet Tubman biopic UglyDolls animated movie, and Welcome to Marwen.

Credit: BN

In Career Gems October 8, 2018 By Women of Rubies

NIGERIAN STARTUP, BABYMIGO NAMED ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE’S 50 GENIUS COMPANIES OF 2018

A Nigerian startup, BabyMigo, founded by Adeloye Olanrewaju, has been named as one of Time Magazine’s 50 Genius Companies.

Babymigo was specifically selected for creating and being a community for new and expectant mothers.

(Photo: Babymigo)

Babymigo is an online community that connects mothers-to-be with information, medical experts, services and other parents. The platform is also equipped with an SMS subscription service for pregnant women that informs them of prenatal appointments and their babies’ development.

Since inception, the response has been huge, and the Babymigo team has since tapped into a massive, unmet demand for Africa-centric pregnancy, birth and baby information. The app has been downloaded over 30,000 times and its mobile-friendly website has over 90,000 registered users.