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Career Gems

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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 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

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.

(Photo: Babymigo)

Adeloye says:

“There are 10.4 million babies born every year in Nigeria, and every one of those mothers is hungry for the kind of information we provide.”

Earlier this year, the company was one of the inaugural set of African startups to go through the Google’s Africa Launchpad Accelerator program, which afforded a $10,000 grant — just one of the company’s many well-deserved achievements.

On September 27th, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie received the Special Distinction for Thought Leadership Award during the 2018 Annual Awards Dinner of the Global Hope Coalition in New York City.

The Global Hope Coalition is a network of four nonprofit foundations in the United States, Europe, Asia and Africa dedicated to identifying heroes against violent extremism and amplifying their work.

Taking place on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly’s 73rd session, the event paid tribute to several presidents and prime ministers for their “compassionate and dignified response” to the Syrian and Rohingya refugee crises.

See photos of Chimamanda at the event below.

Credit: Bella Naija

Nollywood actress and film maker Omotola Jalade Ekeinde has been unveiled as one of the Most Influential 100 People of African Descent.

She was honored in New York City, following the opening of the 73rd UN General Assembly.

Omotola made the announcement on her social media saying,

“Honoured to be one of the Most Influential 100 People of African Descent at the United Nations by @mipad100“.

Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD) award distinguishes excellence in people of African descent from over 50 countries worldwide in support of the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent (IDPAD) 2015 – 2024.

The Nobel Prize for Physics has been awarded to a woman for the first time in 55 years, just a day after a scientist at Cern was suspended for claiming the discipline was ‘built by men.’

Prof Donna Strickland was one of three who will share the prize, the first female to achieve the accolade since Maria Goeppert-Mayer in 1963 and only the third woman in history. The first being Marie Curie.

“We need to celebrate women physicists because we’re out there, and hopefully in time it’ll start to move forward at a faster rate,” she said on a phone call to the press conference.

“I’m honoured to be one of those women.”

The announcement that a woman had been awarded the prize for physics comes just a day after Italian scientist Professor Alessandro Strumia was suspended by Cern  for saying that “physics was invented and built by men” in a talk.

Commenting on the announcement, Jim Al-Khalili, the president of the British Science Association, said: “It is quite shocking to know that she is only the third woman to win a Physics Nobel, ever.

“It is also quite delicious that this comes just a few days after certain controversial and misogynistic comments made at a conference at CERN about women in physics.”

Prof Strickland was honored alongside Dr Gerard Mourou of France, for their work in creating the shortest and most intense laser pulses ever created by mankind, which are now used in laser eye surgery to restore vision for millions of people.

The prize was also awarded to Arthur Ashkin, 96, for his invention of “optical tweezers” that grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells with their laser beam fingers.

 

Credit: telegraph.co.uk

Photo credit: CTV News

In August 2017, Gabrielle Union designed a collection for New York & Company. Gabrielle wanted to create pieces that were relatively affordable and also accessible to most people and the collection featured pieces that depicted Gabrielle’s personal style.

She has taken to Instagram to announce the release date for her new collection with New York and Co. The Being Mary Jane lead character wrote,

We’re back serving looks and range baby. Get ready to shop till you drop this Friday when my latest @nyandcompanycollection hits stores✨ #alltogethernow

Photo credit: Instagram @gabunion

Yvonne took to her IG page to share a post and video which shows a section of the aircraft covered in smoke. Emergency officials are captured at the scene as they attempted to prevent a large scale disaster.

In her comment giving thanks Nelson offers a note of caution to Delta Airline believed to be the carrier.

A report by CBS New York also confirms the incident. The landing gear of the plane enroute to Ghana reportedly caught fire according to a CBS reporter.

Take-off was aborted due to other issues undisclosed. 205 passengers onboard the aircraft were removed following the incident.

The Director, FCT Universal Basic Education Board (UBEC), Dr Adamu Noma, disclosed this when he visited the girl at Maitama General Hospital, Abuja, with some directors who represented the administration on Wednesday in Abuja.

According to him, the FCT Administration has decided to take care of all expenses for her education, explaining that the scholarship will take care of all her schooling.

“As soon as she is discharged from hospital, the scholarship will commence,” Noma assured.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Elijah was said to be in the farm at Mpape near Maitama District, that fateful day when the ill-fated NAF aircraft mishap happened and she was hit by flying debris from the fighter jet.

The ill-fated fighter jet collided with another killing the pilot during air training for Nigeria Independence Day celebration where Elijah was hit and injured at the leg by fragments of the jet.

Noma also assured that the FCTA has granted her scholarship to university level and that they will be ready to foot her bills for as long as she can go in educational pursuit.

He said the FCT Administration would be responsible for her tuition, books, uniform, foot wears and any other requirement needed in school.

Alhaji Ahmad Rani, Director FCT Scholarship Board, confirmed the scholarship, adding that the board is ready to foot the bills and follow her up.

The girl, who is responding to treatment, has been stabilised from the trauma and the injury, and will be discharged soon.

NAN also learnt that Elijah, 15, hails from Kachia, Kaduna State, but reside with her family at Chikoko village in Bwari Area Council of the FCT.

She completed primary six in Chikoko, but poverty prevented from proceeding for secondary education.

NAN also gathered that her father could not afford transport fare from the village to see her at the Maitama Hospital.

Among those who visited Elijah at the hospital where the scholarship form was presented to the family for proper documentation include the Director, FCT Scholarship Board, and Director of FCT Call Centre, Hajia Jummai Amadu.

Credit: NAN

Actress and producer, Foluke Daramola Salako has recently bagged a political appointment. She shared the good news on via a photo she shared on her Instagram page.

The caption read:

“BOMG NEW APPOINTMENTS!
Foluke Daramola Salako, 
Head, Directorate of Contacts & Mobilization, Buhari/Osinbajo Mandate Group, Lagos…”

She has been appointed by the Buhari/Osinbajo Mandate Group. Here is the image she shared below.