Nollywood actress Chioma Akpotha is a year older today!
The gorgeous actress took to her Instagram to release these beautiful photos to celebrate her day.
See below!
A Nigerian writer, Ayobami Adebayo has been listed as one of the 16 finalists of the 2017 Baileys Women’s Prize for fiction writers.
The Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction is one of United Kingdom’s most prestigious literary prizes, annually awarded to a female author of any nationality for the best original full-length novel written in English, and published in the United Kingdom.
This year, out of 189 submissions, 16 books were longlisted with Ayòbámi Adebayo as one of the three debut writers in the list.
Adébáyò is also the only West African nominated, for her book, ‘Stay With Me,’ which is a devastating story of love and motherhood in Nigeria.
Delighted at the news, Ayobami tweeted,
“I’m so STUNNED and HONOURED to be in such wonderful company! I snoozed the alarm for about two hours this morning and woke up to the news. I might snooze the alarm FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE.”
The Baileys prize has been won in the past by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in 2007.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres says the UN will not be associated with the vile and vicious crimes of rape, sexual violence, exploitation and abuse in any way.
Guterres stated this in the Secretary-General’s report, ‘Special Measures for Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse: A new approach’, outlined a victim-centred strategy that is rooted in transparency, accountability and ensuring justice.
The Secretary-General’s report particularly focused on preventing and responding to such abuses committed by those serving under the UN flag, like the peacekeeping personnel.
“Such acts of cruelty should never take place. Certainly no person serving with the United Nations in any capacity should be associated with such vile and vicious crimes.
“Let us declare in one voice: We will not tolerate anyone committing or condoning sexual exploitation and abuse. We will not let anyone cover up these crimes with the UN flag,” he said.
Guterres said that promoting gender equality throughout the UN system, including its missions and peacekeeping forces, would help advance parity and at the same time decrease incidents of abuse.
“Let us do so in the name of all who look to the UN for life-saving protection and support – and on behalf of the tens of thousands of UN personnel around the world who deliver that assistance with courage and commitment to the highest ideals,” he stressed.
He noted that exploitation is also deeply rooted in gender inequality and discrimination.
The report focused is based on four tracks, including the rights and dignity of victims;and ending impunity for those guilty of crimes and abuses.
Others are drawing on the wisdom and guidance of all those who have been affected, civil society, local communities and others to strengthen and improve UN’s efforts; and to raise awareness and share best practices to end the vicious scourge.
The report also emphasised the need to engage with UN member states and called for a high-level meeting on sexual exploitation and abuses in 2017 on the margins of the general debate of the 72nd session of the General Assembly.
The report further noted that the UN chief would seek member states’ support to establish a system-wide consolidated confidential repository of case information to be placed under the supervision of the Special Coordinator on Improving UN Response to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.
This year’s African Magic Viewers Choice Awards took place last week Saturday and below are the outstanding women who went home with awards!
MEG OTANWA
She won the best actress in a drama (Hush)
SOMKELE IDHALAMA
She won the trailblazer award.
DEBORAH ANUNGWA
She won the best actress in a comedy (Hustle)
EBELE OKARO ONYUIKE
She won the best supporting actress
FUNKE AKINDELE-BELLO
She won two awards. The best actress in a comedy and the best TV show (Jenifa’s Diary)
RITA DOMINIC
She won the best actress in a drama.
Ciara has released new maternity photos for an interview in Harper’s Bazaar and they are HOT! Harper’s Bazaar magazine describes Ciara as “more powerful than ever”.
The soon-to-be mum talks about her growth in the music industry, growing up tough, her pregnancy, the importance of women supporting other women.
See excerpts below.
On Russell Wilson supporting her: If someone’s not supporting you and your vision and your dreams —whether it’s your relationship partner, your friend, whomever, then you’ve got to make sure to keep it moving. If people aren’t lifting you up, even if you’re the strongest person in the world, eventually it does chip away at you. You don’t even realize that you’re losing yourself. And that’s the scariest place to be in life… I don’t want to lose myself. I love myself too much. I love life too much.
On growing up tough: Before, tough was kind of like, if something happened that was wrong, I’d just keep moving. It was a bit of a challenge, you would build friendships, and then you’d have to say goodbye. I do think part of that made me kind of tough. Emotionally tough. The truth of it is, it helped me with being able to accept cutting things off… Which I think is a good thing; maybe it could be a bad thing, because it can make you cold in that way.
On baby Future’s reaction to her pregnancy: He’ll randomly pull my shirt up and be like, ‘I want to see the baby.’ ‘Hello, baby. How you doing, baby? I love you, baby. Okay, talk to you later, baby. Bye, bye.’ Then he’ll kiss me on my belly and put my shirt back down.
On women supporting other women: There’s this unspoken word: love. When you meet successful powerful women, you show each other love, because it is a tough environment.
On being all about family right now: I’m just super excited about this time in my life. Like, Oh my gosh, I can see my son running around, and soon it’s going to be two of these creatures running around! Our hands will be full of non-stop action.
Photo Credit: Harper’s Bazaar
The International Women’s Day on the 8th of March this year 2017, reminds us of the successes, the strides, efforts and commitments women and girls themselves have achieved for their own emancipation. It enables us to reflect on the efforts made by government such as Zimbabwe since independence in 1980 to enhance the lives of women and girls. We reminisce on attainments by the civic society to speak and represent those without voices including fighting for a gender constitution like the 2013 one. Passions are reignited and plans to continue with the work and to do better. All these actions look like supporting this year’s global theme
#BeBoldForChange.
Countries such as Zimbabwe still grapple with many challenges, chief among them financial resources to ensure funding of the implementation of all laws such as the new Constitution of Zimbabwe, policies and national action plans that seek to improve the lives of women and girls, and to eliminate violence and discrimination. The recent national budget has a significant amount of money towards funding education, a good gesture from the Minister of Finance Patrick Chinamasa, however we still have hundreds of thousands of young people out of school who need free education which is enshrined in the constitution. The government of Zimbabwe still suffers setbacks in its national plans to execute best education for all, with the recently launched curriculum seen by many as failing to address in its implementation, the realities of many scholars who come from poor families, and the economic struggles that have been caused by job looses in the current environment in Zimbabwe with more than 90% of citizens being unemployed. Girls suffer the brunt of lack of access to education and when that happens, there is increase in child marriages, human trafficking, sexual exploitation, child labor, of which these all add up to increase in HIV incidences, poverty among many of their vulnerabilities.
Girls and young women also face challenges in finding role models, mentors, sponsors and people who can support their efforts for their advancement. When girls have mentors, sponsors and supporters, they can make right decisions about their own careers and sexual reproductive health, they can achieve greatness in life. Young women who have someone who points them in the right direction and sometimes opens doors of opportunities are able to compete with their male counterparts, who often have access to mentors and sponsors including a social setup that supports them from birth.
This year as in our tradition including the previous few years, TaLI is taking some #BeBoldForChange steps in partnership with Vital Voices, a Global organisation which works to promote women leadership, in hosting a Mentorship programme on the 8th of March 2016 at the University of Zimbabwe(UZ) for students from the UZ and Women’s University in Africa(WUA), matching them up with successful women to begin a mentorship relationship with which runs for the next 6months. The mentorship programme is expected to provide some desperately needed support in the business, career and other areas of their lives where they find challenges.
The mentors are women who are at different levels in their lives, some are business women, managers, directors of different companies, NGOs who are passionate about young women and are interested in giving back. They are giving back their time, donating their money to the event, sponsoring through their companies and are also engaging as partners in the TaLI programme for the young women. The door is still open to those women and men who can support the work in one way or the other, and even wanting to be mentors to these young women. We are looking forward in 2017 and beyond, to individuals, companies and organisations who want to #BeBoldForChange and want to support this effort to get in touch with us on the details below. We appreciate the role the media has played in supporting such efforts over the years and are welcome to support. We are happy to tweet, Facebook and share ideas on social media on the day and we join the world in using the following hashtags to raise our voices for girls and young women: #BeBoldForChange #TaLI #TagALife #MentoringWalk #IDW2017.
Tag a Life International Trust (TaLI) is a girls and young women’s rights organisation thats been operating in Zimbabwe over the last 7years to empower girls, as well as working with communities and law makers to achieve this. The organisation works with men, boys, women, communities, local leaders in Zimbabwe, within the region and the globe to advance the rights of girls and young women.
For more information about this event and other ones, contact us on the details below.
Tag a Life International Trust (TaLI) – Making the World a Safe Place for the Girl Child.
Email: tag.alife@gmail.com, Mobile: 0777 549 090
No 52 Glamorgan Belvedere ,Harare
Fashion Amazon of Africa- Dressmeoutlet.com on Friday March 3, 2017 celebrated her Founder/CEO; Mrs. Olatorera Oniru who is an exemplary leader, a driving force to be reckoned with in the African e-commerce scene, an outstanding keynote speaker and advocate of women empowerment and women in leadership across borders.
The Nigerian woman who is building the Fashion Amazon of Africa is ’30 and Fabulous’ with numerous accolades from local and international media organizations and awards shows. Olatorera Oniru is currently leading initiatives to realize a pinnacle in Africa history where we would rely less on importation and more on our natural resources. She travels across Africa, into rural communities and more in search of idiosyncratic fashions and eclectic designers to retail on the site. She has plans to source in China, UAE, South Africa, Ethiopia and more in the next coming months.
Before starting out as an entrepreneur, Olatorera worked as head of sales governance for Fortune 5000 company Ericsson, focusing on the Sub-Sahara African region. She also worked with Merrill Lynch as a senior analyst and with General Electric as a financial management intern. If her work foundation isn’t impressive enough, as is her education: graduating Cum Laude Honors Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Management from North Carolina A&T State University and an MBA in Finance, Leadership, and Management from Emory University. She founded DressMeOutlet from her personal savings and has a personal runway to successfully finance the business for up to the next 5 years.
There is a lot in store for Dressmeoutlet.com. While Olatorera will continue to provide the best fashion and beauty products, they want to continue to grow and enter new territories, increasing their supplier database and multiplying the amount of customers they service.
Olatorera encourages young African entrepreneurs by telling them, “Push your dreams further, don’t let anything/anybody stop you from doing something great in the world” “Please do it. Go out there and do it, one step at a time, one day at a time, one handshake at a time, one clap at a time, one achievement at a time.” Olatorera is leading by example and her tenacity and strategic abilities will grow Dressmeoutlet.com exponentially as they continue to be a major player in the African e-commerce market.
Rihanna received the 2017 Harvard University Humanitarian of the Year Award at Harvard University’s Sanders Theatre yesterday, on February 28, 2017, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Rihanna was honoured because of her work in her native island of Barbados and the charities she has founded over the years, the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations.
During the ceremony, Rihanna thanked the university for the honor and delivered an inspiring speech.
Beautiful Oscar winner Viola Davis is the cover star for People Magazine‘s latest issue.
In the magazine, the actress opens up and talks about the struggles of growing up in poverty and how her talent propelled her to success later in life.
Read excerpts from the interview below
On Growing Up in Poverty
I was the kind of poor where I knew right away I had less than everyone around me. We had nothing, I cannot believe my life, I just can’t, I’m so blessed. I would jump in trash bins with maggots looking for food, and I would steal from the corner store because I was hungry, I never had any kids come to my house because my house was a condemned building, it was boarded up, it was infested with rats. I was one of those kids who were poor and knew it.
It became a motivation as opposed to something else — the thing about poverty is that it starts affecting your mind and your spirit because people don’t see you, I chose from a very young age that I didn’t want that for my life. And it very much has helped me appreciate and value the things that are in my life now because I never had it. A yard, a house, great plumbing, a full refrigerator, things that people take for granted, I don’t.
On deciding to become an actress
I first envisioned myself as an actor after I watched Cicely Tyson in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman when I was a child.
It wasn’t until then that I had a visual manifestation of the target I wanted to hit, It also gave me hope for the future and a different life for myself, she helped me have a very specific drive of how I was going to crawl, walk, run from that environment.
Remember the Danshiki sisters? Mirian Chinyere Ugokwe, Lilian Chioma Ugokwe and MarySonia Chizoba Ugokwe, three sisters from same parent have once again created an Afrocentric emoji, called AfreekMoji.
AfreekMoji is a medium these sisters and entrepreneurs hope to share and educate the world about their beautiful African culture.
The sisters, aged 22 and 21 years old (Mirian and Lilian are twins), were born and raised in Aba, Nigeria, but they presently live in the US.
They are also the founders of Danshikipride, an international African clothing business.
With parents who are entrepreneurs, these siblings had always wanted to be entrepreneurs too, so, when they moved to the United States in June 2007, they decided to keep their African upbringing alive.
