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SUSPECTED PORT HARCOURT SERIAL KILLER CHANGES PLEA TO ‘NOT GUILTY’

Suspected Port Harcourt ‘serial killer’, Gracious David West has changed his plea to ‘not guilty’ after confessing to luring his victims to hotels in Port Harcourt, drugging and murdering them.

In spite of the video released by the police in which he was seen confessing to the crimes, David West reversed the admission.

“The defendant had earlier pleaded guilty to the 9 count charge of murder but has decided to change his plea today,” prosecutor Chidi Ekeh said.

The suspected serial killer’s laywer, Vincent Chukwu backed his client on ‘change of plea’ while dismissing his confessions earlier as having “no legal effect”.

“The basis of this matter is the evidence. Let them (the prosecution) put their evidence before the court”, he told AFP.

It was further gathered that the second suspect arrested in connection to the killings, Nimi Thankgod also pleaded not guilty and was granted bail.

 

 

Credit: LIB

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QUEEN’S COLLEGE STUDENT WHO FIXED FAKE EYELASHES TO SCHOOL TO FACE PANEL

The Queen’s College student who was sent back home for wearing fake eyelashes and painting her nails on Tuesday November 19th, will be made to face a panel.

A source in the school who spoke with the Nation, said the school authorities would ensure the student faces a disciplinary panel for her inappropriate act. The student returned to school after their midterm break with painted nails and had fake lashes on which is against the school’s rule. She came to school accompanied by her mother.

A source in the school said;

“The girl was returning to school two weeks after the mid-term had ended. When the teachers saw her with eyelashes and painted nails, they asked her to kneel down. Her mother came in with her, sat down and listened but did not say anything. Someone heard her telling her daughter in Igbo that she should run away. But the girl refused. After the third time, the mother grabbed the girl’s bag and made to leave. The girl then called out, ‘Mummy where are you going?’

“When people realised that she was the girl’s mother, she quickly dragged the girl out. The security man did not did not know it was the girl’s mother dragging her out. In an attempt to ask why she was taking one of our students out, that was when she attacked the security man.

“The girl was even remorseful. She was asking the mother why she was disgracing her.

The woman came to drop the girl around 5am in the morning urging her to sneak into her class. But the girl did not sneak. She stood by the security gate till morning and presented herself to the school management. A man who claimed to be her father came to the school to apologise on her behalf but we found out that he is not her father.

She will face the disciplinary committee. Many people – including the state, are now interested in the case. So we are investigating”.

In a statement, the Caretaker Committee of the College’s PTA noted that the association was in support of the school management’s position on discipline.

The statement reads

“We condemn in totality the action of the parent. We stand by the management in enforcing discipline in the school. However, the Committee will invite both the parent and the student with a view to ameliorating the situation and preventing a repeat of similar occurrence. The lesson we need to take home on this is simply that Queen’s College will not tolerate violation of its well settled rules and regulations.”

 

 

Credit: LIB

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VICTORIA’S SECRET CANCELS ITS 2019 FASHION SHOW

The 2019 edition of Victoria’s Secret has been canceled for better branding and marketing strategies.

Victoria's Secret canceled its 2019 fashion show [Insider]

On Thursday, November 21, The parent company executives, L Brands decided not to go forward with the show.

The fashion show, which was launched in 1995 was once a major pop culture event, drawing millions of viewers each year. It had its lowest ratings ever last year, and also drew criticism on the gender focus, outdated style and its lack of diversity.

Victoria's Secret canceled its 2019 fashion show [CBS News]

The Chief Financial Officer, Stuart Burgdoerfer said in an interview,

“We think it’s important to evolve the marketing of Victoria’s Secret. It was a very important part of the brand-building of this business and was an important aspect of the brand and a remarkable marketing achievement.”

It was first speculated in May that Victoria’s Secret could be canceling its famous runway extravaganza.

In 2018, Victoria’s Secret made an effort to expand diversity on the runway by casting 19 models of color, including Winnie Harlow, the first model with vitiligo, to walk in the show.

 

 

Credit: pulse.ng

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OMOTOLA JALADE-EKEINDE’S ENTERTAINMENT FAIR GETS YOUTUBE AND AGN SUPPORT

The Entertainment Fair and Festival, TEFFEST, which has Omotola as its convener is scheduled to hold on Friday, November 29, 2019.

The AGN President, Ejezie Emeka Rollas will join Ali Baba, Bisola Aiyeola and Craig Fenton of Google as speakers at the event.

Speaking on the event, the ‘Alter Ego’ star said,

“Our Vision is to show how all other industries service, improve, relate to, and can do business in/with entertainment eventually, creating one of the biggest business chains in the economy. We hope to help bring structure to the entertainment industry while collaborating with international partners to provide training, advice, network, and opportunities,” said the 2018 AMVCA Best Actress.

Omotola said further that the ulterior aim is to promote and showcase the businesses around African entertainment to the world as it creates a platform for world-class innovations around entertainment to come into Africa.

On why AGN is backing the fair and festival, Rollas says it is a welcome development that should be encouraged for the growth and sustainability of the industry. The AGN president said it’s more laudable that the fair and festival is the brainchild of one of Nollywod’s pride.

TEFFEST is coming on the heels of the African International Film Festival, AFRIFF, which held between November 10 and November 17, 2019.

 

 

Credit: pulse.ng

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UKONWA OJO BECOMES THE SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF MAC COSMETICS!

After three years, Ojo will be leaving her role as Chief Marketing Officer for Coty Consumer Beauty where she had to oversee brands like Cover Girl and Sally Hansen.

She made the announcement on Instagram saying that she has always wanted to work with MAC Cosmetics.

When I was in business school (circa 2003), I wanted to switch from a 6-year career in Finance to Marketing/Brand Management. A very common question many companies asked in brand management interviews was… Interviewers: Can you give me an example of a brand you think is marketed well? Me: M.A.C Cosmetics

Ojo has previously worked with high-end brands including Clairol, Rimmel, Katy Perry Parfums, and Nautica.

In her post on Instagram, she expresses her gratitude to Cover Girl and Coty Consumer Beauty for “an amazing career a girl could dream of.”

She also thanks MAC for bringing her on board.

To my M.A.C family, thank you for welcoming me so warmly. ME LOVE YOU LONG TIME!!!

See her Instagram post below:

Photo credit: @ukonwaojo

 

Credit: Bella Naija

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JAY Z AND BEYONCE’S DAUGHTER, BLUE IVY WINS SONGWRITING AWARD

Blue Ivy bagged the Ashford & Simpson Songwriter’s Award at Sunday’s Soul Train Awards for co-writing her mother’s hit Brown skin girl, a song celebrating dark- and brown-skinned women.

Blue Ivy gives a vocal performance that opens and closes the song, which also features Wizkid and Saint Jhn.

The Carters were not at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas to accept the honour named after the legendary Motown songwriting duo Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson.

Blue Ivy shares the win with Beyonce, Jay-Z, St Jhn and several other co- writers.

This week could get even better for Blue Ivy.

 

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MODEL SLICK WOODS REVEALS SHE HAS STAGE 3 MELANOMA CANCER

Slick Woods, the model who trended when she walked the runway for Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty fashion show while in labour (read here), shocked her fans when she took to Instagram to reveal she’s undergoing chemotherapy.

She has now revealed that she has stage 3 Melanoma cancer. She told TheShadeRoom that the cancer is spreading and she’s currently fighting for her life.

 

Model Slick Woods reveals she has stage 3 Melanoma cancer

 

Celebrities and Slick’s fans have been sending in messages of support.

 

Model Slick Woods reveals she has stage 3 Melanoma cancer

 

She also took to Instagram to write: “Stop treating me like a victim.”

Credit: LIB

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ALICIA KEYS AND HUSBAND, SWIZZ BEATZ PRESENT A CASE STUDY ON THEIR LIVES AT HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL

Alicia Keys and her husband Swizz Beatz presented a case study on their lives at the prestigious Harvard Business School.

The power couple, who are both Grammy award winners, presented their work entitled, “Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys: A Power Couple”.  Their presentation was about the success of their personal and professional partnership.

Power couple, Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz presented a case study on their lives at Harvard Business School

 

Though the presentation held over the weekend, Alicia Keys took to Twitter this week to reveal the news and also to share photos.

 

Power couple, Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz presented a case study on their lives at Harvard Business School

 

She wrote: “Friday was a powerful day. My baby, Swizz Beatz, and I presented case studies on our lives and business at Harvard Business School.”

Power couple, Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz presented a case study on their lives at Harvard Business School

 

She added: “As a kid I never would’ve imagined this! If we can do it, you can do it better.”

 

Power couple, Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz presented a case study on their lives at Harvard Business School

 

Swizz Beatz graduated from Harvard Business School. He earned a certificate from Harvard’s Owner/President Management Program.

Earlier this year, Swizz Beatz helped put together “Gordon Parks: Selections from the Dean Collection” at Ethelbert Cooper Gallery and was featured in The Harvard Gazette.

 

Power couple, Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz presented a case study on their lives at Harvard Business School

 

Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz have been married since 2010 and share sons Egypt, nine, and Genesis, four.

 

Power couple, Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz presented a case study on their lives at Harvard Business School

 

 

Credit: LIB
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COME 2020, THE BALTIMORE SUN MUSEUM OF ART WILL BE ACCEPTING WORKS FROM FEMALE ARTISTS ONLY

The Baltimore Museum of Art will celebrate 2020 by adopting a daring new policy designed to reverse the art world’s historic marginalization of female artists.

Museum director Christopher Bedford said Thursday that every artwork the BMA obtains for its permanent collection next year — every painting, every sculpture, every ceramic figurine, whether through a purchase or donation — will have been created by a woman.

“You don’t just purchase one painting by a female artist of color and hang it on the wall next to a painting by Mark Rothko. To rectify centuries of imbalance, you have to do something radical.” -CHRISTOPHER BEDFORD

In addition, each of the 22 exhibits on view will have a female-centric focus. Nineteen will showcase artworks exclusively by women and will include works by at least one transgender woman, Zackary Drucker, a Los Angeles-based artist and consultant for the Amazon original television series “Transparent.”

Two exhibitions will explore how male artists perceive women, and another will honor the visionary Adelyn Breeskin, who directed the BMA from 1942 to 1962.

“This how you raise awareness and shift the identity of an institution,” Bedford said. “You don’t just purchase one painting by a female artist of color and hang it on the wall next to a painting by Mark Rothko. To rectify centuries of imbalance, you have to do something radical.”

Next year marks the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment guaranteeing U.S. women the right to vote. More than a dozen local arts groups have prepared some sort of programming to celebrate that milestone, according to a survey conducted by the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance.

What sets the BMA’s initiative apart, experts say, is the depth of its commitment, devoting an entire year to recognizing the contributions of female artists.

Bianca Kovic, incoming executive director of the New York-based National Association of Women Artists, said she isn’t aware of any other general-purpose museum in the U.S. that has devoted so much time, gallery space and money to showcasing female visual artists.

“What the Baltimore museum is doing is so cool,” Kovic said. “We think all museums should do it. It’s particularly important that the BMA is creating a platform for woman artists to showcase their work, because that will inspire other women to make art. Even today, female artists are highly under-represented in museums. We have a lot of work still to do about educating the public on the importance of women in American art history.”

The BMA acquired its first work by a female artist — a painting by Sarah Miriam Peale — in 1916, just two years after the museum was founded. Nonetheless, just 4% of the 95,000 artworks in the permanent collection today were created by women.

“We’re attempting to correct our own canon,” Bedford said. “We recognize the blind spots we have had in the past, and we are taking the initiative to do something about them.”

Last year, Bedford’s decision to sell seven artworks in the museum’s collection by such modern masters as Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg and Franz Kline to purchase paintings and sculptures by women and artists of color aroused an art world uproar. A letter to the editor in the Sun by David Maril, who father was an artist who served on the BMA’s board, described that decision as “horrendous.”

The museum sold five of the paintings for nearly $8 million and used some proceeds to buy works by such prominent contemporary artists as Mark Bradford and Amy Sherald.

The highlights of next year’s exhibition schedule likely will be a two ticketed shows: a selection of videos by the South African artist Candice Breitz that opens in March and touches upon such topics as the lives of immigrants and sex workers, and a retrospective of paintings by the renowned abstract expressionist artist Joan Mitchell that debuts in September.

But the exhibition schedule also includes such well-known Baltimore-based artists as Grace Hartigan, Betty Cooke and Jo Smail.

“This is the start of a much-needed change,” said Shan Wallace, an artist whose photographs and collages of Baltimore will be exhibited in a group show during the spring.

She said that it’s “absurd” that the BMA’s holdings include just 3,800 artworks created by 1,500 woman artists and designers when the museum is located in a city where 53% of the population is female.

“I think that what the BMA is doing will get other institutions to show more women artists,” Wallace said. “I am glad that my hometown museum is embarking on something this important.”

Other local cultural groups celebrating women artists include Everyman Theatre, whose inaugural New Voices Festival will highlight the work of three female playwrights; Johns Hopkins University, which in May will host a major scholarly conference on women, gender and sexuality, and the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture, which is running an exhibit of the works of the late sculptor Elizabeth Catlett, including several works that celebrate motherhood.

Bedford said the BMA expects to spend up to $2 million next year to purchase art by female artists — and that’s just the beginning.

“This is a declaration of intent going forward of the kinds of exhibits we will have and the kind of acquisitions we will make,” he said. “There can be no beginning and no end, just a consistency of effort in the right direction.”

 

 

Culled from: baltimoresun.com

Credit: Baltimore Sun, Mary Carole McCauley

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SOUTH SUDANESE MODEL, ADUT AKECH HONOURED AS ONE OF TIME 100 RISING STAR IN 2019

Born during a journey to the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, South Sudanese native Adut Akech is currently one of the fashion industry’s most in-demand talents, as well as one of TIME’s 100 Rising Stars 2019.

Having spent her earliest days as a refugee, Adut and her family eventually emigrated to Adelaide, Australia, where she lived out her life as a student and joined a local modeling agency.

In 2016, she was cast as a global exclusive for Anthony Vaccarello’s debut Saint Laurent show. Since then, she has become the muse of renowned designers, such as Valentino’s Pierpaolo Piccioli, who brought her to the 2018 Met Gala, and Chanel’s Karl Lagerfeld, who has tapped Adut to open and close multiple shows for the brand.

She has also walked for Alexander McQueen, Calvin Klein, Miu Miu, Prada, Versace, and more.

To date, Adut has shot campaigns for Fendi, Moschino, Saint Laurent, Valentino, Versace, etc. She has also appeared on the covers or within the pages of American Vogue, British Vogue, Italian Vogue, Vogue Paris, Vogue Korea, i-D, and more, working with legendary photographers such as Steven Meisel, Inez & Vinoodh, and Tim Walker.

Her personal journey has been already covered by the likes of CNN and the New York Times, The Guardian, and many more, with TIME recognizing her as one of the “25 Most Influential Teens of 2018.”

Outside of her career in fashion, Adut has recently begun working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in order to promote causes that support refugees around the world.

She hopes that her own story can serve as inspiration for many to become more invested in alleviating the plights of refugees.

Source: Leading ladies Africa

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