Hello WORriors! It’s #ThrowBackThursday and we are throwing back these old photos of actress, Chioma Akpotha!

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Hello WORriors! It’s #WomanCrushWednesday and our Woman Crush is Onyeka Onwenu!

Onyeka Onwenu (born 17 May 1952) is a Nigerian singer, songwriter, actress, journalist, politician, and X Factor series judge. She is the youngest daughter of the Nigerian educationist and politician D.K Onwenu. Dubbed the “Elegant Stallion” by the Nigerian press, she is a former chairperson of the Imo State Council for Arts and Culture, and currently the Executive Director/chief executive officer of the National Centre for Women Development.

Onwenu possess a BA in Internationa Relation and Communication of the Wellesly College of Massachusetts, USA, and a master’s degree in Media Studies from The New School for Social Research in New York. She worked for many years at the United Nations in New York before returning to Nigeria in 1980, where she completed the mandatory one-year National Service, at the NTA where she made an impact as an articulate, incisive and fearless reporter. In 1984, she wrote and presented the internationally acclaimed BBC/NTA documentary called Nigeria, A Squandering of Riches which became the definitive film about corruption in Nigeria as well as the intractable Niger Delta agitation for resource control and campaign against environmental degradation in the oil rich region of Nigeria. She has also served on the board of the NTA.

Onwenu began her music career in 1981 while still working with the NTA, releasing the album “For the Love of You”. Originally a secular artist, she now sings mainly gospel music, and continues to write and sing about issues such as health (HIV/AIDS), peace and mutual coexistence, respect for women rights and the plight of children. Her latest effort titled, “Inspiration for Change,” focuses on the need for an attitudinal turn around in Nigeria.

She is in partnership with Paris-based La Cave Musik, headed by Nigerian cultural entrepreneur Onyeka Nwelue, and UK-based Jungle Entertainment Ventures, headed by musicologist David Evans-Uhegbu. La Cave Musik is set to release her collection titled Rebirth of a Legend in November.

In 2013, she was named as one of the three judges on the Nigerian version of The X Factor. In recognition of her contribution to music and arts in Nigeria, she has been celebrated by professionals like Mahmood Ali-Balogun, Laolu Akins, Charles O’Tudor, and former PMAN president Tony Okoroji among others in the arts industry in Nigeria.

A member of the People’s Democractic Party, Onwenu was in the running to become Local Council Chairman of her native Ideato North Local Government Area of Imo State, but was appointed Chairperson of Imo State Council for Arts and Culture by former governor Ikedi Ohakim. On 16 September 2013, President Goodluck Jonathan appointed her the Executive Director/chief executive officer of the National Centre for Women Development.

Onwenu has featured in numerous Nollywood movies and in 2006 won the African Movie Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. In 2014, she was in the movie Half Of A Yellow Sun with Chiwetel Ejiofor and Thandie Newton.

Women Of Rubies celebrates you, Onyeka Onwenu!

Set aside at least 15 minutes per day to practice yoga, do deep breathing exercises, or meditation.

Culled from wikihow.com

Hello WORriors! It’s #WomanCrushWednesday and our Woman Crush is Funmi Iyanda!

Olufunmilola Aduke Iyanda (born 27 July 1971), better known as Funmi Iyanda, is a Nigerian talk show host, broadcaster, journalist, and blogger. She produced and hosted a popular talk show New Dawn with Funmi, which aired on the national network for over eight years. Funmi is the CEO of Ignite Media, a content-driven media organisation operating out of Lagos. In 2011, she was honoured as a Young Global Leader(YGL) by the World Economic Forum and was recently named one of Forbes 20 Youngest Power Women in Africa.

Iyanda was born in Lagos to the family of Gabriel and Yetunde Iyanda. Her father was originally from Ogbomosho and her mother from Ijebu Ode. She grew up in the Lagos Mainland area, however, her mother died when she was seven years old. She attended African Church Princess Primary School, Akoka, Herbert Macaulay School in Lagos, Nigeria, for her primary education and then went to the International School Ibadan for her secondary education. She also attended the University of Ibadan, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Geography.

Funmi’s foray into television began when she started producing and presenting Good Morning Nigeria, a breakfast magazine television show. The show became a hit, with its “Heroes” segment, which exalted the achievement of deserving members of the society, and “Street Life”, which unlike many shows at the time went out on the streets in search of compelling Nigerian human-interest stories.

The show focused on the injustices suffered by Nigerians, particularly the vulnerable members such as women and children. The show was syndicated on national television.

The first show she anchored was called MITV Live produced by Segun Odegbami and Tunde Kelani. She also explored her deep passion for sports, entering the world of sports journalism. She worked on a documentary for the 2006 African Cup of Nation and she covered the 1999 female Football World Cup, the All Africa Games in Zimbabwe, as well as the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games in Sydney and Athen.

Armed with the experience gained during the era of Good Morning Nigeria, Funmi sought a bigger platform to reach people and in 2000 she began producing and hosting the programme New Dawn.

New Dawn with Funmi started in 2000 and ran daily on NTA 10 Lagos. The success of the show made it the longest running independently produced show on NTA. The show used its influence as a vehicle for social change and transformation by advocating the cause of the vulnerable members of the society, particularly women, youth and children. New Dawn gave birth to the “Change-A-Life” social intervention project. Over the years, Change-A-Life has affected the lives of many children and people through its scholarship, healthcare, counselling and micro-finance intervention scheme. The scholarship scheme supports 98 children.

Funmi has also written regular columns in Tempo Magazine. On occasion she still serves as guest columnist for Farafina Magazine. She has also written for PM NEWS, The Punch, Daily Trust and Vanguard Newspaper.

In 2010, after a two-year hiatus, she returned to the silverscreen with Talk with Funmi (TWF), a groundbreaking television show, directed by Chris Dada. Talk With Funmi journeys Nigeria, from state to state, capturing people and conversations around the country. It is a thought-provoking, illuminating and entertaining journey into the life of Nigerians from all over the country. The show talks to people everywhere – from ordinary citizens going about their business to celebrities in unusual but natural settings. TWF is syndicated on channels across Nigeria.

In 2010, Funmi Iyanda completed production on My Country: Nigeria, a three-part documentary celebrating the 50th anniversary of the country’s independence, which was aired on the BBC World Service. Lagos Stories, one of the episodes of the documentary, was subsequently nominated in the category for “Best News Documentary” at the 2011 Monte Carlo Television Festival in Monaco.

In 2012, Funmi Iyanda and her creative partner Chris Dada released Chopcassava.com, an innovative web series documenting the January 2012 fuel subsidy protests that took place in Lagos, Nigeria. A web series because it could not be aired on Nigerian TV, the series presents an insider view of the Lagos protests, in which people of all classes took to the streets demanding a reversal of the 117% hike in petrol prices. The protests swiftly evolved to encompass issues beyond petrol prices, with protesters focusing on government profligacy, as well as the endemic corruption in the country. Wildly popular, chopcassava videos went viral, with one of the videos gathering over 100,000 hits in five days.

Chopcassava.com was nominated in the non-fiction webseries category at the 2012 BANFF World Media Festival, in Alberta, Canada.

An innovator in her sphere Funmi has won tremendous recognition for her work in the media and for her humanitarian and philanthropic interventions. She is an African Leadership Institute Tutu Fellow and a participant of the ASPEN Institute’s Forum for Communications and Society.

In 2012, she was honoured by the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, for her commitment to gender advocacy as she returned from a five-day UN advocacy trek up Mount Kilimanjaro. The climb was organised by the UN to raise global awareness on its campaign to End Violence against Women and Girls and brought together climbers from more than 32 African countries in a historic advocacy journey up Mount Kilimanjaro. Funmi Iyanda joined South African rock band the Parlotones, South African actress Rosie Motene, human rights lawyer, Ann Njogu, Congolese singer Barbara Kanam, and many African women and men who play an active role in their countries on the gruelling trek up Kilimanjaro. The climbers arrived at Africa’s highest summit on International Women’s Day, 8 March 2012, and displayed their African national flags.

Funmi serves on the Board of Farafina Trust and Positive Impact Youth Network. She was at the forefront of the Occupy Nigeria series of protests in January 2012. The protests were to resist the implementation of the government’s fuel subsidy removal policy.

Women Of Rubies celebrates you, Funmi Iyanda!

Hello WORriors! It is #ThrowBackThursday and we are throwing back these old photos of Media Personality and author, Toke Makinwa!

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Toke Makinwa has some tips on living your best life in 2018 in her latest vlog post. The pretty media girl and best selling author makes an hilarious case for the best things that will ensure you have a splendid 2018.

The latest episode of her vlog, ‘Toke Moments’ dishes on some important do’s and don’t of getting the best out of the new year.

As 2017 wraps up, here is what Toke Makinwa thinks you should do instead of creating new year resolutions and goals.

Watch the video below

Hello WORriors! Today is #WomanCrushWednesday and our Woman Crush is Joke Silva!

Joke Silva (born 29 September 1961) is a Nigerian actress, director, and businesswoman.

Silva was born in Lagos, into a family of four children. Her mother, Adebimbola Silva, a pioneering female doctor, died in July 2015. Her father was a lawyer. She attended Holy Child College in Lagos. At university she was part of a cultural group that included the playwright Bode Osanyin and the singer Stella Monye. Silva took a year off from her studies, during which time she began working as an actress. She then relocated to England, studying drama at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Initially her parents were opposed to Silva’s decision to go into the theatre but they soon began to support her, happy at the success she made of her career. During a slow period of her career, she returned to school, studying English at the University of Lagos.

She began a career in film in the early 1990s.  She is the pioneering managing director of Malete Film Village, in association with Kwara State University. On 29 September 2014, Silva received recognition as a Member of the Order Of The Federal Republic, one of Nigeria’s National Honours’ Awards, at the International Conference Centre in Abuja.

Silva has starred in numerous films and television series in both the English and Yoruba languages. One of her earliest roles was in the 1990 English film Mind Bending. In 1993 she appeared in Owulorojo, followed by Violated in 1995. In 1998 she starred opposite Colin Flirth and Nia Long in the British-Canadian film The Secret Laughter of Women, in which she portrayed Nene. Author Finola Kerrigan noted than Silva stood out as an exceptional actress in the Nigerian film industry after mentioning her role.

In 2002, Silva starred opposite Bimbo Akintola in Keeping Faith. Akintola later cited Silva, whom she refers to as “Aunty Joke”, as a major career influence, adding, “Silva has done a lot, but it’s not even about the things that she did, it’s about the things she didn’t realize that she did”. Also in 2002, Silva co-produced and starred in The Kingmaker with Olu Jacobs. This was followed by roles in pictures such as A Husband’s Wife (2003), Shylock (2004), and A Past Came Calling (2004).

Silva won Best Supporting Actress in 2008 for her “methodical portrayal of a grandmother” in White Waters (2007), though she was not at the ceremony to receive her award in person. In a November 2008 interview, Silva professed that “whenever she had to play an evil character in a film, she would pray and use Jesus as her ‘hedge'”. Silva is also the recipient of an EMOTAN Award from African Independent Television (AIT) and the SOLIDRA Award for Visual Art.

In October 2012, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime appointed Joke Silva a goodwill ambassador. In accordance with the UN policy of enlisting prominent figures in art, music, film, sport and literature to assist with their campaigns, Silva’s role was focused on her participation in the fight against human trafficking in Nigeria. Work fighting human trafficking was part of the “I Am Priceless” campaign, which had also received support from the Nigerian authorities. Silva’s appointment was for a period of three years.

In 2013, Silva took to the stage to appear in the Thespian Family Theatre and Productions staging of the “Mad King of Ijudiya” at the Agip Hall of Muson Centre of Lagos at Christmas. Two shows were put on at 3pm and 6pm on 21, 22, 28 and 29 December, which Vanguard described as a “rich blend of folklore, traditional dance and music that naturally transports the audience to a typical African village setting”.

Silva is married to veteran actor, Olu Jacobs, with two children. The couple met in 1981 at the National Theatre, Lagos during the 21st Independence anniversary.

Silva is Director of Studies at the Lufod Academy of Performing Arts, while her husband chairs it. Lufodo Academy is one of several assets the couple own as part of the Lufodo Group, including Lufodo Productions, Lufodo Consult, and Lufodo Distribution. Silva has curated for the Bank of Industry (BOI) in Theatre, Film, Documentary and Poetry and the 2012 London Olympics, and is also the pioneer managing director of Malete Film Village, in association with Kwara State University.

In addition to her work as an actress, Silva is a philanthropist and a strong supporter of women’s emancipation and empowerment, contributing to their education, training and progress.

On 29 September 2014, Silva was honoured as a Member of the Order of the Federal Republic, one of Nigeria’s national awards, at the International Conference Centre in Abuja. In September 2016 she was unveiled as the brand ambassador for AIICO Pension Managers Limited (APML).

Women Of Rubies celebrates you, Aunty Joke Silva!