Celebrating Ndi-Igbo

Ifeyinwa Madu Egwaoje has committed her life to working to reducing maternal mortality through community work in Nigeria. At age 14, she went through a three year training program with the Girls’ Power Initiative, where she developed her expertise as an adolescent reproductive health and gender development trainer. Ifeyinwa became a facilitator with the organization training young girls to become visible and empowered members of their communities. She was involved in the implementation of Family Life HIV/AIDS Education curriculum in Edo State using the Learning About Living project. Her desire to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS has made her a trainer and led her to work as the Monitoring and Evaluation officer for a USAID funded project on HIV/AIDS prevention. As part of her national youth service in Nigeria, Ifeyinwa worked as a research assistant with Society For Family Health, providing evidence to malaria, HIV/AIDS and maternal health programs. In 2010, she became one of a prestig...

Chineze Anyaene, 26, is the Award-winning director of IJE. She was also the first student film producer in the history of the New York Film Academy to shoot a feature film on 35mm. The film "Ije: The Journey" chronicles the story of a young woman from rural Nigeria who immigrates to the rocket-paced, star-crazed world of Los Angeles. And while the personal stories of the director of that film, Chineze Anyaene, and her protagonist are not exactly identical -- the latter ends up on trial for the murder of three men -- there are distinct similarities between the two women who changed their addresses and perspectives from West Africa to the American West. Chineze recently featured in Levi's action series ‘ Shape of what’s to come ' - a collection of interviews featuring young women who have contributed positively to the arts and various other fields.

Uchechukwu Eberechukwu "Uche" Nwaneri is an American football player who plays for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Uche was born in Dallas, Texas on March 20, 1984. He played Guard for Purdue University after graduating from Naaman Forest High School. He was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars with the 149th Overall pick in the 5th round of the 2007 NFL Draft.