Celebrating Ndi-Igbo

Dr. Unoma Okorafor is founder and CEO of Working to Advance STEM Education for African Women (WAAW) Foundation, a nonprofit whose mission is to promote STEM Education for African women, and to ensure that talent is engaged in technology innovation in Africa. WAAW Foundation especially focuses on girls in poverty-affected areas with a goal to ultimately increase the pipeline of African girls entering STEM related careers. Unoma earned her undergraduate degree in Computer and Electrical Engineering from the University of Lagos and a M.Sc. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Rice University, Okorafor also graduated from INSEAD’s Social Entrepreneurship program and Stanford University Business School’s Executive Program in Social Entrepreneurship. She then went on to get her PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University and gained experience as a Software Developer and Engineer at Texas Instruments, IBM and Hewlett-Packard prior to her organi...

Ama Agbeze is the captain of England's netball team. Agbeze plays in the goal defence and goal keeper positions. She debuted in the England national squad in 2001 and became captain during the 2016 season. During her international career she won bronze playing for the English team during the 2006 Commonwealth Games. Agbeze played for the Loughborough Lightning in the Netball Superleague from 2004–2007, before transferring to Leeds Carnegie in 2008. In 2008 Agbeze signed with the West Coast Fever to play in the Australasian ANZ Championship. She subsequently moved to the Melbourne Vixens for the 2009 season, and after receiving little court time there she transferred to New Zealand franchise the Central Pulse for 2010. Ama was educated at Monkton Combe School, near Bath, Somerset. Source: Wikipedia.

Brad is a renowned editorial and commercial photographer based in New York City. A self-trained, photographer who has worked with the likes of Adidas,  The FADER , Esquire, The New York Times, Bloomberg, Billboard, Vogue US and the painter  Kehinde Wiley. Born and raised in the Twin Cities (where Purple Rain was made), he now lives in NYC.

The brother and sister duo on a mission to put Nigerian cuisine on London's foodie map. Chuku’s, their creation, is a London based pop-up Nigerian tapas restaurant. It offers Nigerian cuisine served in bitesized portions, allowing guests to savour a wide menu of Nigerian delicacies and enjoy a sociable, relaxed dining experience.   The restaurant has the slogan "chop, chat, chill" — chop is Nigerian pidgin for 'eat' and the duo want the restaurant to be a place for people to relax and spend time chatting with friends over their food. Time Out magazine describes them as “The best of Nigerian London”, The Evening Standard Newspaper calls Chuku’s “The hottest ticket in London” while Elle UK Magazine listed Ifeyinwa as one of 23 female Entrepreneurs Under 30 who is bossing life.  Chuku’s is the place to be.  Sources: Kitchup dot co dot uk ; Londonist , Munchies dot vice dot com (Photo), TimeOut , theflexitarian dot co dot uk

Faraday Okoro is a New York City based Nigerian-American filmmaker. Named after Michael Faraday, a 19th century English physicist and chemist, the idea of pursuing a career in science has been instilled in Faraday since birth. Though, despite his upbringing and name for that matter, Faraday was inspired to pursue a career in filmmaking after watching 20 minutes of the film Road to Perdition . He graduated cum laude from Howard University, a historically black college in the heart of Washington, DC. At Howard, he was awarded the Trustees’ Scholarship, which allowed him to attend college tuition-free. Currently, Faraday is completing an MFA in filmmaking at NYU Film School, where he is a recipient of the Peter D. Gould Scholarship. Faraday’s debut short film Full-Windsor has screened in 14 major film festivals, including the Los Angeles Film Festival, Austin Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, Seattle International Film Festival and the Montr...

Iké Udé is a photographer, performance artist, author and publisher. He is best known for his conceptual photographic portraits that explore issues of representation and sexual, gender, cultural, and stylistic identity.  Born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, Ike attended the Government Secondary School, a British boarding school in Afikpo Nigeria. He was a habitué of London before he moved to New York[2] in 1981 to study Media Communications at Hunter College, CUNY. He began his artistic art career in the late 1980s with abstract painting and drawing. Since the 1990s, photography has been Udé's primary medium Udé is the author of Style File: The World's Most Elegantly Dressed, published by Harper Collins in 2008. The volume profiles 55 influential arbiters of style. The publication provides information on all of the 55 women and men profiled, including John Galliano, Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera, Diane von Furstenberg, Dita Von Teese, and Christian Louboutin. ...

One to watch Ijeoma is the CEO/Co­founder of Beavly. Beavly is an online marketplace that connects people to top professionals with the purpose of learning alongside them in their workplace. Trainees gain practical knowledge and hands-on experience by interacting physically with the professionals. Ijeoma Oguegbu graduated from the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology ( MEST ), a non-profit post-graduate training and mentoring program and startup incubator, in June, 2016. She had studied Computer Science and Business Management at Wisconsin International University College in Ghana. Sources: AngelList, LeadingLadies Africa, SheLeadsAfrica, TechPoint Nigeria