Greetings Glocal Citizens! This week our Writing as Activism @ Pa Gya! 2024 continues in conversation wth Liberian novelist, journalist, film critic, curator, speaker and lecturer of African Literature and Arts at Leiden University in the Netherlands, Vamba Sherif. Vamba has written several novels, including The Emperor's Son (2024), a novel about emperor Samori Touré, The Witness (2011), Bound to Secrecy (2007), The Kingdom of Sebah (2003), Land of My Fathers (1999), and the memoire...

Greetings Glocal Citizens! Next up in our Writing as Activism series, this week’s episode, recorded at the 2024 Pa Gya! festival (in case you are wondering, this is the session taking place during our interview, features Nigerian poet and children’s book author, Aduke Gomez. Aduke embraced writing in the past decade after a career in law and finance. She now utilises her legal and advisory skills to assist in business and creative development. Commencing her career in legal practice with...

New Month Greetings Glocal Citizens! The first Tuesday in November represents the official US election day. As polling evolves for higher participation and greater inclusion, most states offer early voting so millions have already cast thier votes. Throughout this year of elections across the globe, the build up to the two where I have a say, the United States and Ghana, has played a critical role in inspiring my most activist self to move the dial in different ways toward manifesting a new...

Greetings Glocal Citizens! This week is the final installment in our collaboration with Bisi Bright’s Livewell Initiative and the Women of Africa Post-Pandemic Empowerment and Advocacy Programme with support from Gilead Sciences USA. In a fitting conclusion, Aggrey Aluso, the Director, Africa Region and global policy lead for the Pandemic Action Network, driving strategic advocacy efforts in Africa and globally joins the conversation. Born, raised and currently based in Kenya, Aggrey also...

Greetings Glocal Citizens! I met this week’s guest in Accra at a Women Wellness Africa breakfast early this year and was happy to be able sync our travel schedules to reconnect in one of the places she calls home, London. Marielle Legair is a speaker, certified NLP and hypnotherapy Coach, LinkedIn Top Voice, and LinkedIn Learning Instructor. She's leading career empowerment through cutting-edge neurological research and behavioural science. Her expertise goes beyond coaching, focusing on...

Greetings Glocal Citizens! Over the past few weeks, we’ve been learning more and more about the Women of Africa Post-Pandemic Empowerment and Advocacy Programme with guests from Egypt to Scotland to Nigeria with a range of business, health and well-being perspectives. This week we’re back in Nigeria with the women that started it all, Glocal Citizen, Adebisi Bright. Dr. Bisi Bright is an international award-winning scientist, social entrepreneur, health systems researcher, adjunct lecturer,...

Greeting Glocal Citizens! Next up in our collaboration with LiveWell Initiative for the Women of Africa Post-Pandemic Empowerment and Advocacy Programme is a conversaton centering youth and partnerships with a leading management consultant in Africa, Dr. Adebowale Jeff Johnson. Born and raised in Nigeria, he is the first Youth Performance Consultant in the world. He has worked in six consulitng firms over the span of his nearly 25 years of working experience. Also working with several other...

Greetings Glocal Citizens! I’m back on the road with this conversation which finds my guest and I in opposite sides of the United Kingdom--me in London, UK and my guest, Dr. Motolani Oyerinde, in Scotland. Dr. Tolani, joins us in the next installment of our colloboration with Bisi Bright’s Livewell Initiative and the Women of Africa Post-Pandemic Empowerment and Advocacy Programme with support from Gilead Sciences USA. She is currently Managing Partner at Crystal Mental Healthcare and...

Autumn Greetings Glocal Citizens! It’s a season of transformation from the vibrancy of summer sun to the rest, retreat and make ready energy of winter. Here on the podcast we’re taking this time to explore new collaborations in conjunction with events happening in the coming months. First up is a collaboration with the Women of Africa Post-Pandemic Empowerment and Advocacy Programme which is an intitaitve of Glocal Citizen Adebisi Bright’s LiveWell Initiative based in Lagos Nigeria. This...

Greetings Glocal Citizens! This week it’s Part 2 of a two-part conversation with serial entrepreneur and diversity activist, Cherron Perry-Thomas. She is founder and president of Green Dandelion Marketing and Sales which grew out of a desire to introduce retailers to innovative plant based products. Since its founding, 20 years ago, Green Dandelion has helped their clients launch more than 2,000 products in grocery and health stores in the mid-Atlantic United States. Clients include...

Greetings Glocal Citizens! This week it’s Part 1 of a two-part conversation with serial entrepreneur and diversity activist, Cherron Perry-Thomas. She is founder and president of Green Dandelion Marketing and Sales which grew out of a desire to introduce retailers to innovative plant based products. Since its founding, 20 years ago, Green Dandelion has helped their clients launch more than 2,000 products in grocery and health stores in the mid-Atlantic United States. Clients include...

Greetings Glocal Citizens! This week Haiti, the recent Democratic National Convention (DNC), living in the now and ideas that challenge mindset boundaries are hot topic with my guest, Haitian-American, Jodine Dorcé. Jodine has been discovering, branding and promoting arts, music and culture for over a decade. Behind the scenes, she had an impressive career as an award-winning event marketer in the arts, entertainment and consumer product industries. Her achievements include developing and...

Late summer greetings, Glocal Citizens! It’s that time of year in most of the northern hemisphere - Back to School! Students of all manner from first time learners to adult continuing educationers are migrating to a learning institution near you--Kindergartens, middle and high schools, trade colleges, university campuses and some are taking to phones, tablets or computers for online courses. ’Tis the season for getting the mind ready for a new round of training, building and expansion. So...

Greetings Glocal Citizens! It’s Leo season and birthday week for both my guest and me as well as fellow Glocal Citizen and birthday celebrant Muhammida El Muhajir, which is how I was introduced to my guest, Ghanaian-born, Rita Kusi. Rita is a highly respected, passionate, and result-oriented strategic human resource professional with 20 years of experience as a generalist in the field. Currently, she serves as the CEO and Senior Consultant at Keeping 'U' Simply Intact (KUSI) Consulting, a...

Greetings Glocal Citizens! For this week’s episode we’re back in West Africa with Nigerian-American journalist and author, Abi Ishola-Ayodeji. Her critically acclaimed debut novel, Patience is a Subtle Thief, was named one of BuzzFeed's best books of May 2022 and received a coveted Kirkus-starred review. As a journalist, she has showcased her talent across a diverse range of platforms, including http://ELLE.com, PBS, http://Ebony.com, CUNY TV, and more. Her career has seen her cover...

Greetings Glocal Citizens! Increasingly, I am thinking thoughts about places of being that better reflect citizen-centered social, economic and built enviroments. In recent conversation with Paul Damalie and following the works of another fellow GC, Chinedu Echeruo (which happens to be how I came across this week’s guest), those thoughts are beginning to rise into a mental framework for manifesting that new world. Born and raised in Nigeria, Victor Ndukwe is an Architect that has evolved...

Greetings Glocal Citizens! This week we’re going full circle with Zimbabwean-American, Vimbo Watson. Born in Zimbabwe, Vimbo’s family relocated to the US before she spoke her first words. Nonethless, her mother tongue has remained in her heart and has been a foundational part of fullfilling a life-long passion to uplift people and especially those in need back home. After a career in education as a teacher and principal, she’s now applying her administrative talents as the Director of...

Greetings Glocal Citizens! The beautiful thing about life is that with care and attention time refines and gives rise to the amazement that is our daily experience. I met this week's guest nearly a decade ago, in the country she currently calls home, as we were both starting our work in the African edutainment industry and as she was making her way back home to Tanzania to do what she prepared for when getting her MBA and BS in International Business and Economics from Overton School of...

Greetings Glocal Citizens! This week we're back in East Africa in conversation with Kenyan, Farhan Guled, coming to you in two parts. Farhan takes us with him from his native homeland to Europe and back to East Africa where he is currently Executive Director of Salaam Bank Limited in Kampala, Uganda; he has been instrumental is building the bank's start-up operation in the country. Born and raised in Kenya he began his entreprenuearship journey as founder of Maisha Fitness Center in...

Greetings Glocal Citizens! This week we're back in East Africa in conversation with Kenyan, Farhan Guled, coming to you in two parts. Farhan takes us with him from his native homeland to Europe and back to East Africa where he is currently Executive Director of Salaam Bank Limited in Kampala, Uganda; he has been instrumental is building the bank's start-up operation in the country. Born and raised in Kenya he began his entreprenuearship journey as founder of Maisha Fitness Center in...

Summer Greetings Glocal Citizens! My guest this week, comes to us via fellow Glocal Citizen, Yana Fleming. Like Yana, Emilly Okello-Juma is a seasoned communications and program management professional. Born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya, Emilly’s work has taken her to points near and far across around the world. She has 13 years of experience working in communications roles including on-continent support across all regions in Africa on projects funded by international actors such as the...

Greetings Glocal Citizens! I met Elike Kofi Nkansa, a multifaceted creative with a background in literature and art with a keen interest in fine detailng, one afternoon at a place called the Green Butterfly Market in Accra. He was seated in front of a beautiful portrait tapestry which I eventually purchased after visiting his flagship boutique and seeing a sampling of his portfolio. He trained as an architect and is the designer for his fashion brand, Elike Clothing which has become a...

Greetings Glocal Citizens! I met Elike Kofi Nkansa, a multifaceted creative with a background in literature and art with a keen interest in fine detailng, one afternoon at a place called the Green Butterfly Market in Accra. He was seated in front of a beautiful portrait tapestry which I eventually purchased after visiting his flagship boutique and seeing a sampling of his portfolio. He trained as an architect and is the designer for his fashion brand, Elike Clothing which has become a...

Greetings Glocal Citizens! This week we have a Glocal Citizens first so keep reading! I first met my guest, Robert “Bob” Bush, Jr., more than 15 years ago in a cute bistro in the Meat Packing District in New York City. At the time, he had been living in the Middle East for a couple of years as Managing Director and Senior Advisor for the Corporate Office of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoumis, Prime Minister of the UAE. As you’ll hear in the conversation this was in many ways a...