Guest Bloggers

NEW PROFILE

Yasmine Bilkis Ibrahim

Guest Blogger

Mina Bilkis is an educator, activist, feminist and social entrepreneur. As an embodiment of all four, she believes in nurturing and stimulating young minds and that no act of change is small and that everyone has a part to play to change their community to make it better.

She runs a consultancy and language service business called Mina Bilkis. She is also a blogger, photographer, public speaker and facilitator.

Mina serves as Founding Director of a community based organization that is a safe space for adolescent girls called Girl Up Vine Club Sierra Leone (Girl Up). As a problem solver, her social business that produces Shea butter based products for body and skin called Ori from Sierra Leone was born to support the projects at Girl Up.

She is passionate about Sexual & Reproductive Health & Rights (SRHR), digital rights, feminism, youth empowerment and writing. She loves all things digital and she is also a content creator and podcaster. She cohosts the podcast Y Square Pod that discusses living and working in Sierra Leone through a millennial lens.

Oluwaseyi

Oluwaseyi Raji

Guest Blogger

Drinking herbal tea was my saving grace tonic, because I was diagnosed with endometriosis and PCOS at the age of 26. To add to these hips of health issue, around the same time several fibroids, the size of an apple started growing in the outer lining of my womb. With all these health issues I suffered from chronic debilitating pains for 5 days every month. So, I used herbal teas to manage the debilitating pain because the prescribed pain killers gave me unwanted side-effect. In an effort understand and manage my health’s issues and help other women as well, this fueled my journey into studying pharmacokinetic and naturopath medicine.

We noticed that most herbal teas consumed across the world came from China which were a mixture of herbs plants gotten around the world from countries like Nigeria to make add-on for unique green teas.

With my knowledge in pharmacokinetic and naturopath medicine, we started our own herbal tea brand, using only the freshest herb plants which came straight from the local growers of herb plants in Nigeria. We are able to do this because we have our own farm in Ogun state to grow this herb plant, and we process and packaging them using renewable energy and recyclable materials. My Name is Oluwaseyi Raji and I am the founder of Gaia Farms. On this platform I will be sharing my entrepreneurship and wellness journey!

Francess

Francess Cowan

Guest Blogger

Francess Cowan is a communications and digital strategist who is also passionate about children and youth affairs. She is the founder of the non-profit organization called Africentric Art. An organization aimed to empower children and youth in the creative arts. Francess has over ten years of working in the marketing and healthcare industry. She has worked in various healthcare settings supporting at-risk youth, seniors and advocating for disability accessibility and inclusion. Francess enjoys story writing, poetry, and travelling. Her inspiration to write is influenced by her life’s story, social issues and individuals whose stories need to be heard.

saccohsidi

Sidi Saccoh

Guest Blogger

Sidi Saccoh is an Operation strategist, helping businesses develop effective operation processes to deliver at their best. As a mobilization expert, he helps various institutions mobilise the wealth and expertise of Africans living in the diaspora. And as an entrepreneur, he has worked and executed projects on both national and international levels.

Sidi is the founder and lead strategist of InvestMe SL (Organizers of the seedstars world competition in Freetown, Sierra Leone), He also founded and pioneered the Gospel Academy Limited, an international brand focused on bringing Christian Art of all forms and across denominations to one platform to celebrate and Praise Jesus. Most recently he founded and lead the operations of Mentor X-Africa, a mentorship enhancement platform with presence in more than 20 countries.

DJG Head Shot 2[1046]

Di Shawn J. Gandy

Guest Blogger

Di Shawn is a genealogist, family historian, and public speaker. He is also an actor, playwright, and director. Di Shawn has created and curated content as a contributor and as a curator in the field for Ancestry.com. He has also been a guest blogger for African Ancestry. He is the creator of the website: www.myancestrychronicles.com: Front Porch Stories – The Recipe of Me. There, he blogs about the stories that have fascinated him since childhood, stories told to him by the Elders in his family about
their childhood and ancestors. He believes sharing his personal journey in discovering the recipe of who he is serves as a way to connect and inspire people to develop a stronger sense of belonging, and exploring the answer of why they are who they are. He is also the creator of the YouTube Channel: My Ancestry Chronicles where he creates “How To” videos on genealogical research, and creates content for
his Front Porch Stories – The Recipe of Me Series where he interviews others about their stories as told to them by their elders. Di Shawn is enthusiastic about the traditions, histories, and foods of his ancestors, who originated in Africa, specifically in Sierra Leone and Cameroon as he has just recently discovered, and in Europe. He and his wife are co-founders of Behind The Veil Productions, an award nominated theater production company of which he serves as president. He also serves as pastor of Love And Truth Ministries.

Joshua Woroniecki Profile

Joshua John Woronieck

Guest Blogger

My name is Joshua John Woroniecki. I am a creative professional, graphic designer, and avid photographer.
I travel to third-world countries to work with those in need and help those who are suffering in many ways. I speak fluent English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French. I got into photography because I wanted to create beautiful time-lapse videos to capture the attention of audiences and project an educational, therapeutic and motivational message, as well as create inspirational posters to mass print and to give to those I work with, to put on their mostly barren walls, and be a daily inspiration for years to come.

I have since become very serious in photography and have garnered over 65 million views on my photos online in the past year and a half and have been featured in more than 2.7k sites across the web. I continue to travel and work with all those who are forgotten in third-world high schools, homeless individuals on the streets, prisons, and other areas of need. I detour as often as I can to a beautiful park, mountain, or landscape nearby to capture the beauty as best I can.