Funmi Iyanda

I’m celebrating Funmi Iyanda today. An amazing woman who is a huge inspiration to me. An award-winning broadcaster, journalist, film and TV producer, blogger and philanthropist.

Funmi Iyanda was born on the 27^th of July, 1971 in Lagos, Nigeria. She is a graduate of the University of Ibadan and holds a certificate in Global Leadership and Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School. She is also an honorary fellow of the University of Cumbria UK, a BBC 100 women to watch lister and a UN women global equality champion. She is executive director at Oya Media, a London based media production studio and brand advisory set up to develop, produce and facilitate Films and TV shows for cinema, television and the web.

Funmi is best known for independently producing and hosting Nigeria’s most popular and ground-breaking talk show New Dawn with Funmi Iyanda which ran nationally for eight years with unprecedented and yet unsurpassed ratings. Famed for her intelligent, nuanced and irrelevant interview style; Funmi quickly rose to become one of Nigeria’s most watched and revered TV personalities. She has since gone on to produce and host a string of internationally nominated productions including My Country Nigeria, a 3 part series commissioned by BBC, and nominated for “Best News Documentary” at the 2011 Monte Carlo TV Festival.

Funmi is also the producer and host of BANFF nominated chopcassava.com, a gritty and innovative web series documenting the 2012 Nigerian fuel subsidy protests. Her shows have been syndicated across Africa, including the critically acclaimed Talk with Funmi (TWF), an audacious socio-reality documentary television series. Funmi, along with a 30-man crew embarked on a harrowing but fulfilling road journey around Nigeria, capturing the people and conversations of the country. The result was a thought-provoking, illuminating and entertaining journey into the life of Nigerians.

An innovator in her industry, Funmi has won tremendous recognition for her pioneering work in the media. She was honored as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and named one of Forbes 20 Power Women in Africa. Funmi is a member of the Tutu Africa Leadership Institute Board and Aspen Institute’s Global leaders Network. She is the founder and board member of Change-a-Life foundation, a social intervention project birthed on her show New Dawn. The foundation has affected the lives of many indigent families and children through its scholarship, healthcare, counselling and micro-finance schemes.

She is truly a source of inspiration and a phenomenal woman!

Please drop your comments below or send an email if you have inspiring stories to share with us here. Thanks.

Have a lovely weekend guys.

(http://funmiiyanda.com/funmi/)