Lupita Amondi Nyong’o

I celebrate an amazing woman today. A woman who has inspired so many. Lupita Nyong’o is an actress. Lupita Nyong’o was born March 1^st, 1983 in Mexico City. Raised in Kenya from the age of one. She attended college in the United States, earning a bachelor’s degree in film and theatre studies from Hampshire College.

Lupita began her career in Hollywood as a production assistant. In 2008, she made her acting debut with the short film East River and subsequently returned to Kenya to star in the television series Shuga (2009-2012). Also in 2009, she wrote, produced and directed the documentary In My Genes. She then pursued a master’s degree in acting from the Yale School of Drama. Soon after her graduation, she had her first feature film role as Patsey in Steve McQueen’s historical drama 12 Years a Slave (2013), for which she received critical acclaim and won several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, becoming the sixth black actress to win the award. She is the first African to win the award, the first Kenyan actress to win an Oscar.

In addition to acting, Lupita supports historic preservation. She is vocal about preventing sexual harassment and working for women’s and animal rights. In 2014, she was named the most beautiful woman by People. Lupita has also written a children’s book named Sulwe (2019), which became a number one New York Times Best-Seller. Sulwe is the story of a five year old Kenyan girl, who has the darkest complexion in her family, for which Lupita drew upon her own childhood experiences. Sulwe was selected for the 2020 Illustrator Honor at the Coretta Scott King Awards and won for Outstanding Literary Work- Children at the 2020 NAACP Image Awards.

In September 2019, Lupita became an Ambassador for Michael Kors. In October, Lupita and her mother were honoured at The Harlem School of the Arts’ Mask Ball with a “Visionary Lineage Award”. Lupita is involved in the organisation Mother Health International, which is dedicated to providing relief to women and children in Uganda by creating locally engaged birthing centres.

“The empowered woman is powerful beyond measure and beautiful beyond description”- Steve Maraboli

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Have a lovely weekend guys.