Jemilea Wisdom-Baako is compassion personified. Moving almost in silence she is relentless at carving out avenues for people to thrive. Poet, Mother, Wife and Director of Writerz‘N’Scribez, a creative non-profit that provides and facilitates outreach projects for underserved communities, she is very accomplished and equally unassuming. …

Gaylene Gould is a Creative Director, broadcaster, writer and former Head of Cinemas at BFI Southbank . That’s one way to start this article. All true, but those titles don’t quite encompass who she is, what she has done or the grace with which she has accomplished it. …

What better way to end a year of explorations on feminine strength, than with where it all begins for me. Iyabo Agbelusi is a teacher, counsellor, avid gardener, grower of things and people, including me. If someone told me a few years ago that I would be interviewing my mother…

Swarzy Macaly is a professional joy infuser. You may also know her as a radio and TV host, an activist and a cultural curator. The day before our interview, she was fresh off a nomination by Lord Woolley for Prince Harry and Meghan’s Next Generation Trailblazers list and had just…

vangile gantsho is a poet, healer, publisher, cultural activist, curator, co-founder of impepho press, and mother. The first time I heard her speak (through a computer screen), I knew we would have to connect in person. Her presence was a language in itself and her poetry moved me. …

Twenty years ago, on the first day of university, I walked into one of my seminars and blurted out, “Thank God! Another Black person”. This woman glared at me, told me to lower my voice and then laughter took over us. She introduced herself as Ruth Wigley (now Shah-Wigley). …

Stephanie Edwards is an Architect, a mentor, a template for the kind of friend you want in your corner, and a co-founder of Urban Symbiotics, a boutique start-up company offering architectural, master planning and regeneration services. Discussing her route to entrepreneurship, I asked if she had been scared to quit…

Tjawangwa Dema (hereinafter “TJ”) is a force — the best kind. When the trifecta of her words, presence and wit hit you, being spellbound is your only option. If we are talking titles, TJ won the Sillerman Prize for African Poetry in 2019 with her collection “The Careless Seamstress”. She…

Ozoz Sokoh, also known as Kitchen Butterfly, is modestly described in her bio as a Nigerian Food Explorer. That title functions like a good poem title — it gives you a hint about the world you are entering, but you don’t appreciate the full picture until you reach the end…