We are so excited to announce that the inaugural webinar for #TheBodyConversation will be held virtually on Zoom, on June 20.

Participants can register for the episode by sending an email to thebodyconvo@gmail.com to get a Zoom invite.

Meet our special guest and panelists:

Nneka Nwogu is an Oil and Gas practitioner specialising in Social Performance with almost 25 years of office and field experience. She is an educator, an entrepreneur, a wife, mom, trainer and an analytical strategist.

With a first degree in Engineering, a post-graduate degree, several certificates and diplomas from various universities, including the Warwick Business School UK,  Nneka clearly loves the walls of teaching and learning.

She is the initiator of the award-winning Safe Motherhood intervention for Rivers State women, in collaboration with The Adolescent Project (TAP), a pet project of the then-Wife of the Executive Governor of Rivers State, Justice Mary Odili. This project was recognised at the International Conference of the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood in Washington DC, USA.

Nneka, the founder of New Mums Lounge is very passionate about Motherhood, Children and Education, having scaled through more than 10 years of infertility.

Ujuaku Akukwe is an international award-winning documentary filmmaker, entrepreneur,  author and mother of three. She is the CEO of Frances-Ashley Media and the co-founder of Leaps and Bounds Entertainment ltd.

Her extensive experience and practice cut across media consultancy, content design and social works. She is a recipient of a Certificate of Recognition from the California Legislature Assembly for her use of film for community engagement and won the Nigeria Women Entrepreneurship Award for her contribution to positive parenting. Her films have won several nominations and awards globally, including the winner, best documentary Silicon Valley African Film Festival, United States. Winner, Woman Producer of the Year and Award of Excellence both from the International Film Festival, Zero discrimination and Social justice Indonesia, amongst others. 

She is an alumna of the New York Film Academy, University of Nigeria and Pan Atlantic University, with certificates in Entrepreneurial management, Strategic management, Documentation strategy, Digital marketing, and communications.

Megan Ross is the author of Milk Fever (uHlanga Press, 2018) a collection of poetry, and several short stories and essays that have gone on to achieve critical acclaim.

She is also an editor, journalist and graphic designer, working on both the copy & art aspects of book production for publishers across the African continent. She is a recipient of the Brittle Paper Award for Fiction (2017) and an Alumni Award for the Iceland Writers Retreat in Reykjavik (2016), as well as a finalist for the Gerald Kraak, Miles Morland, Short Story Day Africa and Short. Sharp Awards.

Megan lives on the South African Wild Coast with her partner and four-year-old son.

Marie-Ange Rukundo is a dynamic Rwandan, mom to the cutest boy in the world and married to one exceptional man. She is at her best when connecting with fellow humans on topics that speak to her heart, including motherhood, identity, food, the mystery of life, and God.

She advises university students in career matters during the day and when she is off the clock, you can find her at home with her family. She keeps her schedule busy with playdates, books, podcasts, a blog and trying out new recipes.  She is an extroverted libra on an unending quest for balance. 

Temitayo Olofinlua is a creative writer, editor, and communications specialist with a series of awards to her credit. Temitayo has completed writing assignments for various national and international organizations such as Facebook, Global Press Journal, Mania Magazine, One Global Economy, BudgIT, to mention a few.

She studied Literature-in-English at Obafemi Awolowo University. Her essays have won several awards including the Peter Drucker Challenge (2012 and 2014) and the 2019 Paula Chinwe Okafor Prize for Creative Non-fiction. She has also completed various ghost-writing projects.

She is currently finishing a Ph.D. programme in African Studies at the University of Ibadan.

Dr. Ifeanyi McWilliams Nsofor is a graduate of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Medical School and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. He is a Senior New Voices Fellow at the Aspen Institute and a Senior Atlantic Fellow for Health Equity at George Washington University. He is the CEO of EpiAFRIC and the Director of Policy and Advocacy at Nigeria Health Watch. He is a leading advocate for universal health care.  

Ifeanyi’s health communications and health advocacy efforts are hinged on the University of Global Health Equity’s mantra, to achieve equity in healthcare, there must be equity in health education. Ifeanyi is a Thought Leader in Global Health. He has written over 55 opinion pieces for different publishers including, The Hill, BioMed Central’s Bugbitten Blog, Scientific American, Project Syndicate, Devex, Inter Press Service, African Arguments, AllAfrica, The Globe Post, Nigeria Health Watch and Vanguard Nigeria. One of his opinion pieces is titled, “Let’s Prevent Post-partum Depression and Provide Care to Those in Need”. 

Ifeanyi is a TEDx Speaker – his 2018 TEDxOguiRoad Talk is titled, “Without Health, We Have Nothing”. In March 2020, Ifeanyi spoke at “Exploring Media Ecosystems Conference” at the Samberg Center of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Title of his talk was “Forward this to 10 People: The epidemic of health misinformation in Nigeria”. The Conference was organized by Media Cloud – a joint project by the MIT Center for Civic Media & the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.

In March 2020, Ifeanyi was also recognized among the Coronavirus Top 100 healthcare professionals globally. Ifeanyi is married to Omegie and they have 2 daughters (Yagazie and Chimamanda) and a dog, Simba. 

#thebodyconversation

Feature Image by Guilherme Reis from Pixabay