Black Mighty Women

13/07/2022

Multi-award-winning singer-songwriter, Simi, has surpassed 100 million total streams on Boomplay, making her the first female artist to achieve this milestone record. The #1 music streaming and download service recently made the announcement on its official social media pages.

Still reeling off the success and reception from her recently released 5th solo project To Be Honest, Simi is reckoned as one of the prominent and leading voices shaping the new wave of Afropop sound flooding both local and international music charts. With 100 million streams on Boomplay, the prolific singer, Simi, records another major career milestone, that furthers the celebration and representation of women breaking boundaries and leading trail-blazing achievements in music.

In addition, Simi joins a growing list of Boomplay’s Golden Club, whose other members include Nigeria’s Burna Boy, Wizkid, Davido, Fireboy DML, Joeboy, and Omah Lay, as well as Tanzania’s Diamond Platinumz and Rayvanny.

Commenting on this milestone, Tosin Sorinola, Director of Artiste & Media Relations, Boomplay, shared that “Boomplay is dedicated to amplifying voices and ensuring inclusion and representation in music. As an organization, we will continue to recognize and celebrate the strides made by women globally.”

Simisola Bolatito Kosoko, better known by her stage name Simi, started her career as a gospel singer, releasing her debut studio album in 2008, titled Ogaju, she also recently played as one of the top judges in season 7 of Nigerian idol 2022.

Since her last full-length project in 2019, the Nigerian singer has achieved a top 5 record on the Billboard World Album Chart, and an MTV Africa Music Award nomination, amongst other accomplishments, including this latest streaming milestone.

Source: culturecustodian.com

26/04/2022

Do you know that before Kamala Harris, there were other black women who aimed for the white house?
Harris is one of many Black American women to have aimed for the highest office in the US

26/04/2022

Meisha Porter on March 15 became the first Black woman selected as chancellor of the New York City public school system.

24/03/2022

Written by Obinna Akpuchukwu

At the age of 21 while a single mum, Nneka Akudolu QC, without an A levels took the Access to Legal Studies Course, got into law school and was called to the UK Bar in 2002. Two days ago, she was inducted as a Queen’s Counsel of the UK 🇬🇧. I admire your resilience, Learned Silk.

This is a reminder that you can be anything you want to be, if you work towards it, with some dint of luck, of course.

30/12/2021

14/10/2021

Written by Olori Adenike

My dad was working as a security officer in a company until he had issues with a German who was stealing the company's product. The guy planned for him and he was deported.

Our struggle began.

After passing my junior WAEC,my dad couldn't pay for our school fees.

From private secondary school to a public school.

I was admitted into one public school in Ibadan. I had wanted to be in science class but I was admitted into commercial class because there was no space in science class.

On the very first day, I cried when I saw crowd in my class unlike the private school with the population of less than 20 students in a class.

After 1 week in the public school, my uncle arrived from Lagos and requested for my transfer back to my former private school to continue my Senior class. He promised to pay my school fees.

I joined science class in 3rd term.

I was far behind because the school where I was coming from(public school),we didn't do anything reasonable.Teachers would bring vegetables and egusi to school for students to sort.

In SS2, my uncle's attitude started changing whenever it was time to pay school fee.
I saw this red light and quickly saved money to write NECO GCE. I had 7 credits and 1 pass at one sitting.

I passed. And didn't bother to proceed to SS3 because my uncle stopped paying.

So,out of 9 terms a student should do in Senior classes,I only did 4. All the fundamental topics in chemistry, biology and physics, I taught myself.

I had no guidance, no adviser, I was alone in my world but God didn't leave me.

O ku Higher education 😁

***************************

In 2006,Just because my uncle told me to study Bus. Admin. and I refused,he left us totally.

I wanted to study medicine or Biochemistry.

I could remember how we used to eat white rice and groundnut oil without meat.

I learned hairdressing.

I later became a sale girl in 2006 where I was receiving N3500 as monthly salary.

After 1 year(2007), I gained admission to study Sociology in Bayero University Kano.
I was advised to manage the course,with the little money I saved,I sha went.

After clearance and everything,just because of N30,000. I couldn't finish with my mates.

I cried! I cried!! I cried!!!

I was lonely, frustrated and suicidal.

With anger,I didn't return to Ibadan, I went to Lagos to live with my grandparents at Ketu.

***************************
In 2009 started working as a sales girl in Alade market,Ikeja where I was receiving N7,500 as monthly salary. I would spend N4,500 on transportation.

I managed for almost 1 year.

In 2009,someone told me about BRT ticketing. 😀I carried my 2 left legs to their Depot,and I got the ticketing job.

My first salary was N22,000. I cried because for me,it was a big money and I was like "a whole me,22k".
I quickly went to obtain LASPOTECH PT form to study SLT(Science Lab.Tech),a three years course.

I would sell ticket from Monday to Friday and would go to school on Saturday and Sunday.

If you can remember first BRT(mile 12 to CMS),I was part of the first set of ticketers. Ticketer must be in the shelter before 5a.m.

We has two shifts; morning and afternoon.

I would close by 10pm,because most times, I would do full day,so that I could cover for my Saturday and Sunday. Our pay was based on commission. The more you sell,the bigger your salary.

My company got suspended from BRT operation when I was in ND2.
I needed N20,000 to balance my tuition fee so I visited that my uncle (I had no one to turn to except him).He told me how all my mates were getting married, that he thought I brought wedding invitation card... I left his office in tears.

I didn't want to go home,so I went straight to Leventis bus stop to play with my colleagues from other ticketing company and LAG BUS staff. There was an old man I used to reserve a sit for when I was working,the man would leave his office anytime with the assurance that,he would join any bus on ground. Sometimes, he would come early and play with us for hours before leaving.
We call him "daddy" he was a senior staff of Union bank in Marina.

That particular day,he knew something was wrong with me. He persuaded me to tell him.
When I told him what my uncle told me and the school fee,he was surprised and also impressed I was going to school.

He told me to meet him at the bus stop the next day. I did and he gave me a brown envelope, my school fee balance.

After few months, the ticketing company called us back,I started working again.

I completed my National Diploma.

I thought of getting married.
The load was heavy for me,I had 5 siblings(one died).

No hope to further my education. Even the course I wanted to do,it wasn't available in PT program.

I was tired of everything!

When I decided to start having boyfriends to survive,something happened.

God saw I wanted to go astray,he showed himself.

FACEBOOK rescued me.

I met the first person I wanted to "flex" with on Facebook😀

He invited me to his office.
I expected him to ask me out. He didn't.

He started preaching.

He gave me a bible and N10,000 for transport without touching me. I was surprised and confused.

He introduced me to Christianity.

He asked about my life and I narrated everything to him.

He promised he would be giving me N20,000 monthly and advised me to obtain a full time HND form to study my desired course.

I applied for HND BIOCHEMISTRY in LAGOS STATE POLYTECHNIC.

I couldn't remember who I was searching for one day,I met another person on Facebook. He became my brother too. He paid my full tuition fee and also paid for my accommodation without taking advantage of me. He is in this group 🥰

He fulfilled his promises.

I used part of what I was getting from them for my siblings education.

******************************************

In 2015, I graduated as the overall best student with a perfect CGPA of 4.00/4.00; first of its kind in the history of the institution. I broke record,I was in the news; Punch,vanguard, instablog,bellanaija etc(sometimes I still check my name on Google to read my own story).

All those who abandoned me got in touch.

The day my Uncle and Auntie saw my picture on the front page of Punch newspaper,they sent me friend request on Facebook.

My aunty,who has been in the UK since 40 years ago came to Nigeria and took my convocation calender (Someone who ended a phone conversation on my grandmother when she told her to say "hello" to me in 2007)

(I didn't blame them because I wasn't their responsibility, even though my dad saw them through their own education)

My sponsors were proud and extremely happy.
I was offered an automatic employment on the convocation ground. It was indeed a beginning of an unquenchable sparks in my life.

I also enrolled for a direct entry because of the HND/Bsc dichotomy in Nigeria and graduated with a first-class honours.

In 2020,I got a fully funded scholarship for my Masters degree in the UK.

MY AUNTY JUST LEFT MY APARTMENT TO GREET ME AND APOLOGISE.

************************************
My sisters are now graduates.

Thank God we don't look like what we have been through.

Thank you.

Picture1: I came across it online in 2019 I loved the school and the picture itself and I said to myself
"one day,I will take a picture as a student of this great institution and it will be a fully funded scholarship because I no get money 😀"

Picture 2: Na me be that 😀a postgraduate student of the same university and the Class representative for Biomedical science 😀

AND TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY 😀

I IDENTIFY WHAT I WANT,AND I PURSUE IT WITH ALL MY STRENGTH!

😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍

19/02/2021

If it pays your bills be proud of it.
This is a true story of a Ugomma Johnson who is a food vendor.
.......................................................................................

After snapping this picture on Tuesday at my business place at Olodi Apapa, Lagos, Trinity market to be precise, I showed it to one of my customers, he asked if I was going to post it on social media, I replied that I would post it on my Facebook story.

Immediately I said that, he was like, what? You want to post that? Don't!!!!!!!!

I could interpret the expression on his face to mean, "this is too demeaning to post na" 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I was like mehn, how do you mean, would you rather that I stand in front of somebody's mansion or car to snap and post as mine? Chai! You see how we don't even encourage people to be real.

Look, for a long time, I tried to hide the fact that I hawk till date, a lot of people thought that I still work with the online radio station where I used to work as the Head Of Content. A job that drained me mentally/physically and still left me broke all the time because the pay was barely enough to even foot my transportation bill. Often times I had to eat on credits at work so that hunger will not finish my life. My colleague Omon Ebhodaghe Esezobor was the one who always came to my rescue 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

So most people still see me as someone working with an online radio, But no, I resigned a long time ago and went back to my food business, a decision that I would forever be grateful to have made. And that is because I can now easily work around my time to focus on other important things such as my community work and self development.

Though, hawking this food is not easy but I am determined to keep at it till I'm able to get a shop/space.

I have a lot to say about this business of mine and a lot of lessons to draw from it, but permit me not to go into details for now.

I always tell people that I don't view hawking as an end, rather I see it as a means to an end. While many call it hustle, I call it a profession, while they call it hawking, I call it running a company because that is what I see. I already have a business name and I'm working towards having it registered with CAC sef, it is that serious. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

If you are reading this and you are not proud of your work, repent today, stop hiding your means of livelihood as long as it is legitimate and it is paying your bills.

With this hawking, I was able to sponsor myself to learn a skill (hairdressing) years ago, with this hawking I also raised fund to publish my first book, , and with the proceeds from this hawking, I also started my community work. How about the fact that my siblings and I have not gone begging despite the fact that we became orphaned early in life, all because this food business sustained us. Most of the things you see me do in my community, such as organising events for teenagers, helping them out financially in my own little ways, or giving out sanitary pads to teenagers in my community, all come from proceeds from this food hawking business. And yes! Just so you know, I resigned from my job, hawked the streets of Lagos so I can raise fund to organise my very first big event.

I am sharing this to let you know that you don't have to wear suits and ties to live a purposeful and meaningful life.

Am I asking you to become a hawker like me? Hell no! All I'm saying is whatever your hands have found to do, do it well. Be proud of your hustle. Be real. For now, this is what my hand has found to do and I will keep doing with with pride and dignity.

In all, follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and know what He would have you do with your life per time. When I resigned from my work, a lot of people raised their eyebrow, it was like, are you sure this girl is not stupid like this? In fact, a friend of mine said to me, how can you be teaching teenagers in your community to leave hawking and do something more meaningful with their lives yet you are a hawker yourself? That almost discouraged me, but I said to myself, I can also let these teenagers know that one can hawk his way to the top simply by channeling the proceeds from the hawking into developing themselves and having a plan for their lives. Na hawk I hawk abeg, I no kee person. 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

Many times, I have tried to run away from this business, I only saw it as something that I run to whenever I need cash for any project and once I'm done with the project I would bid it farewell again, but so many things keep drawing me back to it. Whenever I go broke and begin to pray to God to help me, all I keep hearing is, "I have given you a gold but you despise it because it doesn't look flashy, go back to that gold mine and dig", my intuition kept pointing me back to this business until I went back to it and today, I have peace. Yes, I am at peace doing the " difficult/demeaning" thing as a lot of people see it. And I will keep at it pending when I'm able to rent a shop/space or when I'm lead to dive into something else. Today, I have learnt to treat it as a business.

It is foolishness to pretend to be who you are not, why come to social media to pose as a manager in an oil company like shell, when you are selling groundnut oil "ontop" carter bridge, don't you know that you can be so real that you will even be able to package and position your groundnut oil business to look like an oil company as well? If you become that groundnut oil seller who leaves her/his customers satisfied and asking for more, to the point that people line up to buy from you, will you die? 😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜

Ask my customers, some of them are on my list here, even though I hawk my food, but if I package my food, put all the "appearances" (designing) and serve you, you will think that the food was delivered from one of the biggest restaurants on the Island. 🤣🤣 No jokes. Does it mean my cooking always turns out right or I don't make mistakes? No, but my customers have known me for excellence that whenever they find a loophole, they can easily make up excuses for me.

This post is already longer than I want it. I will share more stories in the nearest future. The challenges, insults, and all the ups and downs that I encountered at the early stage. Especially all the slaps that I used to receive and how people used to humiliate me until I learnt how to carry myself with pride that I can now command respect even while hawking my food. In fact, some of my customers call me professional (learned) hawker.

For now, I encourage you to always be proud of your work. Na work you work, you no kill person. I pray God will prosper all the legitimate hustlers out there.

Written by Ugoma Johnson.

10/08/2020

You can be anything you want to be, your dreams may not come true but can come through if you so desire.
A black mighty woman is sharing her powerful story with us...

My name is RACHAEL G. ONYEMAIRO (Mrs)
I'm 31. Today, with the few privileges that God has granted me, people who see, read and follow me, don't seem to know that I'm coming from not just fiery trials but furnace.

But, I know too well that the story of my past when shared, can light up the souls and enlighten the societal views of young people and young women across Africa and beyond.

When I was about 4, my parents divorced each other. After my mum finally left, life gradually turned bitter for us. I'm talking about only 5 kids, the oldest of whom was about 10, living alone in the entire compound. Meanwhile, there wasn't phone at the time, because it was early 90s.

I remember us eating unfermented African salad at various times. This was because the kind of hunger that befell us when my Dad spent days on outside work, was excruciating.

At a point, my Dad gave me to a particular old woman in Enugu state where he relocated us to. This old woman and her daughter subjected me to series of hard labour including interstate trekking (from Nkanu East in Enugu state to Ezza in Ebonyi state). I didn't mention that each of us had to stop schooling at different times.

Finally, I returned to the house and was further given to my uncle that stays in Enugu. It was in this uncle's house that I narrowly escaped r**e from a pe*****le. It was also there that I narrowly escaped being killed by ritualists on my way to a Night School where I was enrolled in. Actually, I exhausted 1997 in my uncle's house without being registered into any school. It was sometime in 1998 that I got registered in a night school with adults as my classmates. In other words, I was put in adult education system. I was 9 then.

After the ritualistic escape, the couple registered me in an Afternoon School. Because of the ill treatments which I got from my uncle and his wife, I attempted su***de many times. I also considered running away from the house but couldn't, because I didn't know the road to my father's house from Enugu there; I was too tender. Eventually, my Dad sent my elder brother to come and bring me home. That was in January, 2000.

A new dimension of travail began in 2002 when my Dad took ill and was taken to several hospitals.

Around June 2003, he was referred to a hospital in Enugu and I was the one that went along with him. In the end, we returned in November that some year and he died on the 31st of the same month. I was 13 then. Meanwhile, mum surprisingly returned home 24 hours to Dads demise. This dawn of fatherlessness ushered us into a new era of extreme hardship.

Though I struggled to continue schooling alongside my siblings, I still was forced to drop out of school in SS2 and start serving as a salesgirl. I was 17 at this point. While doing these salesgirl jobs, I kept writing GCE and JAMB exam until University of Nigeria, Nsukka offered me admission in 2009.

Aside doing various businesses, begging and borrowing as an undergraduate, I had to bake and hawk snacks as a corps member before I was able to register for my Masters Degree programme.

Today, by Gods grace, I'm a PhD student. I'm also the founder of INNOVATIVE MINDS VISION, AFRICA (IMVA), where we train the minds and empower the hands of young people across the African continent to be able to employ themselves and others through solving problems with skills and approaches that meet global standards. At IMVA also, visionary individuals who are either potential or practising entrepreneurs share knowledge, innovative ideas and skills that help them to build profitable brands that can compete globally. I'm the Director of the famous innovative business institution known as INNOVATORS iSPACE, where I help visionary entrepreneurs build globally relevant brands using their personality specifics and highly innovative business ideas. By God's grace, I'm equally the CEO of a tech-based business firm called Digital Spotlight Consults and have authored 3 books.

20/05/2020

Jason Njoku the founder of IROKO, met his wife Mary 8 years ago and according to him, they spoke for only 3 hours, after 4 days he told her , I would marry you
Well, trust Igbo man na
He probably went to her father's house ,to introduce himself before she got home that day.

That 3 hrs discussion made him realise, she has always wanted to be behind the camera, writing script etc, on top of all that she is a fantastic actress
But 8 years ago, mary Remy was just a girl getting Waka pass roles in Nollywood movies,
I knew her back then
She was the bar girl, on one popular AIT sitcom (I have forgotten the name, dominos or something like that)

They got married and see what she has made of IROKO TV
95 percent of the movies you see on ROK TV stations were all produced by her.
They are worth over 100 million dollars now.

Marriage, didn't even stop her dreams,
After having their first child, she started writing scripts from home, bringing up ideas, her husband had the platform already, she just upgraded it with her beautiful ideas.

According to her, she said people advised her to stop working, because she married a rich man, yea Jason was doing alright, but she had a sense of ownership and responsibility
She saw his business as hers and never stopped, until it got to where it is today.

There are many lessons to pick here
But I don't want to sound motivational this morning .

when you meet some certain kind of people, and you get the chance to speak with them
Please don't spend all your time talking about mundane things like Lagos traffic, Lagos traffic cannot help your life
Talk about Important things, like what you want to do with your life etc.

Imagine if Remy and Jason were arguing about Nigerian jollof and Ghana jollof that day, they would have probably laughed it off, go home and forgot they met.

Or you think, he didn't meet other A list actress, probably spoke to them, before meeting Mary?
He was a big boy in the media business.

Now he doesn't address himself as Founder of IROKO TV, he addresses himself as Co- founder.

If you are a person that wants to grow in life and become successful

Be selective of people you associate with
Whether you Marry them , date them or just befriend them

Association is powerful!

09/05/2020

There is a saying that you won’t be loved properly if you don’t have money.
There is nothing stopping a woman from achieving greatness and becoming financially free except herself and her mindset.
He is your husband and partner not your Oxygen.
See what this Black Mighty woman has to share 👇👇👇

In our early years of marriage, hubby was constantly using the phrase, "I will divorce you" at every slightest provocation. Any little misunderstanding like this, you would hear, "and I will divorce you." He sang it into my hearing like a national anthem. I was always as quiet as a fool.

He would always say, "I will stop sending you money, you and the kids will suffer, and I will see how you will cope."

I was pregnant and we had a little argument, immediately he started with 'national anthem.' I said to myself, I need to permanently shut up this man. His belief was that the pregnancy period is the time I would be most vulnerable, and he expected me to be begging up and down.

Meanwhile, I am a state government worker, while he works with the federal government. He earned more than twice my salary, I was just a young state government worker at level 8.

His mindset was that there was no way ever I could cope with my little salary, with kids and pregnancy. He stopped calling us, stopped sending us money. Then I went ahead to block him and made sure he couldn't reach us even if he tried to.

A few days later, he began trying to reach us, he couldn't. By the fifth day, he went ahead to triple the allowance. I saw an alert and returned the money with alacrity. When he saw the alert, he went to borrow a phone to call me. I picked it up, and he began to beg. I told him I do not need the money for anything, that he should wait and see what God will do, with or without him.

I told him if I collected the money, something terrible might happen. I was just too mad. He came home and begged. I told him it is that very divorce that I wanted, and he wept bitterly, with a promise never to utter such again. I told him I have forgiven him, but the allowance for that particular month, he should keep it in his account, when I need it, I would ask for it, but for now, I would be okay with the kids.

He left home with a bunch of guilt. A few weeks after, my phone got spoilt, he couldn't reach us directly, I purposely refused to buy another phone, I would tell him to say whatever he wanted to say to his cousin, and she would deliver his message to me. I made sure he didn't have an opportunity to discuss at length with me which made it impossible for any unnecessary arguments.

Two months later, he couldn't cope again. I woke up to see an alert of N60,000 one morning, aside from the normal allowance, begging me to please use it to buy a phone at least. I bought the phone and he apologized over and over again. He said if he ever loses me, he would never be able to cope. I said when he knew that, why the national anthem "I will divorce you."

I said, "have you now seen that it is only the Almighty God that can make anyone to suffer and not any human?"
He felt very terrible, very humble, and gave me his ATM card to his salary account. Since then till this very moment, it has been me withdrawing his salary and sending him an allowance monthly.

After a decade now, the normal national anthem has never been sung since then till this very moment.

20/04/2020

Someone needs to hear this👇

17/04/2020

celebrates mum today.
Happy birthday to a unique mum. From all BMWs

17/04/2020

Meet a powerful CEO from Nigeria, started a small business just right inside her room as a student and had over one hundred consistent clients just within 6 months.

My name is Okire Adanna Mercy. I am a 2020 Batch A Corp member and the CEO of Onyxx Cakes and Pastries.
Onyxx cakes started in 2019 in my hostel and since then it has grown to be one of the most reputable cake brand in my school, University of Nigeria Nsukka.
At onyxx Cakes and pastries, we produce a variety of baked goods and pastries ranging from Cakes and pastries which is a means of creating job opportunities. By December 2019 we already had a customer base of over 100 consistent clients.

Our goal is to ensure that;

• Special moments are captured in celebrations with our custom made cakes.
• Clients can have freshly baked cakes and pastries with high quality ingredients.

17/04/2020

Share your story and connect with other Black Mighty Women Today

17/04/2020

A strong woman works out everyday to keep her body in Shape. But a woman of STRENGTH 💪 kneels in prayer to keep her soul in shape