In Every Mirror She’s Black
Due out on 1 September 2021, pre-order your Kindle or Hardcopy now and save while you support black female authors.
Board Member Lola Akinimade’s Debut Novel
Stronger in 2019: 2 new Board members
The Board is pleased to announce the addition of two new Members.
Board Member & Grant Researcher (2019 – current)
Christine Obiya-Nordstr?m has extensive experience in brand strategy development, marketing asset development, local/ regional and international advertising campaigns, consumer research, media strategy and management, promotions and public relations.
Board Member & Directory Developer (2019 – current)
Laverne Wyatt’s focus is on recognizing the diversity of unrecognized expertise by helping people from diverse backgrounds to be more visible in online media. She is from South Africa and has lived and worked in Durban, Malta, and Oslo is a mother of 2 boys and an avid hobby farmer. Through her company In Living Colour – Media that Empowers – she guides people with expert knowledge and skills, with a desire to profit from knowledge sharing, through a 5 part system of self-branding.
Our 2017 Annual General Meeting
The Black Women in Europe? Social Media Group held its 2017 Annual General Meeting yesterday. Board members in Copenhagen, Denmark, Gothenburg, Stockholm, Sweden and New York, USA met via Skype and telephone.
Of the 8 members of the Board, one was in Stockholm protesting the slavery of African immigrants in Libya and another was being interviewed by German state television and were unable to attend.
Of the 10 agenda items discussed this change to our Statutes is of direct interest to society:
7) RULES FOR MEMBERSHIP AND EXCLUSION
All persons who completely accept and support the statutes of our association are welcome to become members of the Black Women in Europe? Social Media Group.
Scholarships can only be awarded to Members who are black women living in Europe. For these purposes, a black woman is defined as having direct African descent.
Membership fees and donations will be used to cover the costs of executing and maintaining the three pillars of the organization.
Voting results: 8 Aye
Board members unable to attend the full meeting were offered a Proxy to submit their vote. 3 votes were submitted by Proxy.
You have been accepted into the Google Developer Challenge Scholarship
Investing in our future
I am very pleased to have received this news! In my application I stated that I want to learn how to ensure that I can fulfill one mission of our organization:
To provide alternative platforms to mainstream media to showcase and promote positive images and news stories about black women in Europe. The platforms will include a multi-award winning blog and social media.
Congratulations! #GoogleUdacityScholars
We are excited to offer you a Google Developer Challenge Scholarship to the Front-End Web Developer track. We received applications from many talented and motivated candidates, and yours truly stood out.
Class begins November 6, 2017. As a scholarship student, you will be automatically enrolled into the program. We’ll be sending you an email on the first day of class, November 6th, 2017, with instructions to get started.
Chaitra, on behalf of the Udacity and Google Scholarship Team.
Decolonial Daughter
Our board member Lesley-Ann Brown will have a new book published next year.?Decolonial Daughter: Letters from a Black Woman to Her European Son?will be available in paperback on??15 May 2018.?
A Trinidadian-American writer and activist explores motherhood, migration, identity, nationhood and how it relates to land, imprisonment, and genocide for Black and Indigenous peoples.
Having moved to Copenhagen, Denmark from Brooklyn over 18 years ago, Brown attempts to contextualise her and her son’s existence in a post-colonial and supposedly post-racial world where the very machine of so-called progress has been premised upon the demise of her lineage. Through these letters, Brown writes the past into the present – penned from the country that has been declared “The Happiest Place in the World” – creating a vision that is a necessary alternative to the dystopian one currently being bought and sold.
Board Member Irene Opira’s Kulturf?reningen Maisha presents NANDI FLAME
Presented by Maisha Cultural Association
NANDI FLAME
Welcome to an evening inspired by Wangari Maathai, environmental activist and founder of the Green Belt Movement, also the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. If the trees – Nandi Flames could speak, then they would sing about Wangari Maathai and tell you this evening about the global climate and the situation in Africa. A performance of dance, music, and ghosts will be to and fro about the climate.
Extreme weather and natural disasters around the world make us unable to shut up for climate change. But much can be prevented and prevented.
Come and listen to Mats Nittve Vi-forest ambassador who tells you about their amazing work in East Africa. On stage, dancers meet and have a dance show! The Troubadour Tauna Niingungo plays on several instruments, including a rainstorm. Jessica Karl?n about doing stand-up in South Africa and much more.
participants:
Mats Nittve Vi-forest ambassador
Tauna Niingungo Trubadur
Jessica Karl?n artist, writer, and comedian
Darun poet
Charlotte Rieback & Diasmany Dance (Afro-Cuban)
Matilda Peltonen solo no
Kulturama dance show
The program is supported by the City of Stockholm. Maisha Cultural Association is part of Kulturens Bildningsf?rbund.
Photo: Goldman Environment Prize
Length: 2 hours incl. Break
Price: 120 kr, 100 kr student / retired
Date: 23 Sep, 19:00, Teater Pero
Meet Board Member Andy Collins
Note: One day in 2006 I received a phone call from Andy Collins. He had me at, “Hello” with his smooth voice draped in an English accent. He wanted to talk about his idea of a website about black culture in Sweden. He also offered to update my Black Women in Europe??logo. He’s been my idol ever since.–Adrianne George
Board Member
Andy Collins is freelance graphic designer and entrepreneur from London, England and lives in Uppsala, Sweden.
After arriving in 2005, Andy started the Afro-Swedish website urbanlife.se, a unique platform at the time focused on highlighting and supporting afro-Swedish culture.
His design projects reflected his desire to work with Black culture and the community with clients such as CinemAfrica, African History Week and Black Women in Europe?.
A passionate music lover and DJ in 2014 Andy started Urbanlife Radio sent directly from Uppsala’s Castle. He has also DJ’ed at several venues around Uppsala.
Since then he has been involved in several projects and currently devotes his time to supporting soul music from across Scandinavia on scandinaviansoul.com.
The website held the first ever Scandinavian Soul festival in 2013 and holds an annual award show.
Lagom: The Swedish Secret of Living Well
Our board member Lola Akinmade ?kerstr?m?has published a new book,?Lagom: The Swedish Secret of Living Well.
The hardcover version, released this month, was chosen by the famous British bookseller WH Smith for inclusion on their reading list for August:
We love nothing more than discovering new books, and even better, having a good chat about them afterwards with fellow bookworms. And so whether you’re devoted to Richard and Judy’s recommendations, searching for some Fresh Talent to read before all your friends, or simply looking for something new to get lost in on a Sunday afternoon, take a look at the books that we can’t stop talking about this month and let us know what you think!
We couldn’t be more proud!
Available on Amazon.co.uk
Available in Spanish.
Available on Amazon.com
Board Member
Award-winning writer and photographer Lola (Akinmade) ?kerstr?m has photographed and dispatched from roughly 60?countries for?various publications.?Her photography is represented by?National Geographic Creative.
Her work has appeared in?National Geographic Traveler,?BBC,?CNN,?The Guardian,?Travel + Leisure,?Slate,?Travel Channel, Lonely Planet, Fodor?s, National Geographic Channel,?several in-flight magazines,?amongst others. She was?in South Africa on a photography assignment for National Geographic Channel and was featured in?a?vignette?called ?Through The Lens? which airs on Nat Geo channel across the globe.
She also owns and runs?Geotraveler Media?? a?multimedia and travel consulting firm providing a spectrum of travel media-related services from writing and photography to web design and social media. She is editor-in-chief of?Slow Travel Stockholm?? an editorial site which encourages travelers to explore Stockholm deeper and slowly.
She is?also a founding member of the?Nordic Travel Bloggers?(NordicTB)?collective which brings together the top professional travel influencers and digital storytellers?in the Nordic countries of Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland.
About Irene Opira – Meet another board member
Freelance Writer, Producer, Social Entrepreneur
Board Member
Irene Opira is the founder of the groundbreaking Maisha African Diaspora Awards in Sweden. She is also the founder and owner of the Miss Africa Sweden brand, working to promote healthy ideals in the beauty industry and create diversity. Irene has been the producer and concept developer for both initiatives since inception.
Irene Opira holds a Bachelors?s degree in the Social Sciences and a Masters in Social Anthropology from Stockholm University.
She has worked in both government institutions as well as civil society organizations with a focus on human rights including minority rights, the human rights of children, women empowerment and diversity. Irene has also served as board member in various organizations such as Noaks Ark Stockholm and the Swedish Women?s Lobby.
Meet more of our Board
Board Member
Award-winning writer and photographer Lola (Akinmade) ?kerstr?m has photographed and dispatched from roughly 60?countries for?various publications.?Her photography is represented by?National Geographic Creative.
Her work has appeared in?National Geographic Traveler,?BBC,?CNN,?The Guardian,?Travel + Leisure,?Slate,?Travel Channel, Lonely Planet, Fodor?s, National Geographic Channel,?several in-flight magazines,?amongst others. She was?in South Africa on a photography assignment for National Geographic Channel and was featured in?a?vignette?called ?Through The Lens? which airs on Nat Geo channel across the globe.
She also owns and runs?Geotraveler Media?? a?multimedia and travel consulting firm providing a spectrum of travel media-related services from writing and photography to web design and social media. She is editor-in-chief of?Slow Travel Stockholm?? an editorial site which encourages travelers to explore Stockholm deeper and slowly.
She is?also a founding member of the?Nordic Travel Bloggers?(NordicTB)?collective which brings together the top professional travel influencers and digital storytellers?in the Nordic countries of Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland.
Board Member
Kathy Thompson is a former classical, neo-contemporary and modern professional dancer. Amsterdam (Scapino). She performed with the Basel Ballet, Switzerland, Cie Nomads, Vevey, Switzerland, Phillip Treh?t, LeHarv, France, Pretty Ugly, Freiburg, Germany, and Dortmund Stadtheater, Germany.After dancing in various productions in Berlin she?re-educated herself, moved to Stockholm and worked for foot specialists Scholls where she honed her skills before opening her own salon. Kathy is a foot therapist, lymph mass?r and Alexandria Body Sugaring hair removal practitioner and Educator. It is not by accident that Kathy is able to use her innate ability to be in tune with the body and mind to bring healing and beauty together in a professional setting in Stockholm city.
Board Member
A native of Gambia, Daphne Norman-Sandberg has called Sweden home since she was two years old.
After earning a Business Administration degree from the?University of Gothenburg Daphne spent 24 years as a Social Worker and Human Resources Champion fighting to prevent sexual violence against women and children. She was an advisor to the Swedish Delegation to the UN Commission for the Elimination of Discrimination Again Women in 2010.
She is the proud mother of 3, grandmother of 1 and foster mother to over 40 children from various backgrounds. Somehow, she has found the time to fuel her love of travel. In addition to her monthly trips to the UK to visit the Gambian community, her travels have included visits to Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Poland, Iceland and all 3 Baltic States.