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Showing posts from December, 2017

MisBeee Writes in a Year: Part 2

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July:  Ayɛwoho-Kitawons A visit to literary festival Africa Writes resulted in a chance interview with Dr Sylvester Onwordi – son of the late British-Nigerian author Buchi Emecheta. Buchi remains my all-time favourite author and I’m proud to say that with the exception of one novel – I have read all her books. I interviewed Sylvester about his plans to launch a literary celebration to mark her life and work  on 8 February, which was later featured in The New Black Magazine .   August:  Difuu-Ɔsandaa At Black alternative music festival Afropunk, I met Natalie Fiawoo from the Black Cultural Archives (BCA) who was launching an exhibition of personal and private papers from Ewe Fia (King) – Togbui Adamah II. This was the first exhibition of its kind in London and you can read more here . Natalie Fiawoo of BCA - image from MisBeee Writes   In the same month I met the founder of Black British Bloggers - Mariam Bashorun and later joined her blogging group, learning new ski

MisBeee Writes in a Year - Part 1

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2017 has been a year of highs and lows for me but definitely one where I have learnt an awful lot from these experiences and from you. Below is a month by month summary of MisBeee Writes' Year in Review with the months displayed in Fante and Twi.    January:  Sanda-Ɔpɛpɔn   The year started off strong with a powerful interview from Tabom descendent Kai Lutterodt. Kai can trace her Ghanaian heritage six generations back to Brazil and has family connections to Brazil House in Jamestown.  Her story was not only an inspiration for me but spurred readers with Ghanaian heritage to get in touch and share their own journeys of tracing their family history back to Brazil. Kai Lutterodt and Brazilian friends - sourced from Kai   Autism awareness campaigner Venessa Bobb works tirelessly in the UK to dispel myths surrounding the condition in Black communities. This piece in the Voice was designed to keep this awareness going.   Never give up on your dreams is what I l

An interview with Shoobs founder Louise Broni-Mensah

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In her early 20s, Louise Broni-Mensah became the first Black female entrepreneur to secure capital from a seed fund provider in Silicon Valley to grow her fledgling business  Shoobs   (pronounced Shubz). The provider was Y Combinator - a company known for supporting such names as online renting service Airbnb and Genius - a lyrics and music knowledge database. Three years later (in 2017) and thanks to the funding and expertise she received, Louise's online ticketing and discovery platform is changing the way party-goers seek out, buy and engage with urban events across the UK. Louise Broni-Mensah  ©  Louise Broni-Mensah Passion project Louise took the traditional route to entering the business world. She holds a Mathematical Economics BSc from Birmingham University, worked in banking and finance and had her own property all by her early 20s. But music was never far from her thoughts. “I’ve always had a passion for music but I did it this way round because my parents