2021: Eyes (and ears) wide open

New resolutions and the euphoria of a new year notwithstanding, 2021 has started off feeling like the B-side of a 2020-mixtape.

The advent of a new strain of the COVID-19 virus, insurrection in the United States of America, and a continuing global economic crunch. And yet, there is hope. Hope when and finality to writing two thousand and twenty-one, that triggers a mental indication that we individually and collectively have the opportunity to turn a new leaf.

Of the press releases, news updates, and tweets during President Joe Biden & Vice President Kamala Harris’…

Good governance, rebuilding and amplifying our voices

“…and we have to be patient, and it’s not over until every vote is counted.” — Joseph Robinette Biden (former USA Vice President & President-Elect 2020)

Patience as a child was one of the most difficult values to grasp, and 2020 has reminded us all that it is indeed a virtue. Patience, we must exercise with the medical community in creating a thoroughly tested vaccine for COVID-19 to purge the ongoing global pandemic that has brought the global economy to its knees; patience as we await the final results and the finality in…

Validating Community Curation, Finally

My first recollection of curating a community was during my teenage years when I helped my mother, Muriel with The Call of Esther Ministry activities in Alexandria Virginia. We were dedicated to hosting a children’s Christmas party and per usual, I was always on gift-wrapping duty for 250, then 500 the following year to almost 1000 when I finally left for college.

Rotary & ending Polio

September has always been a fascinating month in my personal life as it represents the four weeks where I celebrate the birthdays of my loved-ones the most! Birth dates of my grandfather to both my parents: mom, dad; my young sister, and loved ones, the list keeps growing… September turns out to be a great month for me to keep giving, so here goes:

source: www.rotary.org

At the community level, an organization I am deeply passionate about (spending the better part of the last decade volunteering with), Rotary is seeking the complete eradication of a disabling…

During my reflective practice this month, I carved out specific space for 4th quarter goals ahead of September’s work. Nothing about our 2020 has been normal, and I suspect very little in the way we work, communicate, appreciate, and negotiate digital; shall be the same again.

In these times of accepting our new normal, a significant pivot even for a digital professional is the sheer amount of online engagement we are forced to participate in — while experiencing the highs and lows of remote work productivity, anxiety, and digital fatigue. If you are like me, you probably have invested in…

In a recent report by Facebook OECD and World Bank, Global State of Small Business: shares the devastation the pandemic has had on small businesses globally with up to 60% closures, directly correlated to lockdown measures in countries up to date. “The survey found that between January and May 2020, 26% of SMBs closed — in some countries, more than 50%.” — Data for Good

There possibly has not been a better time for community lean-in, and as things go on — a strategy for recovery, re-igniting the already-acknowledged SMB casualties to the devastating ongoing health pandemic.

The Black Lives Matter movement #BLM, rekindled by the unfortunate death of many black people, most noteworthy the 8 minutes 46 seconds knee-on-neck strangulation of George Floyd has the entire world interrogating racism and colonial structures that have, and continue to, disenfranchise blacks and Africans across the globe.

This episode, “Black Enterprise” features two phenomenal minds in business enterprise: Zimbabwe-born Brian Mushongera who is business development for Code4Kids in South Africa and his outfit uses the lockdown during Covid-19 to create a digital meeting application: Room.sh, …

Personally, June has ushered in a wave of emotions — some fresh wounds due to racial and class equity, and old hurt — that I hope to heal in this unpacking podcasting, professional advocacy, and writing process. To you, on this Unpacking Africa journey with me, I appreciate you. Thank you.

“Ultimately, it’s going to be up to a new generation of activists to shape strategies that best fit the times.” — Barack Obama

The heightened challenges from the health pandemic, extended lockdowns and economic shutdowns over the last four-five months have exacerbated global protests. In some contexts, the pandemic…