I AM NALA – Details, episodes & analysis

In this episode, we openly talk politics in Namibia and the rise of the youngest minister in Africa. Emma shares about her childhood, the ever changing ICT sector and digital economy, Palestinians right to self determination and she also shares her gratitudes affirmations and haircare routine. She is an orchids lover. 

Emma believes " The political space has written rules and unwritten rules, silent expectations and loud expectations. It is easy to go with the crowd and what others believe its true. But it important that constantly I make decision that I believe in." 

On female leadership she believes "Women show up everyday. Women are good enough to raise Presidents, Kings and Leaders but we’re not good enough to be those leaders ourselves? Make it make sense!" she continues "There aren’t many of us in this country, on the continent or in the world.  We, young women, are also here and we deserve a seat at the table."

She has been helping girls code and reducing cost of data, donating laptops to schools and community centres as well as passing bills in Parliament on reduction and removal of tax on sanitary pads. She also advocated for paid Internships which was adopted by finance ministry. 

On being part of Nalafem Collective she says " Being part of a Pan-African feminist movement on the continent like Nalafem is an energy booster that validates our feelings of the lack of compassionate grief and that we’re not alone, let's get back to work. This makes Nalafem necessary" 

Her dinner table would surly have Former President of Liberia , Ellen Johnson Sirelaf and Former Deputy Prime Minister of Namibia, Libertine Amathila.

Worlds of Wisdom from Emma: 

• Inform yourself
• Understand how systems operate
• Show up! Be seen! Make your voice heard
• Your don’t have to know all the answers but have a spirit of a learner
• Continuously be authentic

Book recommendation:  Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus by by John Gray

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Want to support the Nala Feminist Collective? 

Visit our website to learn how you can help: nalafem.org follow IG account @IamNala_podcast  

Learn more about the Africa Young Women Beijing+25 Manifesto and how you can help the young women of Africa create a better life for future generations.

nalafem.org/manifesto

For collaboration and sponsorships contact aya@nalafem.org 

In this episode, we openly talk about the creative industry, manifesting Forbes 30 Under 30,  her travels and adventures, her childhood, co-creation from a place of knowing to social media as a space of entitlement.  You will also learn how to operationalize creatives and navigate the space. 

Jena's mother encouraged an environment where she could simply ‘become’ which opened her to the world of ‘trying’, from studious kid, to tour guide to a boss of a marketing agency, Jena shares her three dimensional self.  

We’re looking at a potential politician. Jena studied Political Science. She identifies as feminist and champion for underrepresented and overlooked people because she says “ I am her, she is me”. She believes her contribution to the liberation of women, black and brown bodies is in "opening doors and access" for her people as well as translating their voices to the stakeholders that matter.

Some of her Words of wisdom; 

• What do you do when no one else is watching
• Create your container and processes
• Do the work when no one watching
• Ask yourself how you show up in the world
• This body is the only airplane we get to fly- take care of it & nurture it
• We have one life to live
• It is our job to build with, to allow to be built through
• figure out what do you care about & what gets me excited
• Extract your creative DNA from your work to show why you add value
• let go
• Be ready to give and ready to receive
• Increase your value
• Allow yourself to feel, if you need to cry, cry
• Hearing ‘No’ is part of life journey, it’s okay
• Enjoy being a kid,  being curious of not knowing
• 3 Ss  1) Start your day with meditation - 2) Strengthen yourself for the next season & 3) Stay in touch with my network

Enjoy this episode and don't miss her poetry at the end. Find out more about her work at  www.jenasekwa.com

 _____________________________________________

Want to support the Nala Feminist Collective? 

Visit our website to learn how you can help: nalafem.org follow IG account @IamNala_podcast  

Learn more about the Africa Young Women Beijing+25 Manifesto and how you can help the young women of Africa create a better life for future generations.

nalafem.org/manifesto

For collaboration and sponsorships contact aya@nalafem.org 

Former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Nigerian economist Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala come from two different political atmospheres, yet have the ability to build common ground on their shared gendered experiences. Gillard and Okonjo-Iweala are former political leaders with years of expertise as women in government spaces.  They share with Nalafem community insights from their book on Women and Leadership: Real Lives, Real Lessons, and the implications of their findings for the field of global development and health.
 

Today we’re talking with Verlaine-Diane Soobroydoo, a humanist growing up with a Mauritian Indian mother and Congolese father, has taken an unconventional journey of leadership from a career at the United Nations to a published Author. When COVID-19 hit, she felt that the dust settled, realising there is some work she needs to do for healing and her reflections resulted into her first book "Unbound Twitter Thoughts for the Heart and Mind". 

Aya and Verlaine talk about Writing as a healing, Freedom, Womanhood, resetting, the gift of being, and letting go. Verlaine also talked about the people who "hold on to their old leaves, they think they will com back to green, and that it’s still my time". Some of Verlaine's advice : 

• Remove people who would activate your wounds
• Free dive into the cycle of life
• If you’re not whole within yourself, you’re not able to recognise pain within others
• Its not the job that makes you , you make the job
• Go get these leadership positions
• Be free - Freedom of being whole and pursing every level of oneself
• Home is where we need to be
• Womanhood as a trip to wholeness, You have to take a trip to find yourself, find your voice and find courage.

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Want to support the Nala Feminist Collective? 

Visit our website to learn how you can help: nalafem.org

Learn more about the Africa Young Women Beijing+25 Manifesto and how you can help the young women of Africa create a better life for future generations.

nalafem.org/manifesto

For collaboration and sponsorships contact aya@nalafem.org 

Kenya: With over a decade of experience in public service, Rose Wachuka, is a Policy Advisor and Chief of Staff at Chief Justice of the Judiciary of Kenya. In this episode, Aya and Rose talk about politics from an African worldview including Kenyan politics and Tomas Sankara. Rose reveals some bold views on US politics as well as Palestine-Israel politics. Through two songs of her choice from North Africa, she has taken us on a journey to different writers and books and people who inspired her as she considers “Writing as an act of melancholy”. On culture, Rose shared about her wild 35th birthday with inspiring advice and tips for young women and girls pursuing their ambitions but feeling trapped in cultural norms as she says  “Vulnerability starts where shame ends”, she also openly talked about sexuality, relationships and spirituality. 

Songs 

• Zina by Babylone
• Sidi Mansour by Omar Khorshid

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Want to support the Nala Feminist Collective? 

Visit our website to learn how you can help: https://nalafem.org

Learn more about the Africa Young Women Beijing+25 Manifestoand how you can help the young women of Africa create a better life for future generations.

https://nalafem.org/manifesto

For collaboration and sponsorships contact aya@nalafem.org

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Tunisia : Today we’re talking with Maha Jouini, author and activist. Aya and Maha talk about multiple battlefields including dance, history, cyber space, stigma and democracy. Maha explains how Pan-Arabism failed as a movement, how pre-colonial culture was matriarchal, how indigenous culture was feminist culture, how she overcome Tasfih (the practice of Locker to protect women's virginity) into sexual liberation. She also shares her aspiration for Tunisia’s democratic governance, death of Beji Caid Essebsi, LGBT rights in Tunisia and much more.

Feminists mentioned: Lina Ben Mhanni and Maya Jribi

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Want to support the Nala Feminist Collective? 

Visit our website to learn how you can help: https://nalafem.org

Learn more about the Africa Young Women Beijing+25 Manifestoand how you can help the young women of Africa create a better life for future generations.

https://nalafem.org/manifesto

For collaboration and sponsorships contact aya@nalafem.org

Egypt: Today we’re talking with Fatma Emam (Fatou Sakory), a Nubian Egyptian, 3rd generation of internally displaced ethnicity. Aya and Fatolu talk about African feminism, Female genital mutilation, Nubian culture, blackness, right to return, land rights, Arabization and Izlamization of North Africa, religion and Hijab and broader conversation about identity.   

Feminists mentioned in the interview are Amina Wadud, Fatema Mernissi, Maha Abdelhamid and Saadia Mesbah

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Want to support the Nala Feminist Collective? 

Visit our website to learn how you can help: https://nalafem.org

Learn more about the Africa Young Women Beijing+25 Manifesto and how you can help the young women of Africa create a better life for future generations.

https://nalafem.org/manifesto

For collaboration and sponsorships contact aya@nalafem.org

Nigeria: Today we’re talking with Emmy nominated investigative reporter, Nkiru "Kiki" Mordi, a Nigerian investigative journalist, filmmaker, writer and entrepreneur. She dropped out of school because she was harassed by a lecturer in her school. This ordeal was what led her to shoot the Sex for Grades film with the BBC Africa Eye. Aya and Kiki talk about storytelling, lessons learnt, failures and advice on security and the power of community. Some of Kiki's golden tips and advice on the show; (1) Ask questions not from a malicious place but from a place of wanting to grow (2) Dont be afraid to be wrong (3) Do your research to get confidence  

Want to support the Nala Feminist Collective? 

Visit our website to learn how you can help: https://nalafem.org

Learn more about the Africa Young Women Beijing+25 Manifesto and how you can help the young women of Africa create a better life for future generations.

https://nalafem.org/manifesto

For collaboration and sponsorships contact aya@nalafem.org

Sudan: Today we’re talking with Yassmin Abdel-Magied , a Sudanese-Australian writer, engineer and award-winning social advocate. Aya and Yassmin talk about demand 7 of B+25 manifesto on Education as well as debate around decolonisation, unconscious bias, and Yassmin's books including Talk About A Revolution, You Must Be Layla among others. 

Want to support the Nala Feminist Collective? 

Visit our website to learn how you can help: https://nalafem.org/

Learn more about the Africa Young Women Beijing+25 Manifesto and how you can help the young women of Africa create a better life for future generations.

https://nalafem.org/manifesto-nala-feminist-collective/

For collaboration and sponsorships contact aya@nalafem.org

Uganda: Today we’re talking with Rosebell Kagumire , a writer, campaigner, pan-African feminist and multimedia communications strategist. Aya and Rosebell talk about demand 4 of B+25 manifesto on Access to Justice and Protection as well as debating concepts of power, colonialism, sexuality and freedom. 

Want to support the Nala Feminist Collective? 

Visit our website to learn how you can help: https://nalafem.org/

Learn more about the Africa Young Women Beijing+25 Manifesto and how you can help the young women of Africa create a better life for future generations.

https://nalafem.org/manifesto-nala-feminist-collective/

For collaboration and sponsorships contact aya@nalafem.org