Funmi Iyanda: The Media Activist
Funmi Iyanda was born in Lagos and enjoyed motherly care until her mother’s death when she was just 7. She forged through life and graduated with a degree in Geography from the University of Ibadan.
However, her love for journalism drove her to have her first gig in Good Morning Nigeria a breakfast television show who has as its focus, people who are maligned in the society. The show’s Heroes and Street Life had as its focus people who are maligned in the society.
A presenter in all ramifications, she anchored a sports show MITV Live and by 1999 she covered the 1999 female Football World Cup, the All Africa Games in Zimbabwe and the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games in Sydney and Athens and an appraised documentary for the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations.
Intercepting between sports and social conscious programmes, she kicked off New Dawn¸ a daily show on NTA 10 Lagos in 2000 and became known as the queen of television.
The show quickly caught on among members of the society. Moreso, the “Change-A-Life”, the social intervention baby project of the show will go on to touch the lives of 98 children, grant scholarships and give healthcare.
An established writer, she was a columnist for Tempo Magazine, Farafina Magazine, PM NEWS, The Punch, Daily Trust and Vanguard Newspapers.
In 2011, she was given the Young Global Leader (YGL) by World Economic Forum.
In 2012, she and her partner Chris Dada’s web series chopcassava.com, a series which highlighted the protest of the 2012 fuel subsidy, was nominated in the non-fiction web series category at the 2012 BANFF World Media Festival in Canada.
She was also a propagator of the 2012 OccupyNigeria protest.
She has also been listed in the Forbes 20 Youngest Power Women in Africa.
