Minna Salami
Born1978 (age 45–46)
Tampere, Finland
NationalityNigerian Finnish
Alma materLund University; SOAS University of London
Known forJournalist
Notable workEditor of MsAfropolitan.com

Minna Salami (born 1978) is a Finnish Nigerian journalist who has propagated information on African feminist issues, about the African diaspora, and Nigerian women through her award-winning blog MsAfropolitan,[1] which she created and has been editing since 2010. The issues covered in the blog are "ranging from polygamy to feminism to relationships".[2] Apart from blogging she also writes on social issues. She is represented on the Global Educator Network of Duke University, the Africa Network and The Guardian Books Network of The Guardian. Salami's blogs and articles are featured in The Guardian, Al Jazeera and The Huffington Post. She is the recipient of several national awards.[1][2][3][4][5]

Biography

Salami was born in Finland in 1978[6] to a Nigerian father and a Finnish mother. She was in Nigeria during her youth before she went to Sweden for higher studies.[2] She graduated from Lund University, Sweden, with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Political Science, and from the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) with a Master of Arts degree (MA). In 2016, she participated at the Hong Kong Baptist University International Writers’ Workshop as a fellow. She is proficient in five languages and has lived in Nigeria, Sweden, Spain, New York and London. She now operates from London.[1][5]

Initially, after her education, Salami started her career as a marketing business executive, dealing with branding and management of products. She worked in many countries. Thereafter she founded the blog MsAfropolitan in 2010. It deals with issues related to Nigeria and the diaspora on feminist issues. Concurrently, for two years until 2012, she also promoted the MsAfropolitan Boutique, in recognition of the African Women's Decade 2010–2020. This online boutique sold many heritage goods of Africa, manufactured by women of Africa.[5][7][8] In an interview with the "Weekend Magazine", Salami elaborating on the objective of her establishing the Ms.Afropolitan blog, stated: "Blogs about African society were male-dominant and the feminist blogs I came across were Eurocentric. Most of the African feminist writing I encountered was either academic or fiction writing. It was brilliant work...but I longed to read popular cultural commentary about Africa from a feminist angle and commentary about feminism from an African angle."[8] She is a contributor to the 2019 anthology New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby.[9]

In 2019, Salami joined the Activate Collective [10] an intersectional feminist movement that seeks to raise money for minoritised women political candidates and community activists. In 2020, the Activate Collective announced it would fund 11 women running for five different parties in the spring local and mayoral elections across five regions of England – London, the Midlands, North East, North West, and Yorkshire and Humber. The list includes eight women of colour, one disabled woman and one care leaver. Seven of the 11 women are from low-income households or identify as working-class.[11][12]

Salami also works as a consultant, in the digital medium, to TVC News, a pan-African news channel. She is represented on the board of the UK Charity For Books' Sake and a UK-based think tank.[5]

In 2020, Amistad published a book of Salami's essays, Sensuous Knowledge: A Black Feminist Approach for Everyone.[13]

Awards

Salami is the recipient of a number of awards such as the "40 African Change-makers under 40" of Applause Africa. She has been named one of "50 Remarkable Women Connected" by Nokia, one of "Nigeria's 100 most influential women" by of YNaija, and one of the "Top 100 Most Influential Black People on Digital/Social Media" by Eelan Media. She has also received the "Outstanding Achievement in Media" award in 2013, which is an Africa Diaspora Award, and the Women 4 Africa 2013 "Blogger of the Year" award. RED Magazine listed her as "Blogger of the Year" for 2012.[5][1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Michael McEachrane (24 April 2014). Afro-Nordic Landscapes: Equality and Race in Northern Europe. Routledge. pp. 257–. ISBN 978-1-317-68525-8.
  2. 1 2 3 "Minna Salami". Nigerians Talk. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  3. ↑ Salami, Minna (21 July 2014). "Where are the women in African non-fiction?". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  4. ↑ "Minna Salami". Huffingtonpost. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "Bio". msafropolitan.com. June 2011. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  6. ↑ "Cache". Msafropolitan. 14 February 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  7. ↑ "Minna Salami". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  8. 1 2 Alhassan, Amina (9 October 2015). "Nigerians need to rediscover Nigeria – Minna Salami". Daily Trust. Archived from the original on 3 June 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  9. ↑ Hayden, Sally (16 March 2019). "New Daughters of Africa review: vast and nuanced collection". Irish Times.
  10. ↑ "Who we are". The Activate Collective. Retrieved 2021-02-25.
  11. ↑ Devaney, Susan (12 November 2020). "Thanks To Emma Thompson, Women From All Backgrounds Are Being Given A Seat At The Political Table". British Vogue. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  12. ↑ Topping, Alexandra (11 November 2020). "Emma Thompson backs launch of UK political fund for women". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  13. ↑ Dark, Shayera (8 October 2020). "To overthrow Europatriarchy, logic and emotion must work in tandem". The Johannesburg Review of Books. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
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