My Journey

My name is Jemila Kpanja, I am from North Central Nigeria, I grew up in Lagos, Jos, and Abuja. I currently reside in Jos, Plateau State. I was born in 1988, a time where most girls were not seen as a blessing but a burden that would be passed on to her husband when the time came. Although my Dad didn't buy into that idea, as he made sure I was schooled to a Masters level before his passing in 2013.

Most women in my community rely on the men in their lives for almost everything and I strongly believe this is prevalent because most of them do not place value on themselves which affects their confidence level.

I started an organisation 'IamJemila Beauty & Value For Women Initiative' where more than 100 women and girls were trained in Wamba Nigeria on skills such as beads making, soap making, amongst others. A blog www.iamjemila.org is also running in order to create a safe space for girls and women to accept and love themselves the way they are, not as society defines. Other symposium have also been organised.

My actions are targeted mainly at women and young girls. For now, my family and friends are my support system.

I need to build more on content creation and delivery skills essentially.

As a teenager I grew up not loving myself, I felt I was too short to matter. So that drastically affected how I saw myself and the things I allowed people do to me. Which affected my confidence. And this is one of the reasons I want young girls and women to fall in love with themselves