International Women’s Day (8 March) is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future.  Suffragettes campaigned for women’s right to vote. The word ‘Suffragette’ is derived from the word “suffrage” meaning the right to vote. International Women’s Day honors the work of the Suffragettes, celebrates women’s success, and reminds of inequities still to be redressed.
We at LagosMums, will like to celebrate a remarkable woman in our present day. A woman who has shown us what being strong, resilient, elegant, charming and successful really looks and feels like. A woman who in  2011,was honored as a Young Global Leader (YGL) by the World Economic Forum and was named one of Forbes 20 Youngest Power Women in Africa.
  Funmi Iyanda; an award-winning broadcaster, journalist, columnist and blogger. She produced and hosted Nigeria’s popular and authoritative talk show New Dawn with Funmi, which aired on NTA for over eight years. She is the CEO of Ignite Media, a content-driven media organization operating out of Lagos.
Funmi was raised mainly by her father, –who taught her that her gender should not stop her from achieving whatever she wanted to–  she defines herself first, as a person, not as a woman. In  2012, she joined almost three dozen African women (with the likes of South African actress Rosie Motene and Congolese singer Barbara Kanam) for a 5-day hike on Africa’s tallest mountain : Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
This symbolic trek, was organized by the UN to raise global awareness on its campaign to End Violence against Women and Girls and brought together climbers from more than 32 African countries in a historic advocacy journey up Mount Kilimanjaro .It also, coincided with March 8 International Women’s Day. After her return, she she was honored by the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, for her commitment to gender advocacy.
An innovator in her sphere Funmi has won tremendous recognition for her work in the media and for her humanitarian and philanthropic interventions. She is an African Leadership Institute Tutu Fellow and a participant of the ASPEN Institute’s Forum for Communications and Society.
Funmi serves on the Board of Farafina Trust and Positive Impact Youth Network. She was at the forefront of the Occupy Nigeria series of protests in January 2012. The protests were to resist the implementation of the government’s fuel subsidy removal policy. Recently, she has also been at the fore front of the Bring Back our Girls campaign alongside some notable female figures in our country.
In her spare time Funmi reads voraciously, watches movies and supports her favorite football team, Chelsea FC.
  
Contributed by Vee
