What a wonderful way to start the last part of August, heading into Fall and then November, as we s a people have a lot to be thankful for. While the rest of the country are consumed (and rightly so) by incidents of violence against African Americans, and paparazzi's are chasing down hollow, shallow and sleazy celebs with no true moral or family values - the kind you wont talk about around the family table, there is another movement, slowly re-defining the narratives about African American's, especially in Hollywood.


Thank you Aunty Oprah, and now Shondra Rhimes for opening the floodgates, because there is a new and powerful generation, making waves slowly.

MEET ZURIEL ODUWOLE

A Social Entrepreneur and an emerging Film Maker, Zuriel Oduwole was born in July 2002 in Los Angeles - California to a Nigerian Father has spent the last 5 years trying to make a difference across the Globe. Her twin projects are in making compelling Documentary Films and directing TV projects, while using her influence with world leaders to making the case for the Education of Children across the world.

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR PROJECT

So far, she has spoken to more than 24,500 youths across 11 countries about the importance of Education, as part of her Dream Up, Speak Up, Stand Up project. Some of these countries  include Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Nigeria, Namibia, Mauritius, theUnited Kingdom, and her largest audience yet - 16,000 screaming youths at the SAP center in San Jose - California.

FILM MAKING & TV PROJECT

She made her first film at the age of 9, about the Ghana Revolution, traveling to Ghana to meet and interview President Jerry Rawlings for that project. As the worlds youngest film maker according to CNN, her last self produced documentary film at age 12 in 2014 called A Promising Africa, showed in 2 movie theater chains overseas, and has now screened in 5 countries on 3 continents, including Accra - Ghana, London - England, Lagos - Nigeria, Cape Town - South Africa, and the city of Tokyo - Japan. She now teaches film making to young unemployed children across the globe, with her first projects held in Windhoek - Namibia, and Lagos - Nigeria.

As a TV producer, she was commissioned by Procter & Gamble last summer at age 12 to create a documentary as part of their successful global #LikeAGirl Campaign
VIDEO: www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBxG08yr4uI

Later that year, she was selected to stage-produce and direct a segment of the GAP Back To School TV Commercial, in their partnership with Ellen DeGeneres ED line.
VIDEO: www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIT1XyD_pPQ

Special Guest at Women In Film Awards

Last June at the age of 12, she was the youngest invitee to the annual Crystal + Lewis Women In Film Award in Beverly Hills, in her position as the worlds Youngest Film maker, rubbing shoulders with such notables as Ava DuVernay at the INVITE only event.

Teaching Youths Film Making

When she's not working on projects, she is traveling across the world teaching underprivileged kids film making, as part of her "Film Making 101" Project she started a few months ago. She has now delivered this in 2 countries, overseas, and spoken on this as well to a major University's undergraduate media class.

SPEAKING TO WORLD LEADERS

And she is Xtra intellectual. As a very powerful young voice who just turned 14 last week, she has met on a one-on-one with 19 World Leaders and counting, to talk about the social issues her project is leading across the globe. These include the Prime Ministers of Jamaica, St Kitts & Nevis, Lesotho and St Vincent & Grenadines, as well as the Presidents of Namibia, Liberia, South Sudan, Cape Verde, Nigeria, Malawi, Tanzania, Mauritius, and many others [see attached images] 
Along the way, she has been featured on every major global TV Network, including CNN, BBC, Bloomberg TV, CNBC, andCCTV. She is on record as the youngest person in the world to be featured on Forbes Magazine at age 10 in 2013. New York'sBusiness Insider named her the Most Powerful 11 Year Old in The World in April 2014, and was named by ELLE Magazine in March 2015 in their annual 33 Women Who Changed The World listings, alongside Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen and ABC TV Super Producer - Shonda Rhimes.
NEW FILM

She is in the final stages of post production for her next documentary film, about the 2014 FIFA World Cup. She shot it across 5 countries in 3 continents, including Ethiopia, the USA and Rio in Brazil. It is due to release at the end of 2016.

Forget Black Girls Rock - This Girl is just 'all-round' HOT !!!! And yes, she is Nigerian.