BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY
Sylvia Blyden
| Sylvia Blyden | |
|---|---|
| Special Executive Assistant to PresidentErnest Bai Koroma | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 2012 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Sylvia Olayinka Walmina Oreshola Blyden 1 October 1971 Freetown, Sierra Leone |
| Nationality | Sierra Leonean |
| Political party | All People's Congress (APC) |
| Residence | Freetown, Sierra Leone, |
| Alma mater | Fourah Bay College |
| Profession | Journalist |
| Religion | Christianity |
Sylvia Olayinka Walmina Oreshola Blyden (born 1 October 1971 in Freetown, Sierra Leone) is a Sierra Leoneanjournalist, political commentator, newspaper publisher, and the current Special Executive Assistant to Sierra Leone's president Ernest Bai Koroma[1][2].
Blyden is the founder, CEO, and publisher of Sierra Leonean newspaper Awerness Times. She is the only female news publisher in Sierra Leone, and "one of the most recognisable names in the country."[1][2][3] She has spoken of her interest to eventually run for the presidency of Sierra Leone.[4]
Blyden was born and raised in Freetown and she is a member of the Creole ethnic group. Blyden is the great-great-granddaughter of Edward Wilmot Blyden, the "father of Pan-Africanism". Her maternal grandfather is the Sierra Leonean politician Solomon A. J. Pratt, and her paternal grandfather is the late Sierra Leonean diplomat Edward Wilmot Blyden III.
Biography
Sylvia Olayinka Walmina Oreshola Blyden was born on 1 October 1971 in Freetown, Sierra Leone to Creole parents. She entered the Annie Walsh School with the best Selective Entrance results of entrants in 1982 and left with the best GCE O'Levels in 1987 (where's Femi Anthony who reportedly had the best GCE 'O'Level in 1987); she was to graduate with the best B.Sc. results from Medical School in 1993 and again graduate with proficiency in 1996 with an M.D in Medicine[5] during which period she emerged as Sierra Leone's first woman to be elected as University students' leader in 1994.
Blyden is the great-great-granddaughter of Edward Wilmot Blyden, the "father of Pan-Africanism". Her maternal grandfather is the Sierra Leonean politician Solomon A. J. Pratt, and her paternal grandfather is the late Sierra Leonean diplomat Edward Wilmot Blyden III.
Career
A Child-Appointed International Goodwill Ambassador for Sierra Leone's Children, Sylvia Blyden has been a Youths[6] and Women's Rights Activist. She represented Sierra Leone's Female Youths in Beijing during the 1995 United Nations Women's Confab, and was chosen by her African peers to deliver the Female Youths of Africa Speech on 11 August 1995.
In early 2002, she became Sierra Leone's youngest National Political Party Leader at the age of 30, and the third Sierra Leone woman to lead a fully registered political party (the first being Presidential Candidate, the late Mrs. Jeridine Williams-Sarho in 1996).[7]
Founded own newspaper
Following her 24-Hours Internet Cafes, she launched a news media in 2005 known as Awareness Times, which is generally considered critical of the excesses of Government and State Institutions including the President, Ernest Bai Koroma.[8]
Awards and honours
Blyden remains the youngest ever Sierra Leonean to be nationally honoured with an Officer of the Rokel insignia in recognition of her meritorious service to the Nation, on 27 April 2007 Independence Day.[9]
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