Seyi Akiwowo

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Seyi Akiwowo
Alma materSir George Monoux College
London School of Economics
Employer(s)Glitch
European Youth Forum
Teach First
UK Youth Parliament

Seyi Akiwowo (Shay-ee Aki-wo-wo) is a British-Nigerian women's rights activist and campaigner. She is the founder and director of Glitch, a non-profit campaigning to end online abuse. Akiwowo was selected as the Amnesty International Human Rights Defender in 2018 and the Digital Leader of the Year in 2019. She is one of the Evening Standard's 2019 list of most influential people[1] and appeared in Marie Claire in September 2019 as a Future Shaper.[2]

Early life and education[edit]

Akiwowo grew up in the London Borough of Newham. Akiwowo attended Sir George Monoux College, where she completed A-Levels in Law, History, Government and Politics.[3] Whilst at college Akiwowo successfully campaigned for a position in the Newham Youth Council.[4] In this capacity she attended the UK Youth Parliament, where she campaigned to improve sexual health policy. She studied at the London School of Economics, where she earned a Bachelor's degree in social policy. Her dissertation considered whether the right questions were being asked about academy education trusts.

Research and career[edit]

After graduating, Akiwowo was an intern at the House of Commons and the European Youth Forum.[5] In 2014, at the age of 23, Akiwowo was the youngest black woman to be elected as a councillor for the Labour Party in East London.[6][7] She believes that involvement with local politics is important to mitigate the rise of the alt-right.[8] She also believes in equal access to education and training for all young people. She is a senior project coordinator for Teach First. She was also a founding associate of Spark+Mettle, a charity which supports young people in the development of their resilience and soft skills using technology and coaching.[9]

Akiwowo delivered a speech at the European Parliament about how countries such as Britain, France and Italy should deal with the impact of colonialism.[10] Her speech was met with boos by the audience in the room, to which she responded, "You can boo me all you like, baby,". After a video of her speech went viral online, Akiwowo was subject to racist abuse on Twitter.[10][11] The tweets were reported to Twitter over 75 times, as well as to the Metropolitan Police.[10] Initially the social media platforms failed to respond to her complains, but suspended some of the particularly racist accounts after Akiwowo went public with her story.[12] In an Amnesty International – Ipsos MORI poll, one fifth of women said they had suffered harassment on social media.[12]

Akiwowo designed the Fix the Glitch, a toolkit which supports organisations in how to end gender-based violence.[13] The workshops have three pillars; awareness, advocacy and action. She believes that women need to reclaim their digital space and "assert their presence".[14] Akiwowo does not want to restrict peoples rights or freedom of speech; but protect people from online trolls who can hide behind anonymity.[8] She established Glitch, a platform and advice provider that helps young people stay protected online.[15] Her campaign has been supported by Amnesty International.[16] Glitch is supported by a Fairer Tech grant from Dot Everyone.[17] Akiwowo was one of the founders of the #ToxicTwitter campaign, which looks to end the online abuse of women.[18] She has written for Gender IT, a collection of feminist reflections on internet policies.[19] She delivered a TEDx London talk on how to "fix the glitch" in online communities in 2019.[20]

Recognition and honours[edit]

In 2018 Akiwowo was selected as the Amnesty International Human Rights Defender and as a Stylist Woman of the Week. She was featured in Yomi Adegoke's book Slay in Your Lane, as well as on the podcast Busy Being Black.[21] In June 2019 Akiwowo was awarded Digital Leader of the Year.[22][23][24] She has written for HuffPost and The Guardian.[25][26]

In 2019 Akiwowo was chosen as one of Marie Clare's Future Shapers; trailblazers who are working hard to make the world a happier, safer and better place for women.[27] In October 2019 Akiwowo was listed in the Evening Standard as one of London's most influential people in the social media stars category.[1]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Media: Social Media Stars". Evening Standard. 2 October 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  2. ^ Goddard, Sophie (19 September 2019). "Meet the Future Shapers of 2019 who are inspiring women worldwide". Marie Claire. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  3. ^ "Resume". Glitch. 17 December 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  4. ^ "Why Local Politics Matters, And How To Get Involved". ETHICAL UNICORN. 3 March 2017. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  5. ^ "SEYI Akiwowo". PRIMADONNA. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  6. ^ Akiwowo, Seyi. "sakiwowo's blog". DemocracyWorks: A Blog of the National Democratic Institute. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  7. ^ Aminu, Adedamola (26 April 2018). Nigerian-British Politicians in United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland: A Book of Profiles. Grosvenor House Publishing. ISBN 9781786232052.
  8. ^ a b "#BlossomsOfTheMoment: leading the way for social and political change | MOBO Organisation". www.mobo.com. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  9. ^ "Spark and Mettle". nesta. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  10. ^ a b c "Vile trolls tell councillor she should be 'lynched' for refugee speech". Evening Standard. 7 February 2017. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  11. ^ Sanusi, Victoria. "This Young Labour Politician Was Targeted By Racist Trolls After Her Speech On Refugees Went Viral". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  12. ^ a b "Write a poem for Seyi". www.amnesty.org.uk. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  13. ^ Yee, Hannah-Rose (30 July 2018). "Seyi Akiwowo interview: Glitch founder on ending online harassment". Stylist. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  14. ^ "OHCHR | Digital misogyny is personal and fixable". www.ohchr.org. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  15. ^ Editor, Guest. "The Impact of Online Abuse is Real". The Anne Frank Trust UK. Retrieved 6 August 2019. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  16. ^ Seyi's fight against online abuse, retrieved 6 August 2019
  17. ^ "Announcing our Fairer Tech Grant recipients— Round 04". Doteveryone. 12 April 2019. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  18. ^ "Why Twitter is a toxic place for women". www.amnesty.org. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  19. ^ "Seyi Akiwowo". GenderIT.org. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  20. ^ How to fix the glitch in our online communities | Seyi Akiwowo | TEDxLondon, retrieved 6 August 2019
  21. ^ "Busy Being Black: Seyi Akiwowo: Fix the Glitch en Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  22. ^ "Digital Leader of the Year". Digital Leaders 100. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  23. ^ "The 7th Digital Leaders 100 Awards 2019 is won by BAME women in tech". Digital Leaders. 21 June 2019. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  24. ^ King, Jon. "Ex-Newham councillor scoops clutch of awards at Digital Leaders ceremony". Newham Recorder. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  25. ^ "Seyi Akiwowo". HuffPost UK. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  26. ^ "Seyi Akiwowo". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  27. ^ Goddard, Sophie (19 September 2019). "Meet the Future Shapers of 2019 who are inspiring women worldwide". Marie Claire. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
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