Meet American Actress: Femi Emiola

Femi Emiola
Femi Emiola is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in the TV series Wicked Wicked Games and in the web series "If Looks Could Kill".

Biography
Early lifeFemi Emiola was born in Iowa City, Iowa to a Filipina mother and a Nigerian father, then both PhD candidates at Iowa State University. Femi lived her early life in the Philippines and in Nigeria before returning to the United States as a teenager. "Femi" is prononuced "F-eh-mi" and means "love me" or "marry me" in Yoruba. Both her parents are chemists.She trained in Theatre Arts at Iowa State University, and studied in New York City with esteemed director and acting teacher, Wynn Handman, a former colleague of Sanford Meisner and artistic director/co-founder of The American Place Theatre in New York City.

Career
Emiola made her film debut in an award-winning short film "The Living Silence". Her performance in the film helped garner the filmmaker, Tanya Steele, a Directors Guild East Coast Student Filmmaker Award.Between 2006 and 2007, Emiola played "Lani Walker", the assistant to vindictive and psychotic Blythe Hunter famously portrayed by Tatum O'Neal in the My Network TV telenovelaWicked Wicked Games, which premiered on December 6, 2006 and aired to completion (65 episodes) in March 2007.

Emiola has also appeared on the television shows ER, Ghost Whisperer, Scrubs, Las Vegas, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Tyler Perry's House of Payne, and The Practice.In 2000, Emiola posed for the artist Meredith Bergmann and her profile became the foundation for Bergmann's Phillis Wheatley, which was part of the Boston Women's Memorial, unveiled in 2003 on Commonwealth Avenue Mall in Boston, MA. The sculpture also included Lucy Stone and Abigail Adams and is grafted from bronze and granite and is Bergmann's largest public commission.In June 2008, Emiola became the face of an innovative marketing campaign by Toyota for the Toyota Camry.

The campaign for the Toyota Camry launched on June 9, 2008 targeting affluent African-American women ages 25-40. There are no television commercials, but instead there is an interactive website, Iflookscouldkill.com, which includes a video series and an online game. The $5 million campaign centers on the website and a six-episode video series, promoted as "where espionage and high fashion collide." The target audience for the campaign is African-American women with an annual income of $70,000 and up.

The video series stars Emiola as "Bianca Turner" a fashion designer and Toyota Camry owner who becomes unwittingly involved in an espionage plot. Visitors can navigate within scenes and play along, picking up clues to assist Bianca as she tries to solve the mystery. Print and online ads on BET.com and Essence.com also support the campaign which runs June 9 through July 27, 2008. 42 Entertainment in Pasadena, California, developed the game and the site. Burrell Communications, Chicago, is Camry's agency.

Personal Life
Femi married Canadian musician and Internet professional, Kevin Edwards in 2006. They live in Los Angeles.

Miss World 2001: Agbani Darego

Ibiagbanidokibubo 'Agbani' Asenite Darego (born 1983), is a Nigerian model, best known for being the first black African to be crowned Miss World in 2001.Darego hails from Abonnema, Rivers, and was born into a family of eight children. At ten, Darego was sent to boarding school in a bid to shield her from her mother who had breast cancer. Darego's mother died two years later, and her daughter has spoken of how the loss prepared her for the future.

As a teenager, Darego longed to be a model. Although her conservative father was against the idea, she entered the M-Net Face of Africamodelling competition, but failed to make it past the first round. She achieved greater success when she was crowned Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria in 2001. Contrary to popular belief, Darego did not replace Valerie Peterside after the latter was dethroned - Peterside had won Miss Nigeria. Darego managed to divide her time between her official duties with her education at the University of Port Harcourt where she was studying Computer Science, and she represented Nigeria in the 2001 Miss Universe competition, held in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. She placed among the top 10 semi-finalists, finishing seventh. She was the only black semi-finalist that year - and the only finalist to wear a maillot swimsuit

Miss World
In November 2001, Darego traveled to South Africa to compete in the Miss World competition, beating Miss Scotland and Miss Aruba in the final round. Her victory in the pageant, hosted by American talk show host Jerry Springer, was widely welcomed in her home country, and her reign as MBGN was continued by Ann Suinner.Her one year tenure included goodwill trips and scheduled appearances on behalf of the pageant.

In addition, the organizers of the competition began preparations to host Miss World 2002 in Nigeria.One week before the 2002 pageant, erupted in Kaduna and other cities in northern Nigeria after small protests against the competition inflamed simmering religious tension between Muslims and Christians. Several hundred died in the violence that ensued. The 2002 Miss World competition was moved from Nigeria to the United Kingdom, where it was staged in London that December.

Post-pageant career
Darego left the University of Port Harcourt after her reign as Miss World ended in 2002. She is signed to Next Model Management, and is currently pursuing a modelling career in Europe.She has modelled for L'Oreal cosmetics.In 2006, it was reported that Darego had posed topless at a fashion show; her actions caused an outrage in Nigeria

Meet Nigerian singer-songwriter: Bukola Elemide "Aṣa"

Aṣa (pronounced "Asha") (born in 1982) is a Nigerian singer-songwriter and recording artist. Her stage name "Aṣa" means "Hawk" in Yoruba

Early life
Born Bukola Elemide, Aṣa was born in Paris, France to Nigerian parents. She was two years old when her family returned to live in Nigeria. Aṣa grew up in Lagos, in the south-western part of Nigeria. She states that the city is "buzzing with energy but also home to a deep-rooted spirituality. Islam thrives shoulder to shoulder with Christianity in an atmosphere of tolerance, and the turbulent city moves endlessly in an infernal and yet harmonious ballet of love and hate, laughter and violence, poverty and wealth."

However twenty years later Aṣa returned to Paris, which is where her life as an artist took wing. Aṣa was twelve when her mother sent her to one of the best schools in Nigeria. But educational excellence had a bitter taste : five years of studies and hardship. When she came home, she discovered Erykah Badu,D'Angelo, Raphael Saadiq, Lauryn Hill, Femi Kuti and Angelique Kidjo, in whose footprints she dreamt of following.

At 18, Asa was very familiar with frustration. The university was on strike, the choirs were snubbing her. During these frustrating times, Asa used to lock herself in her room and sing; this she said was very comforting. Nevertheless, she managed to get her voice heard on a few radio talent shows and her first applause brought her boundless pleasure. She then signed up, in secret, for the Peter King’s School of Music and learnt to play the guitar in 6 months

Background
Aṣa was the only girl in the family and had to share her parents with her three brothers. At a tender age she began to look after the house during her father and mother’s frequent absences. That is when Aṣa started to sing. The desire to sing came to her and didn’t go away, carving out a permanent place in her soul. She preferred singing to talking, improvising endlessly until her mother made her stop.

Over the years her father had built up a fine collection of records featuring soul classics and Nigerian music, including Marvin Gaye, Fela Kuti, Bob Marley,Aretha Franklin, Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey and Lagbaja and went on to draw inspiration from them. Aṣa said "I was a tomboy and when I was a teenager I became very shy because people made fun of me in my own way, I was already attracting attention ! I got in the habit of never doing anything like everyone else. People didn’t understand my low-pitched deep voice, the choirs didn’t want anything to do with me. I had to get to church first if I was to have any chance of getting near the mike"

In 2004 Aṣa met her manager, Janet, who introduced her to Cobhams Emmanuel Asuquo, who in turn became her musical partner. He enabled Aṣa, the free spirit, to find her bearings : songs in English and Yoruba, music falling somewhere between pop and soul, inspired by her musical heritage — with particular care paid to the melodies — and reflecting the feeling she puts into it. Her texts talk about her country, the things in life, the things in her life, all delivered with feigned naivete and real irony. She states "I like writing or thinking about my texts on the bus, or the molue, as we call it. 49 seats, 99 passengers standing up, as Fela described it. Everyone’s squashed up together and mini-dramas break out all the time. And, at the end of the day, we still manage to laugh, that’s where our strength lies..."

It was at this stage of her life that Aṣa finally returned to Paris. This was her chance to test out her talent on the French musical scene, playing with artists such as the Nubians, Manu Dibango, Doctor L and Tony Allen. In the meantime, back in Nigeria, her first single, Eye Adaba, then Jailer, were beginning to get airtime. MTV chose her as the ambassador for South Africa. Her popularity became big, that when she came back to Nigeria she opened for Akon, John Legend, Beyonce and Snoop Dogg amongst others.

Aṣa soon signed to the 'Naive label'. Partnered by Cobhams, and with the new involvement of Christophe Dupouy, she produced a magnificent debut album, ASA. R&b rubs up against pop, with reggae also making an appearance on 'Fire On The Mountain', the first track released from the album, an impertinent and barely-disguised metaphor for an ignorant and indifferent world. "Jailer", another highlight of the album, reinterprets the old adage “you reap what you sow”. This emblematic song with its irresistible refrain opens the album by denouncing modern slavery in all its forms.Aṣa's song Eye Adaba featured in the 3rd episode of series 3 of the E4's teen tv show, Skins, in which congolese youngster Thomas is forced to return to Congo from Bristol, where he was living in a flat owned by Johnny White, and made new friends in Pandora, Effy and the rest of the cast. The song is used for the scene in which Thomas is told be pack his bags by his mother and he is upset at having to leave.



Track listing
"Jailer"
"360"
"Bibanke"
"Subway"
"Fire on the Mountain"
"Eye Adaba""No One Knows"
"Awe""Peace"
"So Beautiful"
"Iba"

Meet The Sexy Nigerian Model: Oluchi Onweagba

Oluchi Onweagba (born 1982) is a Nigerian model. She had come into modeling after a family friend had persuaded her to enter M-Net'sFace of Africa competition. She ended up winning the competition.

Biography
Onweagba's first name in her native Igbo language means "God's Work". Her father was a civil servant, and her mother was a nurse. She and her siblings (two brothers and a sister) lived on Ayilara Street, Ojuelegba, in Surulere, a low-income area of the sprawling Lagos (theNigerian commercial capital) metropolis. She spent her high school years as a good student, and enjoyed playing tennis and ping pong. Supposedly, she was discovered while she was selling bread on the streets of Lagos in order to make ends meet.

In August 2005, she married her longtime companion, Italian fashion designer Luca Orlandi. On April 25 2007 their son Ugochukwu was born.

Discovery and Breakthrough
Oluchi Onweagba was urged by a family friend to enter into the M-Net Face of Africa preliminary screening at the M-Net office in Victoria Island, Lagos which she scaled through. The agency immediately groomed her to be one of Nigeria's entrants for a model competition, the M-Net Face of Africa (now called the Nokia Face of Africa). This despite the fact that, growing up, she had maintained a relative ignorance towards fashion andmodeling. With the support of her family and friends, she decided to compete in the inaugural edition of the Face of Africa in 1998.

This was the first-ever continent-wide model competition, as opposed to a mere beauty pageant, and was organized by the South African subscription television channel M-Net in collaboration with Elite Model Management. With her slim, tall figure, and her natural beauty, she captivated the judges, and she handily won the competition. She was just seventeen years old. Elite Model Management awarded Onweagba a three-year modeling contract, and a whirlwind life as a highly-sought-after fashion model began.

Career Trajectory
Moving to New York City, where she is currently still living, she began to make an impact. Onweagba graced the covers of Italian Vogue, i-D, ELLE, Untold, and Surface, and she also was featured in Nylon, Marie Claire, Allure, and other national editions of Vogue around the world. She also became the face of the campaigns for Gianfranco Ferre, Victoria's Secret, Gap, Express, Banana Republic, and Ann Taylor. Onweagba's runway experience has been with John Galliano, Christian Dior, Costume National, Chanel, and Giorgio Armani, amongst others, in London, Milan, Tokyo and Paris.

Oluchi Onweagba has worked with such high-caliber photographers as Steven Meisel, Nick Knight, and Patrick Demarchelier.As her career took off, she did not forget her roots and attempted to give back to society. As one of the most high profile international models of Nigerian origin, she tries to serve as a role model for other aspiring talents in the west African country, especially young girls. She volunteers her time and her image for such NGOs as LEAP Africa (an entrepreneurship incubator) and NIPRO. She also is continuing her higher education, having studied for an associate's degree in the New York City educational system.After her three-year contract with Elite expired, she signed with DNA Model Management. A highlight of her career so far was when she was featured in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue four times, from 2005 to 2008.

In 2008, Oluchi Onweagba launched a modelling agency in South Africa, OModel Africa, with offices in Johanesburg and recently in Cape Town. The 2008 winner of M-Net Face of Africa, Kate Tachie-Menson, was awarded a US $50,000 modelling contract by OModel Africa.In 2009, Onweagba is expected to host the inaugural West Africa's Next Top Model.

Muma Gee Denies Romancing Timaya‘s Manager

Daring and pretty singer, Muma Gee, has made news many times. 

Her music may not have been as hot as Beyonce‘s, but Muma is one babe who hardly gets annoyed.

She is, however, not happy over a gist that is going on in the entertainment circle. It is being alleged that Muma has found a new beau in the person of Timaya‘s manager.

Busybodies claimed that Muma had made Timaya‘s Alausa, Lagos abode her second home, as she was always there to frolick with the crooner‘s manager.

But speaking to Life and Beat, Muma denied dating the guy in question. ”I heard and read that story and it got me so angry. What kind of nonsense is this? Timaya is from Bayelsa and I am from Rivers. Is it a bad thing if I go and visit him?

“Why can’t people say something positive for once instead of looking for bad things to talk about or write?” she queried.

Concerning the alegation that they kissed in public, Muma fumed, ”You know me so well; do I look like somebody who would be kissing in public?

“I don’t always react when I read or hear negative stories about me, but this particular story really got me angry.

“The guy in question is just a young boy. If I were to date, why wouldn’t I go for Timaya instead of his manager?”

Star Quest Winner: The Pulse

The legendary Robert Nesta Marley, popularly called Bob Marley would have been smiling in his grave last Saturday night as a group of six music starters which goes by the name The Pulse turned one of his popular classics – Redemption Song into a party hit.

The Pulse, one the three finalists of this year’s edition of Star Quest, the music talent hunt sponsored by Star Lager was no doubt the most popular group given the reaction of the audience anytime they were called upon to perform but, their rendition of the song, literally set the live audience and indeed many viewers across the nation on fire as the Planet One Entertainment Centre erupted in excitement.

The group kept the audience made of the “who is who” in Nigeria’s entertainment industry including returnee Ras kimono on their feet dancing and clapping to the beats and the superlative performance of the group’s lead singers- Dubem Ochokwu and Obianuju Udeh. The group garnered over 99,000 votes from an appreciative nation to win this years competition, beating the second paced band-Xpression with over 84,000 votes.

It was arguably the performance of this duo and may be their original composition titled- “So Tay” that gave them the crown. The Pulse takes over from The Diamonds which won the competition last year and have are become proud winners of N3.6m cash, N7.5m recording contract, a mini van, one year guaranteed accommodation in Lagos as well as appearances as performing artistes at all star lager sponsored events in 2009.

Having eliminated three of the original six bands on Wednesday night-J-Nutia,100 Degrees and C.N.R.G.Y, the 21 day contest came to an unprecedented climax last Saturday with the three remaining bands-Nu Soundz, Xpression and The Pulse battling for the trophy.

The winning group’s outstanding performance has no doubt taken the music talent hunt programme to the next level given the overwhelming response of the viewing public.

For the first time since the competition was launched in 2002, no one particular band has been so popularly accepted like the 2009 winning band.

The Pulse band made up of Dubem Ochokwu, Babatunde Omommeji, Obianuju Udeh, Moses Philips, Charles Nkamiang and Asuquo Okon seem to have had their destiny made right from their first performance at Star Fame Land . Performance after performance, they gradually established their authority as the band to beat and the result as given by the voting public was more or less unexpected.  36 youngsters were selected from thousands of budding talents who turned up for the audition across the six regions of the nation.

Having settled down to the real competition, viewers were presented with the formation of six bands and their performances which ranged from traditional hi-life to acapella, a remix of some popular indigenous and foreign classics.Launched in 2002 with the objective of producing the biggest music band in Nigeria,

Star Quest is designed to compliment and support Star’s musical platform and enable the brand to reach and connect to its consumers all across Nigeria.

It is a music talent hunt where contestants from all over the country are given the opportunity to become the next stars in the Nigerian music scene and win a coveted recording contract, a mini van and cash prizes, amongst others.