“Zuriel Elise Oduwole” A journey of success for 7 years

An afro American tours the world to make dreams..
She defended the rights of the black continent for a better life
She came amongst the list of the most powerful figures worldwide

Zuriel Elise Oduwole is an American
teenage education advocate and film maker best known for her works on the advocacy for the education of girls in Africa.

She is of Nigerian and Mauritian descent

Her advocacy has since made her the youngest person to be profiled by Forbes

In November 2014, at age 12, Zuriel became the world’s youngest filmmaker to have a self-produced and self-edited work after her film showed in two movie chains,and then went on to screen in Ghana, England, South Africa, and Japan.

Oduwole has met with 24 presidents and prime ministers in line with her education advocacy work.

Some of these include the leaders of Jamaica, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Liberia, South Sudan, Malta, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Guyana and Namibia.

She has also appeared in popular television stations including CNBC, Bloomberg TV, BBC and CNN.

In 2013, Oduwole was listed in the New African Magazine’s list of “100 Most Influential People in Africa”

In 2013, after the release of her documentary film titled The 1963 OAU Formation, Zuriel Oduwole was profiled in Forbes Magazine.

On 21 April 2014, Oduwole was listed as the most Powerful 11 year old in the world by New York Business Insider’s in their listing of “World’s Most Powerful Person at Every Age”.

In February 2015, Elle Magazine listed her in their annual feature of “33 Women Who Changed The World”, alongside Fed Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen and President of General Motors, Mary Barra.

She wrote, narrated and produced the video for the campaign with the theme Unstoppable Like A Girl.

In April 2016 at age 13, she was invited as the keynote speaker at the annual Maryland State Department of Education’s Early Childhood Educational conference at Ocean City, Maryland, addressing more than 600 adult delegates on how she sees the education of future US leaders developing.

Later in June 2016, she was invited as the featured speaker as well as a panelist at the annual Women in Entertainment Luncheon, in Los Angeles, California, U.S.

The Guardian Newspaper in late June 2016 signed her on as a Columnist to share her insight on issues as seen by a younger generation and giving her a section and segment for periodic writing.

She became a TEDx circuit speaker when she headlined the TEDx Gbagada event in July 2016 as the featured speaker, talking about the inter-connectivity between the past and future generations.

At the 71st United Nations [UN] General Assembly events in New York in September 2016, Zuriel was invited to speak on how the effects of climate change is significantly affecting the education of children in the Pacific Island region.

TRT World news interviewed and featured her on their Newsmakers section after her participation at the UN

Forbes Afrique featured Zuriel for their February 2017 [Fevrier 2017] issue.

The magazine introduced her DUSUSU Foundation and its evolving partnerships with development groups on the continent, such as the Dangote Foundation, for her Gender Development and Skill transfer project initiatives

Zuriel visited Mexico as an Education Ambassador, speaking to 350 youths in Mexico State and Hidalgo State and taking them through her basic Film Making 101 Class, already conducted in 4 other countries.

The City of Pachuca – in Hidalgo state then honored her with an Award and Citation for her global work in the area of Education Development and Girls Equality advocacy

Awards and recognitions

In October 2013, Oduwole was bestowed with an honorary ambassador title in Tanzania by Salma Kikwete, and a computer lab in one of the country’s schools was named after her.

Also that year she was listed in the New African Magazine’s list of “100 Most Influential People in Africa”.

On 21 April 2014, Oduwole was listed as the most Powerful 11 year old in the world by New York Business Insider’s in their listing of “World’s Most Powerful Person at Every Age”.

In February 2015, Elle Magazine listed her in their annual feature of “33 Women Who Changed The World”, alongside Fed Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen and President of General Motors, Mary Barra.

On 12 March 2016, Zuriel won the “Woman on The Rise” category at the 2016 edition of the “New African Women Awards”.

In August 2016 at age 14, Forbes Afrique which is distributed across all 23 Francophone African countries as well as France, Belgium and Switzerland, featured her in their annual Africa’s 100 Most Influential Women’s list, alongside the President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Ameenah Gurib, President of Mauritius.

Works
•The Ghana Revolution (2012)
* The 1963 OAU Formation (2013)
* Technology in Educational Development (2014)
* A Promising Africa (2014)