As a child in Nigeria, Nneka Ikem led an active life, playing field hockey, basketball, and running track and field. Her father worked at the local radio station, and, when Nneka was a teenager, he employed her at Radio Nigeria. At the studio, she was initially responsible for transcribing BBC interviews and writing children’s programs, but, after several months at the station, the sports producer approached Nneka and asked her to write five minutes of sports news every day. After that experience, she was hooked.

After serving as Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the Minister of Youth and Sports and Deputy Director of Sports and Outside Broadcasts for the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Nneka is now the Special Assistant on Media & Publicity at the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development. She’s using her platform to educate young girls in her community and inspire them to become sports journalists. “[As a woman], you have to empower yourself,” she says. “You have to find the courage to rise above your challenges, and you have to bring up young ones to believe this, to have confidence to achieve their dreams. If you train a girl, you will have trained a nation.”