20 Must-Follow Women talking about the African Diaspora and Social Good Sector
Earlier this week, when #WhatILoveAboutAfrica became a trending topic, we thought about the African women who are active on Twitter and helping spread the good word about the diaspora and the African social good sector.
There is a plethora of users, hashtags, and chats to keep track of on Twitterverse, and we wanted to bring together a list of passionate women who are accomplished, outspoken and a wealth of information on these topics. Below are 20 Twitter accounts worth your follow. To make it easy to follow them, we have created a Twitter list for you - Women-African-Diaspora
1) Dambisa Moyo 
Economist and author of NY Times bestselling ‘Dead Aid & How The West Was Lost’
2) Ory Okolloh
Google Policy Manager Africa and Co-founder Ushahidi.com & Mzalendo.com
3) Saran Kaba Jones
Executive Director of FACE Africa
4) Semhar Araia 
Founder & Exec Director, D.A.W.N Diaspora African Women’s Network
5) Jepchumba
Founder & Creative Director, African Digital Art Network
6) Solome Lemma
Co-Founder of Hornlight
7) Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenb 
Founder & Director of Akili Dada and Assistant Professor at the University of San Francisco
8) Kathleen Bomani
Contributor to Okay Africa & Pembazuka News; Event Manager, Africa Gathering
9) Minna Salami
Founder of the MsAfropolitan Boutique and Huffington Post blogger
10) Phiona Okumu
Afripop! Editor and music marketeer
11) Dayo Olopade
Journalist and student at Yale Law School.
12) Vickie Remoe
Multimedia journalist and activist
13) Anne Kiguta
Senior news anchor and editor at KTN
14) Kalkidan M
Co-founder and President, Rise Against Hunger
15) Nanjira Sambuli
Digital Strategist and activist
16) Ngozi Odita
Creative Director of Society HAE
17) Kelechi Anyadiegwu
Afro-cultural design enthusiast and grad student at Carnegie-Mellon
18) Zawadi Nyong’o
Founder, “Zero By Zawadi” company
19) Chika Uwazie
Human resources professional and blogger
20) African Entrepreneur 
African Tech Entrepreneur and blogger
Follow these amazing women on the Twitter list we created for you - Women-African-Diaspora. Also, special thanks to Semhar for kick starting the #WhatILoveAboutAfrica topic.
Who else are we missing? Let us know and we will be glad to share!
May 2012 Update:
Thank you for the overwhelming response from our fans, supporters and people from across the world via blog comments, Facebook, Twitter and emails.
This piece captured African women who are using Twitter as a powerful tool to talk about the diaspora, social good sector and their speciality fields to educate and empower. And, it was evident from the responses that these women have made an impact in their communities.
Additional suggestions came to us of many more amazing women that ought to be on this list and from these recommendations we have added five more women worth following on Twitter -
21) Isis Nyong’o
Managing Director at InMobi Africa.
22) Juliana Rotich
Executive Director of Ushahidi, Mobisoko. TED Sr. Fellow.
23) Ferial Haffajee
Editor of City Press in South Africa.
24) Belinda Otas 
Journalist, Writer and Blogger
25) Rosebell Kagumire
Journalist, Blogger and Editor at Channel 16 .
(Photos Courtesy: Twitter profiles of individuals.)
Great list, but you should add Regina Ingabire’s name. She co-founded Never Again Rwanda and is one of the past and future ‘movers & shakers’ for women’s empowerment, peace, and human dignity.
RT @semhar: As I learn more abt @ConceptLink’s work/mission, amazed to be on their #MustFollow list. From @DAWNInc, we THANK YOU.
RT @ophiona: Thank you @conceptlink for including me on this list of 20 must-follow women. Some real shakers on there.
RT @edpomfret: Gr8 2 see gd friends @NiNanjira & @Semhar here – Must-Follow Women talking about the African Diaspora,Social Good Sector.
RT @sarankjones: how cool that I’m on @ConceptLink’s 20 #MustFollow List #Women #Africa #SocialGood #Diaspora. http://www.conceptlink.com/20-must-follow-africa-women/ In awesome company!
RT @msafropolitan “20 Must-Follow Women talking about the African Diaspora, Social Good Sector and more” http://goo.gl/gPCZw Thx for great list @ConceptLink
RT @vceipo: An amazing list of do-gooders concerning the African Diaspora… http://t.co/pBdyBX89
RT @wanjirukr: Wow! Just found out about this. What great company to be in!
Thanks to newwavefeminism for featuring our blog post – http://bit.ly/M8A8dP.
Thanks to Kalamu ya Salaam for featuring the post on your site – http://bit.ly/M8AzF0. Much appreciated.
Sokari Ekine @blacklooks! “Founder and editor of Black Looks…writer, educationalist and digital activist” and I must add an African woman with a long legacy of speaking out when doing so wasn’t as easy as now. She is a road-maker, in a long line of African women blazing paths for us all.
Wow, Sokari Ekine @blacklooks just shared this list with me – I had no idea! I took a few months off social media at the end of March and it looks like this was posted while I was at SXSW which was hectic. Thank you for including me in this list. What criteria did you use by the way? I know many of the sisters on this list, including my cousin Isis Nyong’o
.
I think it’s great that we profile women on the internet especially those promoting social good, but as usual, with any list, it’s so easy to be reductionist. What about the other siSTARs who are doing amazing work and making waves in the world through their digital contributions. Is there a way we can use a more collective crowdsourcing process to develop a list? Perhaps it won’t be just 25, but a list that is really diverse, including women from across the continent & diaspora – women that are committed to social justice and social change that we can call on to help drive our various campaigns at different stages.
That’s how I envision such a list being really useful. Say I’m organizing a campaign e.g. for sex worker rights in Kenya, and I need support from others to get the word out, I’d go to this list. How else could we use such lists? Does anyone have any experiences they want to share about how they have used this particular list thus far? I’m really interested to know.
Just a few thoughts.
Zawadi
Thanks for your feedback, Zawadi.
You’re absolutely right; there are many, many worthy women who are not on this list. 20 just seemed like a manageable number and a good place to start.
We love your idea about how to make lists more strategic and user-friendly and would be happy to continue the conversation offline. We’ll be in touch.
Thanks again for your thoughts and comments. Keep them coming!