MAMA KIOTA'S MESSAGE
ROLE
Website Builder • Event Manager • Graphic Designer
CLIENT
Pearl T. Robinson, Tufts University Professor
TOOLS
Wordpress • Adobe Photoshop • Adobe Premiere
BACKGROUND
I partnered with Tufts University's Professor Pearl T. Robinson & Tisch College to honor Mama Kiota and her decades of dedication to improving women’s rights, education, and religious tolerance in Niger, Africa.
PROJECT SCOPE
Designing and orchestrating an awards ceremony to be held asynchronously at Tufts' Medford Campus and in Niamey, Niger, followed by building a website to capture the two events and preserve Mama Kiota's legacy.
Leadership is Female, is African, is Muslim Woman
One of the projects that inspired me to go independent and launch Hello Hyde was constructing the award ceremony and website that saw Professor Robinson's decade-long passion for preserving Mama Kiota's legacy come to fruition.
After graduating from Tufts University with an English, Film, and Fine Arts degree, I connected with Tufts Professor Robinson over her unfinished documentary on Mama Kiota. Mama Kiota was the Nigerien founder and leader of a Sufi Muslim women’s movement, the Association des Femnmes Musulmanes Jamiyat Nassirat Dine (the JND), which grew to over 200,000 members across West Africa during her lifetime. Before her passing in 2020, Professor Robinson and I spearheaded the creation of an award ceremony to honor her life’s work.
Professor Robinson (right), our English voice actor (second from the left), and I (second from the right) at a table read for the English dub of her Mama Kiota documentary.
SCOPE
12048 SQFT · 1120 SQM
TIMELINE
40 ROOMS
RESULTS
POOL · SPA · 2 RESTAURANT
The Global Humanitarian Citizen Award ceremony was held at two locations, at Tufts University in Medford, MA and at the Palais des Congrès de Niamey in Niamey, Niger. I helped secure funding for the award ceremonies, made promotional materials, coordinated speeches from distinguished Muslim and Nigerien figures, and edited footage of this event to be played at the ceremony in Niger. Mama Kiota's son, Sékou Aboubacar, accepted the award on her behalf and delivered her words, "This ceremony is proof that mankind is the same everywhere. No matter from what part of the globe we are from, our skin color, our religion, our gender, we all want the same things: peace, love, progress and well-being." The partner event was held in Niamey, Niger was attended by Mama Kiota, who received the award surrounded by family, friends, and members of the JND.
The GHC award ceremonies and Professor Robinson's documentary are featured prominently on the website to highlight how impactful Mama Kiota’s work has been in her community and abroad, and in inspiring Professor Robinson to dedicate years to preserving her legacy.
Professor Robinson and I still collaborate on projects. I worked as a TA for multiple of her courses at Tufts, developing a teaching curriculum with her on publishing Wikipedia articles covering forgotten Black scholars. And for the past few years, we've been working on her biography of the political scientist, diplomat, and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Ralph Bunche.