Women's Focus - February 2008 - (Page 31)

focus on f r i e n D S Wilma Moore Black thought about being a teacher while attending Ingalls Elementary School, but as she put it, “Journalism captured my heart when I was in the tenth grade at East High School.” She served as editor of the school paper, The Messenger. She worked at The Wichita Eagle during her college years and was awarded a scholarship to Kansas State University, where she achieved her bachelor’s in journalism. Prior to graduate school, she was a consumer reporter for KAKE-TV, and her “Write Wilma” became a popular part of the Sunday evening news. She loved doing the research and was interested in the legal aspects of consumer problems. As one of the recipients of the Partnership for Success Scholarship, Wilma pursued a second sistant editor for The Community Voice, Wilma is an independent writer, marketer, researcher and accomplished photographer. “I’m very proud of the research and writing I did with Glen Sharp, for the book Black Horizons: One Aviator’s Experience In The Post-Tuskegee Era, about former Kansas State Senator U.L. Rip Gooch,” she says. That pride also extends to her family, the work she does with Isely Traditional Magnet Elementary, the Diversity Discovery program with Kansas State University’s Flint Hills Publications and the Real Men Real Heroes project. “It is so important that youngsters understand the relationship of education and life-long learning,” Wilma says. “My mother was a strong, courageous woman who dared me to be the best I could be.” W i l ma moor e B l ack degree in education from Kansas Newman College. But she didn’t stop there. While attend- “It is so important that youngsters ing graduate school at Kansas State University She shares that philosophy not only with her understand the relationship of on the Patricia R. Harris fellowship, she edited education and life-long learning,” Horizons for Midwest Equity Assistance Center for the Department of Education, receiving awards from the Kansas Press Women. Now CEO of WMB Creative Productions and astutors, and through her involvement at Unity Church of Wichita. “I love that I am empowered own children, but also with the students she at my church to share and utilize the skills I’m blessed with,” she says. Through poetry, stage plays and fiction, Dr. Chinyere Okafor speaks to the challenges of ordinary people, the issues of war, suppression, politics, poverty and disease, as well as love, bonding, creativity, motivation and strength. She is an associate professor of English and Women’s Studies at Wichita State University, Vice President of Women In Need, Inc. and a board member of the Global Learning Center. Chinyere grew up in the state of Abia in Nigeria. Her parents were teachers with nine children, who adopted ten more that needed a home. “Growing up. I never thought of being a teacher,” she says. “I wanted to be a traffic police woman, then an airline hostess.” Instead, she went to the university to study art and for a time she wanted to be a journalist. Her father suggested she get a degree in a more traditional subject, English, which led her to poetry and the theater. “I really found myself in theater,” Chinyere says. She enjoyed acting and all aspects of the theatre, but a cervical disk problem changed her course to playwriting. She began teaching drama and writing plays and soon realized that it was her calling. Her experiences from Nigeria, Wales, Swaziland, Italy, Maryland, Maine and Kansas add richness to her teaching and writing. She has won a number of national and international awards for creative writing, teaching and interdisciplinary research work, drawing from literature, feminist theory and anthropology. A specialist in literary, cultural and gender studies, she has designed and taught courses on multicultural gender, world literature, African mask performance and communication. Dr. Okafor has worked as a consultant for many academic and community-based groups in which tales, dramatic skits and histories are used to engage social issues. Two books have been added to her extensive publishing credits: The New Toyi Toyi, a Play and It Grows In Winter & Other Poems. There is so much need in this world and these three phenomenal women are just a few of the many who have dedicated their lives to making a difference, each in her own special way. i n d u l g e y o u r s e l f • Wo m e n s F o c u s . c o m • F E B R U A RY 2 0 0 8 Dr. chi n yere o k afo r “I really found myself in theater,” ~B.D. Tharp 31 http://www.womensfocus.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Women's Focus - February 2008

Women's Focus - February 2008 Contents Ask Dick & Jane Romance Versus Reality Valentine’s Day—A Single Girl’s Survival Guide Habitat For Humanity—Women Build 2008 Body Beautiful Knightley Reading 12 Months of Shoes Sierra’s Stars City Culture Day Tripping: Hesston, Kansas In Her Shoes—Dr. David Rosen Tokens of Affection for Him & Her Making a Difference in the Community Forget-Me-Not—Sara Paretsky For the Love of Dance—Miss Diane Gann Wichita’s Next Top Model Contest Love Gardening? Join the Club! Indulge Yourself Yoga for Two Workout Journals When “No” Means NO! Something to Smile About A Romantic Valentine’s Dinner for Four Crafts: Bee Mine Valentine Social Circle Save the Date

Women's Focus - February 2008

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