Stephanie Busari

Stephanie Busari

Stephanie Busari who was recently selected as one of the 2020 World Fellows by Yale University is our WCW for today. Stephanie Busari is a renowned and award-winning journalist & editor at CNN Worldwide. She heads up CNN’s Nigeria Bureau where she pioneered CNN’s first digital and multiplatform bureau making her the first Nigerian to head a CNN multi-platform bureau anywhere in the world.

As a media professional, Stephanie holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in French and Public Media at Leeds Trinity and All Saints College, UK. She is also an alumna of the University of Rennes, France where she obtained a degree in an Advanced Diploma Program.

Stephanie’s career began when she interned with a local newspaper in York, UK whilst still an undergraduate. Thereafter, Stephanie proceeded to work at New Nation, a London-based newspaper before moving to the Daily Mirror where she experienced her first big break while working as a trainee reporter.  She also worked briefly at BBC as a freelance journalist.

In 2008, Stephanie joined CNN International and returned to Nigeria in 2012. Stephanie has worked in various capacities overtime as a supervising producer and producer managing key projects, editing features, and reporting inspiring stories.

Stephanie currently oversees CNN Africa’s digital’s editorial and operational strategy. She is passionate about crafting a new narrative for African storytelling and telling stories about Africa’s change makers and innovators.

Stephanie was an instrumental member of the CNN team that won a Peabody Award in May 2015 for CNN’s coverage of the missing Nigerian schoolgirls. In April 2016, Stephanie exclusively obtained the ‘proof of life’ video that showed that the between missing Chibok schoolgirls were still alive. This video led to crucial negotiation talks between the government and the insurgents resulting in the release of over 100 of the kidnapped schoolgirls.

As a trailblazer, Stephanie has won multiple awards in her 15-year career. In 2016, Stephanie was a recipient of the Divas of Color International Women’s Awards’ for global leadership. She made the inaugural global list of the Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD) in the year 2017 in which she was also a Hall of Fame Award recipient.

Stephanie won a Hollywood Gracie Award in 2017 for her persistence in covering the Chibok girls’ story and she is also a previous recipient of the Outstanding Woman in the Media Awards. Additionally, in 2017, she was named one of the Most Influential People of African descent in a UN-backed award and in May 2020, she was listed among 25 of the most powerful female journalists in Africa by Women in Journalism Africa. She has also been named as one of Leading Ladies Africa’s 100 most inspiring women in Nigeria.

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As a passionate and adept public speaker, Stephanie founded and curated the TEDxBrixton, London with the aim to connect people across disciplines to create a local, national, and international conversation around the theme of “Transformations”. The event held in South London in July 2013 with 500 delegates and 16 speakers from diverse disciplines.

As a visionary, Stephanie is often invited to share her insights and host panels. She has spoken at TED, UN Women, Said Business School, Oxford, Africa Gathering among others.

Stephanie is an inspiration and a force to reckon with. We wish her continued success.