Honorees

Anthony “Tony” Okungbowa, is a charismatic British born actor, film producer, and disc jockey of Nigerian decent. He is the resident DJ for The Ellen DeGeneres Show. His acting roles include guest appearances on The X-Files, NYPD Blue and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. He is the executive producer of Restless City which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 2011.

Angélique Kidjo is a Grammy Award–winning singer-songwriter and activist originally from Benin Republic, West Africa. Time Magazine has called her “Africa’s premier diva”. Kidjo is the first woman to be listed among “The 40 Most Powerful Celebrities in Africa” by Forbes Magazine. She serves as UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and is a fervent advocate for girls’ empowerment and access to education.

As founder of HopStop.com, Nigerian native Chinedu Echeruo has been helping New Yorkers navigate the city’s overwhelming mass transit system since 2005. Eager to improve its mapping tools, Apple Inc. recently acquired the popular online city transit guide. He founded HopStop.com after working several years in the Mergers & Acquisitions and Leveraged Finance groups of J.P Morgan Chase.

Resilient, prevailing, and resolute are a few words that come to mind when we think of a woman who has become the face of peace in such a short time. If her current status as a 2011 Nobel Laureate for peace doesn’t reinforce the above title, then wait till you learn how much Leymah Roberta Gbowee courageously led a delegation of Liberian women in 2002 to the Peace Talks Congress in a plea effort to the Liberian government to abolish the Liberia conflict that had been going on for fourteen years.