Glocal Citizens

Florence Amerley Adu

Glocal Citizenship is the recognition that we are simultaneously citizens of our local communities and of the world as a whole. It's about understanding how local actions have global impacts and how global issues affect our local communities. As Glocal Citizens, we strive to be informed, engaged, and responsible individuals who work to create a more just, sustainable, and peaceful world. Explore the intersection of local and global impact with Glocal Citizens! Hosted by Florence Amerley Adu, this podcast delves into the experiences of inspiring individuals bridging their local selves with the wider world. Through engaging conversations with Dynamic Diasporans, Florence explores the personal and professional journeys that define Glocal Citizenship. Along the way, get to know more about the business of their business, including the technical and operational aspects involved in the work of manifesting a new world. Go beyond the headlines and discover how individuals are shaping a more just and sustainable world, both in their own communities and on a global scale.

  1. Episode 317: Impact-Driven Fintech Solutions with Jemima Lewis

    28 AVR.

    Episode 317: Impact-Driven Fintech Solutions with Jemima Lewis

    Greetings Glocal Citizens! This week’s conversation with Adedayo Jemima Lewis, Senior VP Commercial & Growth at Fincra, offers great insights into process and realities of realizing your passion in a new local. From applying and receiving a Global Talent Visa to sharpening her impact-driven career lens, Jemima is one to watch, particularly in the African Fintech space. As a commercial and growth leader with a foundation in marketing, brand, and communications, her expertise lies in a unique combination of strategic positioning and operational discipline, which she uses to successfully build and scale businesses. Across the leadership roles she has held at Fincra, she has consistently focused on the intersection of commercial growth, brand, and communications, enhancing Fincra's go-to-market strategies, refining its value proposition, and ensuring scalable systems support business goals. Today, in her commercial and growth leadership role, she combines that narrative craft with revenue-minded discipline, helping align teams, messaging, and market motion to support sustainable growth. She oversees the management of commercial revenue strategy, strategic partnerships, and market expansion, converting Fincra’s technical capabilities and vision into commercial success. Her portfolio of experience includes work for organisations such as microfinance fintech Aella, Wild Fusion—Africa's leading integrated marketing communications agencies, The Republic Agency, Oando PLC, Lafarge Africa, UBA, Chivita 100%, and more, with responsibilities spanning digital strategy, content development, campaign execution, community management, growth and PR. When she’s not wearing the commercial or growth hat, Jemima dedicates her time to podcasting. Where to find Jemima? @The Shrine Podcast On LinkedIn On Instagram What’s Jemima reading? The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey What’s Jemima watching? The Mentalist Other topics of interest: Ekiti State, Nigeria City of Leeds, UK Discover Halifax, UK #EndSARS About the UK’s Global Talent Visa Programme What is an API? Central Bank of Nigeria - CBN Special Guest: Jemima Lewis.

    49 min
  2. Episode 316: Building Community Assets Grounded in Love with Bakajika Tshinanga

    21 AVR.

    Episode 316: Building Community Assets Grounded in Love with Bakajika Tshinanga

    Greetings Glocal Citizens! This week on the podcast community builidng is a central theme. For twenty years, my guest, Bakajika Tshinanga, has operated at the exact intersection where culture generates economic value. His journey started in 2004, when he founded a student-led program at the University of Georgia Atlanta. Georgia Daze still runs today and has improved enrollment yield conservatively valued at $150M+ in incremental revenue for the university. That experience shaped how he thinks about infrastructure: who builds it, who benefits, and who owns the upside. He went on building hospitality programming delivering the cultural insight that prompted AT&T to sponsor Drake's inaugural headline tour and leading the campaign that introduced the Lyft ridesahre app to Atlanta. He’s produced work with cultural figures including Michael Jordan, and while an undergraduate he producing concerts featuring Outkast, Lauryn Hill, and Dave Chappelle. Also of note, he owns a publishing catalog featuring songs from Lil Wayne, The Neptunes, Sevyn Streeter, Pusha T, and Usher. Coding since age 11, technology is lens he's always looking through. His latest endeavor, the lOlŌ's platform is the direct expression of technology deployed as infrastructure to close the gap between who creates cultural value and who captures it. He's lived the innovator's dilemma firsthand: operating at the riskiest part of the curve, where the work is undeniable but the capital isn't designed to find you. That experience is why lOlŌ exists—a collective ownership vehicle for cultural capital, community-capitalized, community-governed, designed to compound for generations. Where to fine Bakajika? On LinkedIn On Instagram On Threads What’s Bakajika reading? The Science of Scaling by Dr. Benjamin Hardy adn Blake Erickson What’s Bakajika watching? Dreaming Whilst Black on Showtime How’s Bakijika listening to? Who is Joy Leone? Other topics of interest: Kinshasa, DRC About Georgia Daze University of Michigan Supreme Court Affirmative Action Case Atlanta Influences Everything Lɔlɔ̃ means love Special Guest: Bakajika Tshinanga.

    55 min
  3. Episode 315: Preserving our Sweet Roots and our Archiving Imperative with Maame Adjei

    14 AVR.

    Episode 315: Preserving our Sweet Roots and our Archiving Imperative with Maame Adjei

    Greetings Glocal Citizens! I’m sure many of you remember the groundbreaking web series An African City. We’ve even hosted a panel featuring creator of the series Nicole Amarteifio in our writing as activism series. My guest this week launched her creative career as a cast member on the series and she hasn’t looked back since. Maame Adjei is a Ghanaian storyteller, producer, director, entrepreneur and cultural archivist. As the founder of Sweet Roots Media, she leads a women-driven media hub dedicated to amplifying cultural narratives and preserving history through high-quality storytelling. Their work spans documentary scripted, brand storytelling, and immersive experiences, all crafted to resonate on a global scale. Beyond media, she is the founder of Duruyeh, a bold jewelry brand celebrating heritage, beauty, and self-expression. Every piece tells a story, designed not just as an accessory but as a keepsake to be passed down. Maame is also deeply invested in archival work and co-founded Korabea which focuses on preserving, protecting, and uplifting the stories of Ghanaian women, both past and present, through exhibitions, educational projects, and a forthcoming podcast. #NewPodcastAlert! Where to find Maame? On LinkedIn On Instagram On Facebook On YouTube What’s Maame listening to? Devi Brown’s Deeply Well Podcast On Purpose with Jay Shetty The Myleik Teele Podcast The Emotions Other topics of interest: NAFTI is now UniMAC-IFT Who is GloRilla? The Whites of Our Eyes Trailer On Kenneth B. Clark's Doll Study The Sunday Mirror today Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings Special Guest: Maame Adjei.

    45 min
  4. Episode 313: Reclaiming Wellness with Nana Amoako-Anin

    31 MARS

    Episode 313: Reclaiming Wellness with Nana Amoako-Anin

    Greetings Glocal Citizens! This year our Women’s Herstory Month series has taken us for the first time to Botswana and Norway; we stopped in the UK, picked up flavors from Nigeria, Sudan, Zambia, Netherlands, Philippines, Belgium, Brazil and South Africa; went on a future forward mission in Kenya, and we’re landing home in a flashback forward conversation with fellow Ghanaian-American and early Glocal Citizen, Nana Amoako-Anin. Nana first joined us on the podcast in January 2020 in a time when wellness was often taken for granted or an afterthought for later. Then the global pandemic, COVID-19 changed everything. Wellness is now having a moment. However, as we’ll discuss in the conversation, the moment calls for depth, not trend, to sustain real mindset and lifestyle shifts on the personal and professional levels. Nana writes about this at Wellness in Black and lives and works it as a social entrepreneur and organizational leader. She is best known as the founder of Bliss Yoga Accra, Ghana’s first full-service yoga studio. With a background in law, she brings cross-sector expertise to her work, which bridges global perspectives with local impact, positioning her as a thought leader in mindful leadership, mentorship, social innovation and international executive strategy. In this conversation we catch up on evolving realities around wellness for Africans and in Ghana as well as her experience diversifying the what and how of work, guided by her enduring committment to staying people centered. And much, much more. Where to find Nana? https://www.nanaamoakoanin.com/ @ Bliss Yoga Accra On Glocal Citizens At CrowdReason What’s Nana reading? An African History of Africa: From the Dawn of Humanity to Independence by Zeinab Badawi Other topics of interest: The Conjuring of America: Mojos, Mermaids, Medicine, and 400 Years of Black Women’s Magic The “official” Vicks story Kemetic Yoga An African History of Africa on YouTube On Legalized Cannabis in Ghana Indigenous vs Colonial Medicine in Ghana Hamamat Shea Butter Museum ishowspeed in Ghana Jill Scott talks with Angie Martinez Special Guest: Nana Amoako-Anin.

    55 min
  5. Episode 312: World Making Art, Science and Practice with San’aa Njeeri

    24 MARS

    Episode 312: World Making Art, Science and Practice with San’aa Njeeri

    Greetings Glocal Citizens! This week our Women’s Herstory Month series takes us back to Kenya--to a place called Area Nyaga. Our guide is futurist, artist, and creative synthesist reimagining African futures, San’aa Njeeri. Distilling over a decade of global interdisciplinary practice, she positions art as a tool for education, translating complex ideas into accessible experiences that advance African storytelling while progressing digital ecosystems and financial literacy within the context of emerging technologies. Through Area Nyaga, her world building framework informed by the Maasci Return saga and her seminal MaaSci series, she situates Indigenous African identities within expansive futuristic landscapes through her signature visual language, A.EYE (African Eye). Working across speculative art, immersive environments, and narrative design, she develops cultural and digital infrastructures that expand how futures can be imagined, understood, and built. Her work is guided by a defining inquiry: What becomes possible when cultural heritage informs the futures we shape and the narratives we carry forward? In this conversation we explore this question and find ourselves in depth with San’aa getting to know more about how from childhood, her Kenya has grounded the mission and vision that focus her world, and at times, interstellar view. Where to find San’aa? On LinkedIn In Instagram On Substack What’s San’aa watching? After Skool Other topics of interest: Baraza Media Lab San People of Southern Africa About Murang'a, Kenya Kiambu County Where is Kirinyaga? Mount Kenya and Batian Peak Other Futures Festival Who is Blinky Bill? Black Rhino Studios Old Town Lamu About my broadcast debut on the Super Six School News Special Guest: San'aa Njeeri.

    1 h 2 min
  6. Episode 311: Ela-vating the Entrepreneurship Mindset with Sarah Osman

    17 MARS

    Episode 311: Ela-vating the Entrepreneurship Mindset with Sarah Osman

    Greetings Glocal Citizens! This week in our continuing Women’s Herstory Month series, we’re in another new country--from southern Africa last week we’re landing in Scandinavia on our first trip to Norway via Sudan, Zambia, The Philippines, Netherlands, Ghana and South Africa--all places my guest this week has called home. Sarah Osman is a cognitive psychologist, global development specialist, and social entrepreneur with twenty years of experience across Europe, Africa, and Asia. Born in Khartoum, Sudan, and shaped by a life lived across multiple continents, she has built her career at the intersection of applied behavioral science and international development, helping major organizations translate insights about human decision-making into programs that create lasting social change. As the founder of Osman Advisory Services, Sarah has worked with international organizations such as the Council of Europe, World Vision, and the Inter-Parliamentary Union on some of the most complex behavioral challenges in global development. In 2024, she founded Ela, a membership community for women of color building their own consulting practices. Ela is grounded in the conviction that structural inequity in the consulting sector cannot be solved by individual effort alone: it requires community, peer accountability, and the kind of behavioral design thinking that Sarah has spent two decades applying in the field. Ela members are already experiencing tangible transformation in how they position themselves and grow with confidence. Sarah is currently building a new platform for Africa-focused professionals who want to harness the power of behavioral and consumer insights in their work and sector. Currently based in Oslo, Sarah is a true ‘glocal’ citizen: Sudanese by heritage, Pan-African by spirit, European by dwelling, and wholly at home in the space between local realities and global systems. Where to find Sarah and her resource offerings? osmanadvisoryservices.com Join the Ela Membership Sign up to the Pattern Recognition Newsletter On LinkedIn On YouTube What’s Sarah reading? Credit Alert by Ayo Akinola We Are Not Consumers by Louis Seeco What’s Sarah listening to? The Department Podcast Other topics of interest: Perspectives on Black Identity in Norway Curious about “Delulu” thinking? Manal Sayid of Sayid Consulting Special Guest: Sarah Osman.

    53 min
  7. Episode 310: From Diamonds in the Rough to Polished Gems of Culture with Caroline Modise

    10 MARS

    Episode 310: From Diamonds in the Rough to Polished Gems of Culture with Caroline Modise

    Greetings Glocal Citizens! Next up in our Women’s Herstories Month series is our first trip to Botswana. I met this week’s guest, a native Motswana and globe trotter--Caroline Modise, in Accra earlier this year representing in her role as the Sustainability Engagements Manager at De Beers Group. At De Beers she plays a key role in socialising and amplifying the company’s social impact programs across a diverse ecosystem of stakeholders. The how of our meeting is the Stanford Seed program where De Beers participates as a key partner in Botswana. Caroline built her early career managing relationships with some of the world’s leading diamond jewellery retailers and later became a founding board member and Head of Strategy for the Botswana Careers Roundtable, a pioneering networking platform designed to bridge experienced professionals with emerging talent across corporate Botswana. As an alumna and former board member of the African Leadership Academy—an institution committed to transforming Africa by developing a network of future-ready young leaders—she remains passionate about Africa’s developmental journey, with particular interest in social enterprises and sustainability strategies for grassroots organisations. Listenandlearn more about how her experiences with women in leadership inspire her professionally and creatively, then get to know Caroline the artiste! Where to find Caroline? On LinkedIn On Instagram On Facebook What’s Caroling reading? The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese What’s Caroline listening to? Anything Beyoncé Kaytranada Other topics of interest: My local for this conversation - Nanyuki, Kenya About Gaborone and Palapye in Botswana From Debswana to About the Okavango Basin, the National Geographic’s Okavango Project and watch the film About the Nkashi Storytellers Traditional cuisine in Botswana Treehaus Botswana Special Guest: Caroline Modise.

    49 min

À propos

Glocal Citizenship is the recognition that we are simultaneously citizens of our local communities and of the world as a whole. It's about understanding how local actions have global impacts and how global issues affect our local communities. As Glocal Citizens, we strive to be informed, engaged, and responsible individuals who work to create a more just, sustainable, and peaceful world. Explore the intersection of local and global impact with Glocal Citizens! Hosted by Florence Amerley Adu, this podcast delves into the experiences of inspiring individuals bridging their local selves with the wider world. Through engaging conversations with Dynamic Diasporans, Florence explores the personal and professional journeys that define Glocal Citizenship. Along the way, get to know more about the business of their business, including the technical and operational aspects involved in the work of manifesting a new world. Go beyond the headlines and discover how individuals are shaping a more just and sustainable world, both in their own communities and on a global scale.