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Journalist/Author/Educator/Print Media Communication Journalist

Dr. Anthony Obi Ogbo is the publisher of Houston-based International Guardian, and the facilitator of the [Journal of Transformational Leadership]. He is an author of many books and journals, including “336 Hours in Nigeria - A phenomenology of a broken Nation ”, a book on politics, leadership, and psychology. Also Currently, he serves as the Strategic Advisor of the Consumer Arts and Science (Center of Excellence) at the Houston Community College, Central Campus, Houston, Texas. Ogbo is a former president of Houston Association of Black Journalists. With several merit awards to his credit, he started his media career in 1981 as an editorial cartoonist of a Nigerian weekly, “The Trumpet” but worked himself through various publications in Nigeria and the United States through production supervisor, art director to actually establishing his own newspaper business – Guardian Newspaper Incorporated (Texas International Guardian Inc.) in 1998.

Early life and Education
Born of Igbo parentage in the ancient city of Kaduna in northern Nigeria, Anthony Obiefuna Ogbo, a naturalized US Citizen, grew up in the Coal City, Enugu (Eastern Nigeria) under a large family; Chief Fidelis Obieze Ogbo (father); Iyom Cecelia Mmasiolu Ogbo (Mother); and seven siblings (five girls and two boys). He attended St. Mary’s Primary School, Uwani Enugu; Boys High School Awkunanaw, Enugu. He studied Fine and Applied Arts at the Institute of Management and Technology in Enugu, and measured in Painting. In the United States, he did commercial arts at the Houston Community College; studied his masters in Management, and Human Resources Management (MMHRM); Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) and Doctorate in Management in Organizational Leadership (DM) at the University of Phoenix.

Media Career
Having worked in many mainstream newspapers, including The Nigerian Guardian, Ogbo came to the United States as a delegate for the United Nations workshop in New York. He accepted a position as a foreign correspondent for Prime People. He resigned this position in 1991 and settled in Houston as an independent cartoonist. In 1995 he joined the Houston Sun as a production director. Same period, he worked with the Houston Chronicle as a graphics designer through the Houston Creative Concept. In 1998, he incorporated a newspaper business, Guardian News Inc.

September 6, 2011, is exactly 30 years since Ogbo dabbled in the print media. From The Trumpet, Ogbo moved to The Daily Star, then to The Nigerian Guardian, and Prime People magazine, all in Nigeria. “That was basically my last job in Nigeria. The media business had become suicidal. It was a military era of Ibrahim Babangida and his goons, exacerbated by a rundown economy, and a clash between the media and the military.” But Ogbo whose irksome style of Journalism has made headlines over the years as controversial but objective, confessed that “Working in the Nigerian Guardian was very significant in my career because it exposed me to the real world of the print media. Remember this was before the introduction of desktop publishing, so we were basically running the production manually and competitively too. The production required skills, and standards were so high and there were no chances for mediocrity. You are either good or you’re out.” During his years in the Guardian, he shuttled as a production supervisor in operations section, and a cartoonist with the Guardian Express, authoring “Baba Toyin” one of most popular cartoon series at the time.

Then, he moved on to more serious stuff in the U.S. Art director with the Houston Sun; Designer at the Houston Chronicle through an agency, Houston Creative Concepts; and finally decided, if he could make others king, he could make himself king as well. Ogbo established his own business, and incorporated the Guardian Newspaper in 1998 with the sole purpose of serving a combination of African-American and African immigrants with information, and cultural matters. In 2008, he established a tabloid, The Black Senior News—readily the first publication in the State of Texas that addressed the needs of African-American seniors.

Community Service and Advocacy
Besides a longtime initiation in the newsprint confraternity, Ogbo, once the Vice President (Print) of the Houston Association of Black Journalist (HABJ) became so far, the longest serving executive board member in this group affiliated with the National association of Black Journalists (NABJ). He served as the Vice President from 2000 to 2002, the president from 2002 to 2004, and again the Vice President from 2004 till 2006. As member of NABJ and HABJ, Ogbo won numerous journalism excellence awards including the 2004- NABJ Regional lifetime award. Furthermore, he has received lots of certificates of appreciation for his services and commitment to training aspiring African-American Journalists.

Ogbo who appears in the Inaugural Edition of Who is Who in Black Americans in Houston—a publication containing bios of meaningful Black residents who have made some significant impact in the community, and in various disciplines, has served as the vice president of the Houston Association of Black Journalist (2000-2002), and president (2002-2004). In his second term as vice president in 2004, the association which is affiliated with the National Association of Black Journalists, honored him with a Lifetime Award at their 2002 Regional convention. Ogbo has received numerous Excellence Awards and Certificates of Appreciation for his commitment to aspiring African-American journalists. He has received NABJ Ma'at Awards for layout and designs, Editorials and Story Documentary at 2003, 2004, and 2005 NABJ Region VII Ma’at Award ceremonies. He has also received certificates of commendation from various leaders, including former Houston Major Lee P. Brown, Congressman Al Green, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, Office of the president’s Volunteer Services, and a host of other major representatives, and community organization. As a pet project, in 2003, Ogbo began another mission – the campaign for community-oriented media in an environment dominated by national chains. This move changed the scope of community publishing in the minority community, offering significant alternatives to the profit-oriented schemes of corporate media. He said, “I fashioned a community advocacy driven by social objectives rather than the private, profit motive. I used International Guardian to empower people rather than treat them as passive consumers.”

Among his virtues are a rare combination of Street and real-world smarts, and, even rarer among pen-wielding pros, he's unfailingly candid. As he readily confesses, he has no special powers that enable him to foretell the future, but he is sure to tell it like it is. In his usual forceful writing style and aggressive campaign to earn support for community-based media, Ogbo wrote, “Ownership and control of community media is rooted in and responsible to the communities they serve, and they are also committed to human rights, social justice, the environment and sustainable approaches to development.” Through his unique story-presentation, Ogbo helped balance increasing media inequities, and this is when, he said “I refocused the editorial direction of International Guardian, and used the medium to provide the means for cultural expression, community discussion, and debate—supplying news and information and facilitating political engagement.”