User:Jokaelle/sandbox

Iquo B. Essien - Iquo (Iquo-imoh) Nigerian female name, meaning "Riches and good-looking".

Early Life and Education: Iquo is the youngest of four daughters born to Nigerian parents who met and married as students when they migrated to the US after the Nigerian civil war of the1970s Both of her parents attained post-graduate degrees in Education. Obtaining employment in civil-service for the State of New York, the family kept the connection with their culture including regular trips to Nigeria, and Iquo's mother started an African dance troupe. Iquo grew up performing at schools and events dancing singing and drumming. She also studied classical piano and violin, sang in the choir, played sports, and was advanced in science and math.

As if in family tradition, all the girls attended and graduated Ivy League schools, including Stanford University, where Iquo attended on a research scholarship, majoring in Biology as a Pre-med. She also directed Kumba Dance Ensemble and sang in Talisman Acapella, studied abroad in Accra, Ghana, and Bahia, Brazil. As an undergrad, she conducted primary research as a fellow with the National Institutes of Health. She realized that research and science were not her main passions. When her mother died of cancer at the beginning of her senior year, she was forced to suffer through her toughest courses while grieving, and she decided that after graduation, she would do whatever she wanted to with the rest of her life, as long as she was happy. Iquo moved to New York City where she worked at a strategic consulting firm helping global clients such as the American Society of Clinical Oncology,and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Global Health Program where she mobilize support for critical health issues among policy makers, the media, and the public. She left that position with a hunger to combine her passion for social justice and the arts. She took and MFA in Film from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts https://tisch.nyu.edu/. Along the way, Iquo served as Communications and Marketing Director of Culture Project, a Non-profit Theatre, and Dance Theatre Etcetera, a cultural organization that transforms the lives of youth, through The Arts. She made a series of short films that won awards and screened around the world, and is in development on two feature films. She now works as an artist and creative consultant specializing in brand storytelling marketing and creative strategy. Her passion is using data riding video and photography to help socially conscious brands connect authentically with audiences. She posits that finding her own voice has helped her guide other people, groups, and brands, toward finding theirs. “It's really about standing in truth being open and sharing the best of what you have to offer with the world. That Honesty naturally resonates with people and gradually we're all raising the vibration bringing a little more goodness into the world and making it a better place”. She wants to be a part of that in whatever way she can. https://vimeo.com/261428590

MFA, Film, NYU/Tisch School of the Arts https://tisch.nyu.edu/. . BS, Biological Sciences, Stanford University Mini Biography By: Editi Films

Career: Editi Films Writer, Director and Producer - Editi Films September 2007 – Present 11 years 2 months

Phil & Co. Digital Content Producer Phil & Co. December 2017 – July 2018 8 months Greater New York City Area

PEG (Public Equity Group) Strategy Consultant PEG (Public Equity Group) March 2017 – February 2018 1 year Greater New York City Area

Dance Theatre Etcetera Communications and Marketing Manager, Project Manager Dance Theatre Etcetera July 2015 – August 2017 2 years 2 months Brooklyn, New York

American Black Film Festival Feature Film Reviewer American Black Film Festival April 2016 – June 2017 1 year 3 months

Remote Xoom Corporation Marketing Consultant Xoom Corporation September 2015 – January 2016 5 months San Francisco Bay Area (remote)

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. Videographer, Video Editor NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. September 2015 – November 2015 3 months

Greater New York City Area TED Conferences Assistant Video Editor TED Conferences August 2014 – July 2015 1 year

New York City, NY ecoMUKTI Communications & Marketing Strategy Consultant ecoMUKTI May 2014 – July 2014 3 months

Greater New York City Area ReelAfrican Marketing Manager ReelAfrican July 2013 – June 2014 1 year

Ghana, West Africa + USA Culture Project Communications and Marketing Director Culture Project September 2009 – September 2010 1 year 1 month

The Epidavros Project Marketing and Communications Coordinator The Epidavros Project April 2009 – September 2009 6 months

Essien Consulting, Communications Consultancy Director Essien Consulting, Communications Consultancy June 2008 – August 2009 1 year 3 months Greater New York City Area

Pfizer Freelance Copyeditor Pfizer January 2008 – January 2009 1 year 1 month Greater New York City Area

AFRicanmag.com Online Editor, Contributing Writer AFRicanmag.com January 2007 – May 2008 1 year 5 months Advertising Executives Inc

Freelance Copyeditor Advertising Executives Inc 2006 – 2007 1 year Corkery Group Unlimited

Junior Associate Corkery Group Unlimited August 2004 – August 2005 1 year 1 month New York, New York

Style and Themes:

Pesonal Life:

Filmography:

Director (3 credits) 2016 New York, I Love You (Short) 2013 Aissa's Story (Short) 2008 How to Make Afang Soup (Short)

Writer (3 credits) 2016 New York, I Love You (Short) (written by) 2013 Aissa's Story (Short) 2008 How to Make Afang Soup (Short)

Camera and Electrical Department (3 credits) 2016 Farewell Meu Amor (Short) (additional photography) 2015 Walking the Dead (Short) (assistant camera) 2012 Katya & the Scarlet Sails (Short) (d.i.t)

Producer (3 credits) 2013 Aissa's Story (Short) (producer) 2009 In 'The Waiting Room' (Short) (line producer) 2008 Dakota (Short) (associate producer)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director (2 credits) 2012 A Friends Place (Short) (assistant director - as Iquo Essein) 2012 Begotten (Short) (second assistant director - as Iquo Essein)

Editor (2 credits) 2016 New York, I Love You (Short) 2013 Aissa's Story (Short)

Miscellaneous Crew (1 credit) 2009 Hug (Short) (production assistant)

Awards and Nominations: Her short film Aissa's Story was nominated and was a regional semifinalist in the 2013 Student Academy Awards, 2015 Africa Movie Academy Awards, and won Best Student Short at the 2014 Africa International F ilm Festival.

Essien drafted a debut novel, Alligator Legs, for which she received a 2009 Hedgebrook Writers' Residency.

Bibliography or Further Reading:

References (Personal, from Linkdin):

Iquo is a brilliant filmmaker and writer who gave me one of my first on-camera acting experiences, and for that I will be ever grateful. She has a specific vision and sees it through- executed wonderfully. I'm excited to see what she has next in store and appreciate this artistic relationship that we've built and nurtured.

I have worked with Iquo on two short films projects. She is a very talented, creative, goal oriented self-motivated individual. I believe she has a very strong voice that needs to be heard and given the opportunity I know that she can create works of art in her chosen medium of film that will inspire, educate, motivate and encourage people especially aspiring women artists.

Iquo is patient with her cast and crew members, and works well with everyone. She is an asset to any company that is lucky to have her as an employee and to the creative world at large.

External Links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzgVQDa3EtQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8cmB7HuDmY

https://twitter.com/alligatorlegs?lang=en

https://www.facebook.com/iquomma

https://vimeo.com/261428590

https://www.instagram.com/iquomma/?hl=en

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3421381/

https://www.africanfilmny.org/2015/iquo-b-essien/

https://www.blackwomendirectors.co/iquo-essien-aissas-story

http://www.brooklynartscouncil.org/artists/29075

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/critic/iquo-b-essien/

http://www.indiewire.com/author/iquo-b-essien/

https://hedgebrook.org/user/iquo.b.essien/

https://www.newmusicusa.org/profile/iquoessien/

https://shadowandact.com/blackwomenfilmmakersspeak-meet-nyc-based-iquo-b-essien-as-a-black-african-female-i-will-always-be-in-the-position-of-convincing

https://awfj.org/female-gaze/tag/iquo-b-essien/?doing_wp_cron=1537769148.7220849990844726562500

https://medium.com/@iquomma

https://www.kweli.tv/authors/iquo-essien