We’re over the moon to present our latest member of the Guardian Council – Seyi Akiwowo.
The Guardian Council
The Guardian Council is our independent board of trustees and advisors. They have no financial stake in the company but are wholeheartedly invested in protecting the people we seek to serve. They bring expertise from fruitful careers in sectors like human rights, data privacy and last mile tech to advise us as we navigate the complex world of identity, digital or otherwise.
Seyi Akiwowo
Seyi Akiwowo is a force to be reckoned with. She’s passionate about ending online abuse, self-care, meaningful inclusion and political leadership, and is an inspirational public speaker who has spoken across the globe on these fundamental issues.
After graduating from the London School of Economics, Seyi was elected as the youngest female black Councillor in East London at just 23. Growing up in one of the poorest boroughs in London, she became involved in politics in various ways to make a positive difference in her community.
Currently, Seyi is the Founder and Executive Director of Glitch, a young not-for-profit organisation determined to end online abuse through education, campaigns and advocacy. Glitch has a flagship training programme on Digital Citizenship, which is primarily delivered to young people to raise awareness so that they exercise their agency to navigate the online world in a positive, critical and respectful way. Glitch’s achievements are far reaching and have been recognised in Parliament, as well as in books such as Slay in Your Lane and Misogynation.
On top of all of this, Seyi’s an Amnesty International Human Rights Defender, a fellow of the Institute for the Royal Society of the Arts and a Fellow of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship. In 2017, she was invited to present at the 38th United Nations Human Rights Council on online, gender-based violence and again in 2019, to the 10th session of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Elaboration of Complementary Standards to discuss how to update the Convention on racial discrimination to include online abuse.
Seyi’s passionate about widening participation and representation of diverse groups in public life, and anyone that has met her will know how charismatic and positive she is about all of the wonderful work she’s doing. Seyi is also an expert facilitator in skills and inclusion and delivers workshops around the world, including London, Kuwait and UAE. In addition to her inspirational talks, Seyi’s also written reports and seminal pieces for The Guardian, Gender IT.org and Huffington Post.
Without further ado
So please join us in welcoming Seyi to take the fourth seat on our Guardian Council. We’re really excited to have her insight and enthusiasm onboard our mission to fix the broken identity system.
If you want to follow all the interesting things she’s saying and doing, you can find her at @seyiakiwowo.