Wellesley 100 Arese Ediae

I am helpless against the internal compass that points to familiar elements of my African heritage in unfamiliar settings. Detecting the faint sounds of yoruba along the aisles of Walmart suspends my hunt for groceries until I have found the Nigerian mother scolding her pouting child. The aroma of fufu orders my steps to a neighbouring apartment shared by Ghanaian sisters in Tallahassee, Florida. Likewise, I am intrigued by the presence of the name amidst the patchwork of clickable icons on the Wellesley 100 list: Liz Ogbu, "alumna, social innovator and green architect" - would you believe it! The name captures my attention, resounding my rich African heritage and ambitions I yearn to realize. With trembling fingers I type the name into a search engine and, at once, the story of a remarkable woman unfolds before my eyes. I scour the Internet for sensory details and I find them: pictorial evidences that we possess the same ebony skin and wear the same assured smile that persists in the face of challenges.

As a young Nigerian girl, I am often told that my ideal to harmonise my interests in engineering with the development of the world around me is unlikely to materialise. Rather, my intrinsic value supposedly lies in the...