Author: Koya Nkrumah
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The Cost of Being a Black Woman Who Speaks Up
What Is It About My Anger That You Are Afraid Of? My anger lives in my throat. Not because I don’t have words — trust me, I do — but because I have learned what it costs to use them. There are things I wanted to say, things I should have said, moments where my…
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When the Rules Cut Deeper Than Hair
Why Are We Still Shaving Our Daughters’ Hair? The Colonial Rules That Keep Us Bound Generations after colonial rule ended, many Ghanaian schools still enforce hair-shaving policies rooted in control, not culture. It’s time we ask — why are we still upholding rules designed to make us small? A Viral Video That Struck a Nerve…
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When Beauty Becomes Currency: The True Cost of Trading Youth for Security
Last week, social media erupted with videos of Regina Daniels, the young actress who once made headlines for marrying Nigerian billionaire Ned Nwoko. She was barely eighteen when the world watched her step into a life that seemed paved with gold. A few short years later, the same world is now watching her unravel —…
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When Men Cry Over Losing the Right to Marry Girl Children
There’s a video circulating online that’s hard to unsee. A grown man — face twisted in outrage — lamenting that Somalia’s parliament has betrayed men by ratifying a law that protects children. His complaint? That the government has stolen their right to marry girls. Not just children — girl children. Because no one is marrying…
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Naming the Sickness: When Culture Protects Predators and Silences Victims
This week, three stories broke me open. A headmaster was caught on video touching a student inappropriately — in the same community where I grew up. Another man, also a headmaster, was filmed raping a child. And then on TikTok, a Ghanaian man bragged about sleeping with a woman who woke up not knowing how…
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Standing Your Ground: Reclaiming the Strength I Almost Gave Away
When I was twenty, I lost my mother to cancer. Through my teens I had watched her fight with quiet courage, and I still feel the imprint of her kindness and extraordinary work ethic. In many ways, I carry her grace. Yet I’ve also always known that I’m my father’s daughter—especially in one key trait:…
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Choosing Myself: Navigating Identity Between Two Worlds.
When I first moved to the UK, every outing felt like a doorway to something new. I said yes to almost every invitation, eager to learn, to belong. So when I got invited to my first party, I pictured a big meal, laughter around a table—the kind of gathering I’d known all my life. The…
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Beyond Dress Sizes: An African Woman’s Journey to Body Freedom.
Coming Home to My Body—how I broke up with diet culture and learned to love my Afrocentric self. I was in college when I overheard two boys talking about me. “She’s alright,” one said, “but she has bad skin.” How rude! I didn’t even have acne in my early teens, but I struggled in my…
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You Are Not Late: Redefining Milestones on My Own Terms
By 28, I was “supposed” to be married with 2.5 children, a family home, a dog, and a fulfilling career. But those were never my dreams. I wasn’t the little girl planning a wedding in her head. My parents and guardians had their blueprint, and they repeated it so often that I stopped myself from…
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Why “I’m Okay” Was the Biggest Lie I Told Myself
I bet you’ve forgotten lockdown by now. For me, it’s a time I’ll never shake off. The first few months were brutal. No office. No routine. No distractions. Just me, my thoughts, and the uncomfortable truth that I couldn’t escape my own company. One afternoon, after a frustrating call with my father, I was ranting…
Koya Nkrumah 