Kemi Seriki
“an amazing event where women from diverse background comes together to share their experiences”
Kemi Seriki
Ms. Kemi Seriki is a Nigerian immigrant from Yoruba ethnic diversity. As a typical story of immigrants in America, Ms. Seriki migrated to the United States for a better life in the early 1980s. Since moving to the United States, she completed her master’s degree and is a proud mother of two adult children.
She is a blogger, and many issues she writes on focus on the lives of African immigrants. In 2017, Ms. Seriki launched the Pánsá Pánsá Forum to start a conversation about the first and second generations of African immigrant children growing up in American society. As many may know, the African community is often divided by countries of origin, religion, and ethnic background. The forum's vision is to include African children from various ethnic backgrounds in the conversation. The purpose of the discussion is to create an open platform for the children to express their challenges as they try to balance between two worlds of having an American identity and maintaining their African heritage.
In March of 2021, Ms. Seriki launched the Pánsá Pánsá Podcast to move the discussion global platform to attract more diverse participants to the dialogue, and the podcast is in its fourth season. The conversation on the podcast continues to focus on the lives of African immigrants and their assimilation into Western society as they raise younger generations in a country that is quite different from their own. Ms. Seriki believes that education does not end after graduation and that one needs continuous engagement in self-education.
As an avid reader of various interests, she enjoys reading scholarly publications on numerous topics, including mental health, race relations in America, and African and African American history. She also participates in various conferences in the community on race in America and white privilege, social justice, gender inequality, and African forums focusing on African issues. When she is not busy working on her project, she enjoys reading, listening to music, writing, engaging in conversation on social and political issues, and, most importantly, storytelling to the audience, the young and elders of the community.
Kemi is speaking on the Voices of African Women Panel alongside Bidemi Adedire, Mo! Sibyl and Chulu Chansa