Summary

Author of “Community Heroes: What A Year As An AmeriCorps VISTA Member Taught Me About Community Development”

Writer at the Juventus SB Nation website

I was born and raised in the Netherlands to Nigerian parents. I attended the IBMYP program in the Netherlands before moving to the United States at age 16, where I completed high school via the IBDP program.

I returned to my country of birth when I was 19 to obtain my Bachelor's Degree in International Bachelor Economics and Business Economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam and then to Denmark for my Master's Degree in Sports and Event Management, Economics and Business Administration.

It was during my Master's studies, and after reading Jason Saul's great book "The End of Fundraising: How to Raise More by Selling Your Impact", that I discovered my interest in economic empowerment and community development. These areas happened to be the perfect mixture between my interests and my academic expertise, which is why I decided to work in the nonprofit sector.

I also have many years of experience writing, mostly on my blog but also on the website Black & White & Read All Over, where I’ve been a contributor almost 5 years.

Experience

Research & Development Coordinator at The North End Community Improvement Collaborative (Mansfield, Ohio)

November 2018 - Present

After a year of being an AmeriCorps VISTA at NECIC, I transitioned into the role of Research and Development Coordinator. As the Research and Development Coordinator, I am responsible for researching innovative approaches, identifying best practices, and developing methods to improve the overall quality of our program and fiscal performance.

I also provide data and make reports related to the progress of health, educational, and economic conditions of residents for funders, community stakeholders, elected officials, local residents, and partner organizations.

Lastly, I'm responsible for monitoring diversity and inclusion in the community and developing programs and approaches to better serve the needs of specific sub-populations.

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AmeriCorps VISTA at The North End Community Improvement Collaborative (Mansfield, Ohio)

November 2017 - November 2018

This experience was, of course, the inspiration for the book I wrote, so make sure to get a copy of it here.

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Launched my own website!

December 2016 - Present

I finally mustered the courage to launch my personal blog where I write about personal development, economics, and, frankly, anything that I think will be useful to people. I enrich my posts with references to videogames, quotes from shows like Dragonball Z, and other odd throwbacks. At the end of the day though, I hope that my writing will help people do something useful.

Click here to read my blog.

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Writer and Comments Moderator at Juventus SB Nation "Black & White & Read All Over"

January 2014 - Present

I write regular articles for the "Black & White & Read All Over" website about all things related to Juventus FC. I am part of a group of writers on this blog and I also moderate comments. My blogging name is "Chuks A." I started writing regular posts since 2016 but wrote various guest posts in 2014 and also started moderating comments since that time.

I used to write reviews of Juventus matches, but now I solely write monthly opinion-posts (unoriginally called "Monthly Juventus Thoughts") which are usually less formal and more creative. In the 2017 calendar year, our blog received over 3 million page views. Click here to find all the content I've written for the website.

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Front Desk & Escort at Ohiohealth Mansfield Hospital (Mansfield, Ohio)

April 2018 - Present

I volunteer at the front desk of the hospital lobby. I escort patients (sometimes in wheelchairs and/or transport chairs) to their rooms and direct visitors to the correct location in the hospital of the patients that they are visiting.

Event Organizer for Techstars Startup Weekend Mansfield (Mansfield, Ohio)

March 2018 - September 2018

I was part of the Organizing Committee for the very first Startup Weekend Mansfield event. This is a 54-hour event in which participants pitch business ideas, work on them in teams over the weekend, and eventually present a prototype to a panel of judges in order to win prizes.

I helped arrange food, coffee, and drinks for the event. I also helped with marketing and outreach, including writing blog posts for local media and doing community outreach to encourage people to attend.

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Content Translator at NiceHair DK (Esbjerg, Denmark)

February 2016 - June 2017

I was responsible for translating blog posts into Dutch for the company's Dutch-speaking market segment. I was also responsible for managing the Facebook and Instagram accounts for the Dutch market and proofreading e-mail newsletters to ensure that they were grammatically correct. Lastly, I helped in creating Google AdWords campaigns.

During my time at the company, our newsletter subscribers increased from approximately 3,700 to 6,000 subscribers and Facebook likes from 640 to 840 (all for the Dutch market).

I further developed my understanding of working in professional settings with different groups of people, but this time in an environment in which I didn't speak the first language fluently (Danish). I also learned about the dynamics of collaborating with different departments, especially in terms of understanding who to go to for different problems, and taking responsibility for the outcomes of tasks (both good and bad) that I performed.

Languages

English: Mother Tongue

Dutch: Mother Tongue

Spanish: Fluent

Danish: Elementary proficiency

Master's Degree

MSc Economics and Business Administration — Sports and Event Management @ University of Southern Denmark, Campus Esbjerg.

Graduated October 2017.

Bachelor's Degree

BSc International Bachelor Economics and Business Economics @ Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Graduated July 2015; Summa Cum Laude.

Exchange Program

As part of my Bachelor's degree, I spent 5 months at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in Madrid, Spain.

I took 2 Spanish-language courses and 2 English-language courses.

Interests

Podcasts.

Writing.

Technology.

Football (soccer) and tennis.

The culture and history of South America

Economic empowerment.

Linguistics and cultural studies.

Community development and nonprofit work.

Behavioral economics and applying the theory to social development programs.

And some other things that, according to society, adults aren’t supposed to like.