Mylène Flicka

Mylène Flicka (born 22 July 1996) is a blogger, activist and social media entrepreneur from Benin.

Mylène Flicka
BornMarie-Madeleine Fifamè Akrota
(1996-07-22) 22 July 1996
Pen nameMylène Flicka
OccupationActivist; Blogger; Digital Media
LanguageFrench
NationalityBeninese

Biography

Marie-Madeleine Fifamè Akrota was born on 22 July 1996.[1] She adopted the pseudonym Mylène Flicka when she was 14 years old, inspired by Mary O'Hara's novel My Friend Flicka.[2] Aged 17, Flicka began her first blog, which was dedicated to highlight issues around women's rights in Benin.[2] It was spurred into action by the declaration of a Beninese businessman that women had no use in the workplace.[3] In 2011 she came first place in Benin's Literary Baccalaureate.[4]

In 2015, using money from her student grant, she set up Irawo Media in order to showcase role models for young people from Benin and beyond.[2] She also graduated in Benin with a Diploma from the National School of Administration and the Judiciary.[4] In 2018 she began to study for an MBA in Paris.[4]

Irawo focuses on profiling young people from francophone Africa in particular.[5] One of the first people to be profiled by Flicka was Marie-Cécile Zinsou, many other notable African has followed since.[1]

Activism

Flicka has coordinated several online campaigns, including #GiveMeMyCredit in 2016 which campaigned for creatives, such as photographers, to be able to keep the rights to their work and to be credited when it is used.[2] In the same year, Irawo exposed government corruption in water supply to the rural village of Bonouko.[6] In 2017 she ran a campaign on social media called #FreeMyBoobs, which tried make it more acceptable for women to not wear a bra.[2] In September 2017, Flicka gave her first TEDx talk.[7]

In 2018 Flicka was part of the #TaxePasMesMo (translation: Don't Tax My Megabytes) campaign, where the government of Benin had tried to levy a social media tax on internet access, texts and calls.[8] Flicka helped to organise and social media campaign, as well as peaceful protest around the cities.[9] After ten days, the government withdrew the tax.[9] Internet Without Borders gave their support to the campaign and Flicka works as an adviser to them.[10] In October 2018 Flicka was sponsored by UNICEF to address the French National Assembly on World Girls Day.[11]

gollark: --magic pyimport eventbuseventbus.add_bridge_link(("discord", 814491524037083172), ("apionet", "#a"))
gollark: What IS causing the incursions?
gollark: Are the crabs self replicating?
gollark: Yes, there do appear to be mild incursions ongoing.
gollark: <@160279332454006795>

References
  1. "Irawo Talents : Mylène Flicka porte la voix des jeunes étoiles africaines – Jeune Afrique". JeuneAfrique.com (in French). 2018-11-21. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  2. "Mylène Flicka ou les lettres libres d'une Béninoise engagée". Le Monde.fr (in French). 2017-09-24. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  3. ICI.Radio-Canada.ca, Zone International-. "Mylène Flicka rêve l'Afrique". Radio-Canada.ca (in French). Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  4. "Mylène Flicka, l'art de chasser les talents". Le Temps (in French). 2018-03-28. ISSN 1423-3967. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  5. Kolawole, Oluwanifemi (2020-02-03). "Irawo, Beninese media startup, is putting francophone African talents in the spotlight". Techpoint.Africa. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  6. "Chronique des médias - Bonouko, ou le nouveau visage du journalisme africain". RFI (in French). 2016-11-26. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  7. "Africa needs this inspiration | Mylène Flicka | TEDxYouth@Ganhito". 2017.
  8. "#TaxePasMesMo : la campagne de dénonciation de la taxe sur les..." Xotede (in French). 2018-09-02. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  9. "Benin repeals social media tax after protests". The Mail & Guardian. 2018-09-25. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  10. "Internet shutdown and Democratic Backsliding in Benin - Internet Sans Frontières". Internet Sans Frontières (in French). 2019-04-28. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  11. "Mylène Flicka, Beninese activist carries the voice of girls at the French National Assembly". 2018.
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