Eko Hotel and Suites 06 December 2014
2014-17-07 15:00:00
Mary Ikoku is a Communications consultant, Public Relations expert and a journalist with ample experience in developing, implementing and promoting communication and public relations strategies to assure brand visibility, promote corporate image, policies and positions. She has a passion for mothers. She serves as President of Working Moms Africa and CEO of the Integrated Quest Public Relations which are all part of The Access Media Ltd.
As the founder and President of Moms Africa, she leads the endeavor to help women cope with the challenges created by mixing professional careers with parenthood. The organization publishes Working Moms Africa (WMA), a magazine that deals with work life balance for the professional woman. Mary Ikoku’s involvement with working Moms Africa magazine dates back to 2006, when she first “launched” it as a vision and she continued to build on it till today when we have WMA as Africa’s leading publication for the Working Woman.
Since 2000, Mary has a thriving career in Development, Public Relations and Strategic Communication and recently publishing. She is a Department for Foreign Development’s (DFID)/Nigerian Infrastructure Advisory Facility (NIAF) Development Consultant. In 2012 she headed the Communication Unit of the Federal Government of Nigeria’s Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme SURE-P, where she pioneered the setting up of the Communications Unit and instituted international best practice for communicating the SURE-Programme. She developed the Programme’s Communications Strategy and Brand structure before moving to the Federal Ministry of Finance’s Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS) as the Communication Adviser. In 2009-2011, Mary also served as Special Adviser to the Minister of Information and Communications. In this role, she implemented schemes to expand government outreach, generate funding for advocacy campaigns and refine governmental communication processes. She ran the Rebranding Value Club a club established in primary and Secondary schools in the country to inculcate in young Nigerian children value orientation, attitudinal change and spirit of civility and patriotism in their country. Over 28 schools were enlisted at the pilot stage of the Programme. She also led the publication of National Access, a government news tabloid for free circulation to Nigerians as a tool to bridge the information gap between the government and it’s citizenry and Open Government, an all-gloss insert magazine in national dailies that X-rays the achievements of the Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDA) under the Minister.
She has launched several key initiatives to support the advancement of Women including Annual Moms Ball & Awards, Moms Roundtable, Moms Meet-Up and the Moms Summits. The ‘Moms Ball & Awards’ is an annual awards event for workplace and home front management bench marking and recognition for working mothers in the country; the ‘Moms Roundtable’ brings together career moms in different profession to discuss and exchange international best practices regarding their particular career as well as receive updates on new innovations in such a career; the ‘Moms Meet-Up’ event holds in different States of the country with the aim of bringing mothers together to network and form support group for one another.
Mary hosts the radio programme, The 247 woman on Kapital FM, Abuja.
She has a Bachelor’s degree in English from Abia State University, and a Master’s degree in International Relations from the Lagos State University. She’s an Alumni of University of California, Davis (UCDavis) – California, USA and London School of Public Relations, London, UK. Her membership of professional bodies includes; Member, Public Relations Society Of America (PRSA); Member, Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (MNIPR); and Member, E Marketing Association (EMA).
She is an acclaimed keynote speaker on the advancement of women, work life balance, barriers facing women of Nigeria and leadership. She has appeared on major talk shows including Good Morning Africa, TVC Women’s World, Silver Bird Televison, Heart Of the Matter show and NTA’s Am Express.
Mary always said her best role yet in life is Motherhood. She is most proud of being a mother to Chimere, Zika, Chidubem and Uche as well as wife of Ikenna Otu, an Engineer of very high standing repute.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
