Adelle Onyango (born 5 February 1989) is a Kenyan radio presenter, social activist and media personality. She was selected as one of 2017's

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100 Women and one of

OkayAfrica OkayAfrica (stylized as okayafrica) is a digital media platform dedicated to African culture, music and politics. Founded in 2011 by Vanessa Wruble and Ginny Suss as a sister site to The Roots frontman Questlove's Okayplayer, the site has become ...

's Top Women of 2018.

Early life and education

Onyango is from Kenya, but she attended high school in

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

. In 2008, she was raped by a stranger in

Westlands, Nairobi Westlands is a mixed-use neighbourhood in Parklands, Nairobi, Upper Parklands in Nairobi. Located from Nairobi's central business district, it sits on the westerly areas of the larger Parklands area of Nairobi. Location Westlands is located ...

. Onyango has since supported causes to support the victims of rape, such as founding the campaign ''No Means No''. She studied journalism and psychology at

United States International University Africa United States International University-Africa, also known as USIU-Africa, is a private university in Kenya. The university is accredited by the Commission for Higher Education (CUE) in Kenya and by the Western Association of Schools and College ...

, where she specialised in

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...

. She has always been interested in poetry, but felt there was not enough space for her and her fellow artists. In her final year at university she started an

open mic An open mic or open mike (shortened from "open microphone") is a live show at a venue such as a coffeehouse, nightclub, comedy club, strip club, or pub, often taking place at night (an open mic night), in which audience members may perform on ...

night, where poets and musicians shared their work. While still at university Onyango was headhunted by ''Then One FM'', a Kenyan radio station, and recruited to host their

drive time Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this c ...

radio programme. She lost her mother to breast cancer in 2012, which has motivated Onyango to becoming involved with campaigns to promote awareness and treatments.

Career

Onyango worked as a presenter for the Kenyan radio station Kiss FM

Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...

, where she presented the Saturday breakfast show for seven years. At Kiss FM she started a Saturday evening programme on which she played African music. During her time at KISS she became a social media

influencer A social media influencer, or simply influencer (also known as an online influencer), is a person who builds a grassroots online presence through engaging content such as photos, videos, and updates. This is done by using direct audience intera ...

, with her followers calling themselves ''#TeamAdelle''. She left Kiss FM in 2019.

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer compo ...

announced that Onyango was one of their ''She Will Connect'' ambassadors in 2015. In this capacity she has trained women in Africa to be more confident online and use the internet as a tool for empowerment. She has spoken out against online trolls, saying: "...be better or grow up. Deal with your internal issues instead of projecting them on us." In 2016 Onyango established a mentorship programme, the ''Sisterhood'', which offers support for women in Africa. Through ''No Means No'' and ''Sisterhood'' Onyango helps women access therapies and safe houses, as well as offering confidence classes for victims of rape. She has worked to champion Kenyan women and young people, and launched a new initiative, ''Unapologetically African'', in 2018. As part of this effort she developed a work-experience programme for high-school students. She started the podcast ''Legally Clueless'' in March 2019. The podcast is syndicated by ''Trace 95.3 FM''. The show has both an audio and video format.

Meru University of Science and Technology Meru University of Science and Technology (or MUST) is a public university in Tigania West Constituency Meru, Kenya Meru is a town in eastern Kenya. It is the headquarters of the Meru County, and the seventh largest urban centre in the country ...

hosted a live episode of ''Legally Clueless'' in November 2019. Adelle released her 100th episode of ''Legally Clueless'' in February 2021. The podcast was one of the top podcasts on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

in August 2021. She is co-author with Lanji Ouku of the book ''Our Broken Silence'', documenting the voices of survivors of rape, family members, activists, and others, published in March 2022.

Awards and honours

Onyango was selected as one of the

's top 100 Women in 2017. In 2018 she was selected as one of

's top 100 women. She was one of two Kenyans included in the Africa Youth Awards' 100 Most Influential Young Africans in 2019.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Onyango, Adelle 1989 births Living people Kenyan women writers United States International University alumni Kenyan radio presenters Kenyan women radio presenters Kenyan radio journalists Kenyan women radio journalists