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Yomi Adegoke

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Yomi Adegoke
Adegoke in 2024
Adegoke in 2024
Born (1991-09-25) 25 September 1991 (age 33)[1]
Croydon, South London, UK
OccupationJournalist
Alma materUniversity of Warwick
Notable worksSlay In Your Lane

Yomi Adegoke (born 25 September 1991) is a British journalist and author.

Early life and education

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Adegoke is of Nigerian heritage. She was born in Canning Town, east London, and raised in Croydon.[2] She attended the University of Warwick and studied law.[2] Her sister, Yemisi Adegoke, is a journalist for BBC Africa.[2] She took a year out of university and in 2013 she founded Birthday Magazine, a publication aimed at black teenage girls.[3] The magazine discussed race, pop culture and feminism.[4]

Career

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Adegoke has written for The Guardian, The Independent and the Pool.[5][6] She was selected by The Dots as a woman who was "redefining the creative industry".[7] An Evening Standard feature included her among "frontline pioneers".[8] She has called out racism on university campuses.[9] She worked for Channel 4 News.[10]. In a 2019 article, Adegoke coined "The Disposable Black Girlfriend" trope which has since risen to prominence. It describes a recurring pattern in media where black women, often cast as girlfriends or love interests, are introduced only to serve as a temporary distraction from the protagonist's white 'true love'.

Slay in Your Lane

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Main article: Slay in Your Lane

Adegoke collaborated with Elizabeth Uviebinené to write Slay in Your Lane: The Black Girl Bible. Nine publishers fought for the rights to the book, with Adegoke and Uviebinené winning five-figure sums.[2] It was published by 4th Estate (HarperCollins) in 2018.[11] It was described as a "guide to life for a generation of black women".[12] To write the book, Adegoke and Uviebinené interviewed several accomplished black women, including Malorie Blackman, Denise Lewis, jamelia, Laura Mvula, Clara Amfo, Karen Blackett, June Sarpong, Margaret Busby and Estelle.[2] The book covers work, education, money, dating and health, as well as media representation of black women.[13] It was selected by BBC Radio 4 as Book of the Week in July 2018. They discussed the book at the Southbank Centre for the London Literature Festival.[14] The pair have discussed the success of the book widely, in mainstream media and public discussions.[15][16][17][18][19] Complementing the book, in April 2020 Adegoke and Uviebinené launched the Slay in Your Lane: The Podcast, which continued the analysis of news and popular culture topics from a black British female perspective.[20]

The List

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In 2023, Adegoke published her debut novel, The List with 4th Estate books (HarperCollins). The book follows internet famous couple Ola and Michael in the run up to their wedding, and how their relationship is affected when Michael's name is included on anonymously curated online list of abusers. It was an instant Sunday Times Bestseller and nominated for two British Book Awards, as well as being selected as a Good Morning America book club pick. In 2023, it was announced that Adegoke would be creating and executive producing a TV adaptation of the book with HBO Max, the BBC and A24.


References

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  1. ^ Yomi Adegoke (25 September 2018). "Morning! Ya girl is 27 years old today". Retrieved 24 August 2020 – via Twitter.
  2. ^ a b c d e Akbar, Arifa (24 June 2018). "How to be a black woman and succeed: two friends who have written the manual". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  3. ^ "Yomi Adegoke". Blake Friedmann. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  4. ^ "Post Black Talk – Do we live in a post racial society?". www.warwicksu.com. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  5. ^ "Yomi Adegoke". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  6. ^ "Yomi Adegoke". The Independent. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  7. ^ "Slay In Your Lane: In Conversation with Yomi Adegoke and Elizabeth Uviebinené". Glasgow Women's Library. 23 August 2018. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  8. ^ Luckhurst, Phoebe (6 February 2018). "Meet the women who make up our Suffragette City". Evening Standard. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  9. ^ Horton, Helena (6 April 2016). "Warwick university investigates racist slurs scrawled on student's bananas". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  10. ^ "Melan Mag Interviews: Authors of Slay in Your Lane, Yomi Adegoke and Elizabeth Uviebinené". Melan Magazine. 23 February 2018. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  11. ^ Onwuemezi, Natasha (16 June 2018). "Yomi Adegoke & Elizabeth Uviebinené | 'Just because something is by black women and about black women, that doesn't mean that it can't be mainstream'". The Bookseller. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  12. ^ Mowbray, Nicole (11 July 2018). "The women with Slaying power: Publishing sensations Elizabeth Uviebinené and Yomi Adegoke". Metro Newspaper UK. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  13. ^ Fetto, Funmi (11 July 2018). "The Must-Read Book Empowering Young Black Women". Vogue. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  14. ^ "Slay in Your Lane". Southbank Centre. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  15. ^ "BBC Radio 6 Music - Amy Lamé, With Elizabeth Uviebinene and Yomi Adegoke on their new book Slay In Your Lane: The Black Girl Bible". BBC. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  16. ^ "Who's Included? Black Women and the Workplace". info.lse.ac.uk. London School of Economics and Political Science. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  17. ^ "Yomi Adegoke and Elizabeth Uviebinené". Bristol Festival of Ideas. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  18. ^ Sanusi, Victoria (10 July 2018). "'Slay In Your Lane' is a true depiction of the hardships of being a black British woman". inews.co.uk. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  19. ^ Parke, Phoebe (8 August 2018). "Slay In Your Lane: Why 2018's Black Girl Bible Is Supposed To Make You Feel Uncomfortable". Grazia. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  20. ^ "Slay In Your Lane: The Podcast". Apple Podcasts Preview. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
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