Samba Yonga

Samba Yonga first became interested in journalism after she won a prize for a short story she had written.[1] She attended college and whilst there worked part-time for a local newspaper.[1] After graduation Yonga found work developing ideas for TV and radio programmes.[2] She was then appointed to run the relaunched Trendsetters youth magazine.[1] Yonga has also written for Okay Africa magazine and The Guardian.[3][4] Yonga was editorial director of The Big Issue Zambia magazine, which was launched by the International Network of Street Papers in 2007.[1] The magazine was published in six countries and Yonga travelled frequently to visit these.[2]

Yonga established a media consultancy company, Ku-Atenga Media, from the word for "to create" in Luvale, her native language.[2] Shortly afterwards she left Zambia to study for a master's degree in global media and translation communication at the University of London.[2] Upon her return she began to expand Ku-Atenga, providing consultancy services on communications strategy. The company now carries out work for local and international clients, including the Zambian government, European Union and the United Nations.[5]

Yonga began the Narratives of Silenced Voices to research and publish the stories of African women from history.[5][6] The project was run in conjunction with the Kvinnohistoriskt museum, a women's history museum in Sweden, and Zambian activist Mulenga Kapwepwe.[6] Yonga developed the project into the Zambian Museum of Women's History, initially as an online-only offering but with a view to having a physical location to allow display of artefacts collected by the project.[6]

Yonga writes a blog on WordPress.[7] She was named one of Destiny's "Power of 40" most influential women in Africa of 2017.[5]