Achievement is in Diana Wilson’s DNA ! Diana Wilson is a vibrant, articulate, and highly successful 25-year-old social entrepreneur, marketing strategist at Google, professional development coach, activist and global speaker. She was recognized as the ‘Next Black Female Mark Zuckerberg’ via Face2Face Africa. She has gone viral for her achievements via MTV and LinkedIn. She is a published author, being featured in We Will Lead Africa, a book that compiles the stories of 32 top African female leaders today. All the same, Diana Wilson started from humble beginnings. She is the product of a diligent single mother, prayer and a constructive community of Newark, NJ. Among the 2014 class nationwide (U.S.) to receive the Bill & Melinda Gates Millennium Scholar Award, the Ronald McDonald Charities Scholarship Top Regional Winner, the Ben Carson Scholarship Award, and the Coca Cola Scholarship, she attended the University of Virginia with a full scholarship and earned over a hundred thousand dollars in other scholarships from various organizations. She came to college with the hopes of understanding the interconnection between business and the public sector in order to maximize social impact. Thus she studied an interdisciplinary major consisting of Sociology and Women Gender Studies.
As a first-generation Ghanaian American college student, Diana developed purpose and mastery while in college. She has completed prestigious programs with Bank of America, Harvard University Public Policy School, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Goldman Sachs, McKinsey, Google, JP Morgan Chase & Co., etc. Through these experiential learning opportunities, Diana has been able to hone her ability to complete in-depth analysis, keep an innovative spirit, create strategic initiatives and have a high-level “big picture” approach for tackling issues. Due to Diana’s passion for understanding the global sphere, she has traveled to 11 countries within 4 different continents on a full scholarship. Her travels span from South Africa to France. These experiences have provided Diana with strong cross-cultural communication skills and a vigilance to understand the complexity of globalization.
Lastly, she has never forgotten about the importance of lifting as she climbs. Diana won the McKinsey Woman’s Social Impact Award for her work with college students in Ghana regarding their civic engagement. Moreover, with all the racial tension and chaos surrounding her school’s campus in Charlottesville, Diana has worked on the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers project. It will be established by 2020 and it will serve as a reminder of the importance of all-American citizens to this country’s progress. Moreover, she co-directed the first ever Global History of Black Girlhood Conference at the University of Virginia in March 2017. The Global History of Black Girlhood Conference redesigns and shifts the focus of academia towards the concerted existence of both the visible and invisible Black woman. Beyond her leadership and community service Diana has won the Forbes 30 Under 30 Scholar Award, Ghana’s 30 Under 30 Award, Clinton Global Initiative University Student Fellowship, Davis Projects for Peace, and the Coca Cola Scholarship. She has been featured by MTV, Google, Blavity, Future of Ghana and many more.
In 2018, Diana created Yielding Accomplished African Women (Yaa W.). Yielding Accomplished African Women is Africa’s premier nonprofit committed to digitizing and developing Africa’s best talent with a focus on women. Their ecosystem is the largest online academy and career community of African women in finance, machine learning/AI and software engineering.
Her mission is to create a pipeline of African female leaders that will empower Africa and the world at large. Under Diana’s leadership, Yaa W built an ecosystem composed of ~7k women in 12 countries and over 50 markets in Africa with representation from every region in Africa. Our base represents 30+ universities and 50+ organizations and companies globally. We have taken 650+ young African women through our 1yr intensive accelerator, with 90% job placement rate. All in just 3 short years.
Through Yielding Accomplished African Women, she has completed various high-profile speaking engagements with the US Embassy, Ghana Tech Summit, Georgetown University, University of Virginia, Lehigh University, etc.
