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WHEN HYELADZIRRA “ZIRRA” BANU ’11 OF NIGERIA was named Miss ECOWAS Peace
Ambassador (pageant motto: “Beauty with Brains”) in December 2012, Internet commentators
gushed, calling her “dazzling” and “intelligent.”
“She is one lady of a kind with an overflowing resume,” wrote a smitten blogger after Banu was
selected to represent youths in the 15-nation Economic Community of Western African States,
which pursues “economic integration.”
Her resume included numerous service trips and a $10,000 Davis Projects for Peace grant with
countrywoman Chikemma Nwana to drill for clean water in Nigeria while at Wartburg, where she
also was in student senate, was a Wartburg Television director, interned at the Washington (D.C.)
Center, and worked in Marketing & Communication. She graduated cum laude with majors in
international relations and political science and a minor in communication arts.
After graduation, Banu gravitated toward new media as a New York-based editor for
hellokpop.com, a South Korean entertainment site with an international audience; editor for
Face2FaceAfrica.com, a Pan-African media group; and social media coordinator for Museum Africa.
She returned to Nigeria in 2012 for the traditional year of national youth service, working as an
ECOWAS communication assistant, but not envisioning the pageant.
“I never had considered something like that,” Banu said. “Because the meaning of this pageant was
to support development and intellectual work, I decided to do it.”
She put into practice what she learned in college.
“While I was at Wartburg, I realized I could change things by going on service trips, volunteering,
doing mission work, and also with the Davis Project for Peace grant,” she said. “If I saw a problem, I
could actually build a bore hole for clean water. That really changed my viewpoint about how I could
contribute as a young person.”
She told the ECOWAS Commission in May 2013, “I’d like to use this platform to improve the
lives of people, to get things done at a grass-roots level, to create more opportunities for young
people, and to promote all that ECOWAS is doing throughout the region. And this, to
me, is not just all talk.”
Zirra’s Projects
Zirra Banu ’11
Working for peace in West Africa
by Saul Shapiro
I Luv West Africa, a social media campaign addressing language and
culture divisions among the French-, English-, and Portuguese-speaking
countries in ECOWAS. In that regard, she cited fashion as a unifying force.
“West African fashion is employing a lot of young people. There’s a whole
concoction of art from West African countries that’s really bridged our
language and cultural differences.”
Curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS and malaria with the help of the
ECOWAS health office and promoting CPR“because far too many people
die choking or drowning.”
Wartburg College
2 0 1 4 Y O U N G A L U M N I AWA R D R E C I P I E N T S