Rita Ezenwa-Okoro is the Founder and Lead Visionary of Street Project Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that uses creative and performing arts tools to facilitate opportunities for youth leadership development, social mobilization, and cross-cultural dialogue in Nigeria.

Rita is a Mandela Washington Fellow of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), a program of the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. She is a global fellow of the prestigious International Society of the Performing Arts (ISPA) New York, and the recipient of both the Lagos State Award of Excellence in youth and social development and the Lagos State Award of Excellence in entrepreneurship development. Additionally, she is a recipient of the Extraordinary Women Award in France, and Next Generation Leaders Award.

She is a graduate of the International Class of the East Side Institute, New York, has her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Creative Arts from the University of Lagos, Nigeria and her master’s degree in media and Communications from the School of Media and Communications, Pan-Atlantic University, Nigeria, and a Certificate in Civic Leadership from Tulane University, New Orleans, USA. Under her leadership, Street Project Foundation most recently received the United Nations Alliance of Civilisations (UNAOC) and BMW GROUP’s Intercultural Innovation Award in Dubai.

Rita is the author of the forthcoming book, “Doing. Being. Becoming for the love of the creative arts,” a book about her performance journey as a grassroots creative youth organizer in Nigeria (Publishers: New Degree Press) September 2022.