Ola Majekodunmi

Ola Majekodunmi was born in Lagos, Nigeria and raised in Dublin, Ireland. She is a presenter, writer, creative producer, Gaeilgeoir, former co-founder of Beyond Representation and Board of Directors member on Foras na Gaeilge, Dublin International Film Festival and a member of the National Talent Academy’s Steering Committee.

She grew up in Dublin, Ireland since she was 7 months old and has lived there her whole life. Ola is also an Irish speaker as she attended all-Irish schools when she was younger. She first became a radio presenter with Raidió na Life 106.4FM in Summer 2014, presenting the show ‘Seinnliosta an tSathairn’ and then more recently presenting the popular African Irish show, ‘Afra-Éire’ from (2020-2023). Her shows on Raidió na Life gained a lot of public attention from home and abroad, featuring in one of Sweden’s top newspapers ‘Dagens Nyheter’, and a Dutch documentary ‘Toms Ierland’ in Ola’s efforts in successfully championing diversity on Irish airwaves. She presented ‘Unheard’ on RTÉ 2XM from (2022 – 2023), highlighting black and Gaelach musicians. She often contributes on other radio stations’ shows such as on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, RTÉ 2FM, RTÉ 2XM, BBC Radio Ulster, BBC Radio Foyle, RTÉ Radio 1 and more on different topics to do with political and social issues. She was also a contributor to the popular Motherfoclóir podcast, which explored different topics regarding the Irish language in a fun, witty way. You may have also seen Ola on TV from time to time on TG4, RTÉ and BBC, contributing to different shows. She has been on Nationwide (2019), Seal le Daithí (2018), and many more. She has had some other international coverage featuring in Britain’s The Guardian, in suggesting a new term for for person of colour (duine de dhath) and black person (duine dubh) in Irish.

In 2020, Ola wrote for the Irish Times for their edition on ‘Black & Irish Voices’ where she spoke of her experience with the Irish language, it was rated in the top ten articles that week. She still contributes to the Irish Times from along with the Journal.ie, RTE.ie, rogue collective, NÓS, gal-dem.com in the UK along with Feminine Collective in the U.S.

In 2018, Ola directed and produced the viral video-documentary ‘What Does “Irishness” Look Like?’ which was screened at the Belfast Feminist Festival, Belfast Film Festival and Rathmullan Film Festival. She recently (2021) directed and produced another bi-lingual video-documentary called ‘Say My Ainm’ in collaboration with Axis Ballymun, that was screened in the Irish Film Institute as part of Black History Month. Later in 2021, Majekodunmi also directed and produced another bilingual, short video-documentary in collaboration with Axis Ballymun, highlighting the discrimination certain accents face.

In 2019, she co-founded an initiative with her cousin and friend to create a platform to celebrate women of colour’s achievements in Arts, Media, and Business.

She was nominated for the SMEDIAS for the category ‘Iriseoireacht trí Ghaeilge’ in 2018 and 2019. She was also nominated for the SAAI Awards for the category ‘Feachtas Bliain Na Gaeilge’ in 2018. She was nominated for ‘Réalta Óg na Bliana’ (Young Star of the Year) for Gradaim Cumarsáide (The Media Awards) at Oireachtas na Gaeilge in 2019. She also won the ‘Amdalah Africa Foundation Award’ in 2019 for her achievements and contribution to inclusion and community development in Ireland.

She graduated from her undergraduate at IADT in BA (hons) English, Media, and Cultural studies in 2018. She did her final year thesis on the ‘Politics of Black Women’s Hair’, which inspired her to start writing poetry, where she has written poetry bilingually (in Irish and English) and has been published including in Meascra ón Aer, a poetry series that aired on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta and Cnámh & Smior. From this course, she further developed an interest in political and social issues. She is also a graduate of M.A. in Digital Broadcast Production at the National Film School in IADT since 2019.

In 2021, Ola judged the NewsBrands Journalism Awards, and judged the Irish Podcast Awards this year last September (2022).

Ola was appointed Dublin Culture Night ambassador September 2021 and last May 2022, she was the first ever Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown Africa Day ambassador.

Ola has also MC’d at some high-profile events including a Rethink Ireland event at the US Ambassador’s Residence, Dublin Tech Summit’s Diversity in Tech Awards twice, Science Foundation Ireland Research Summit and at the Education Training Board Ireland. She has also done talks for organisations such as Central Bank of Ireland, Microsoft, and Deloitte.

Here’s what some of the clients had to say:

“Ola was really great to work with, responsive over emails and quick to get back to us with any of her details. We had a script ready, but Ola was happy to add in some of her own voice and make it her own. She was professional and presented the awards brilliantly on the night. We got a lot of great feedback from our audience about Ola’s hosting abilities. I wouldn’t hesitate to work with her again in the future.”

– Emma McKeagney (Catalyst Media)

“Ola brought energy and passion to our event and had the ability to read the audience. She connected and engaged very naturally with everyone in the room. It was clear that she had prepared in advance.”

– Lisa Hynes, Interim Marketing Manager, Rethink Ireland

“Her professionalism and confident presence set just the right tone for the discussion, and she dealt with the more nervous members of the panel with sensitivity and discretion. Her flexibility and willingness to participate in the photoshoot were also much appreciated and her ability to communicate effectively in both Irish and English were particularly relevant for this education-based conference. I would have no hesitation in recommending her as a conference MC/ presenter.”

– Gwen Moore, Communications Manager Education and Training Boards Ireland