5 things you should know about The Shade Room founder

princess abumere

October 5, 2017 10:15 PM

African and proud - Angelica Nwandu is the founder of one of the most popular sources for celebrity news. Here are some facts about her you didn't know.

The Shade Room is one of the most popular sources for American celebrity news and entertainment on Instagram. But did you know the founder is Nigerian!

Angelica Nwandu’s media company described as Instagram’s TMZ has grown to a community of 15 million followers on Instagram within the last two years.

Here are five things you should know about the entrepreneur:

1. Nwandu was born in the United States of America in 1989. Both of Nwandu’s parents were Nigerians who migrated to the states.

2. She spent her childhood in foster care. When she was seven, her father killed her mother and she and her four sisters were taken into foster care.

3. Before becoming a media entrepreneur, she wanted to be a poet, a rapper, an accountant and a writer.

As a poet she was published at the age of 16. She obtained her accounting degree from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles in 2012. As a screenwriter, she wrote a script with American actress Jordana Spiro and this went to the Sundance Film Festival.

4. After getting a grant from Michelle Satter, Director of Sundance, she started The Shade Room as an Instagram account. Three days after her first post, she had 3,500 followers. Six months later she had half a million followers.

“The purpose of the Shade Room’ is to report on Black culture”, she said in an Complex interview.

Her Instagram page has been deleted several times. The Shade Room now publishes across six different platforms. The company has grown from being just Nwandu to 15 employees with two offices in Atlanta and Los Angeles.

5. In 2016, Time Magazine recognised her as one of 30 most influential people on the internet. She was also listed under Forbes’ ‘30 Under 30’ list in media.

princess abumere