Hi! I am Nonnie Egbuna, in the Baldwin Scholars class of 2020.
My family’s story begins in Lagos, Nigeria, where my parents lived and where my older brother and sister were born. My parents immigrated to North Carolina in 1997 and the next year had me; my little brother came several years later in 2005. The Egbuna family dynamic is a tough one to explain, but we have been blessed beyond measure and I am forever grateful for the unconditional love that I was born into.
In addition to being a proud Nigerian-American woman of faith—my birth name, Chinonyelum, means “God is with me”—I am an artist, and this colors nearly every aspect of my identity. Writing has always been entrenched in my nature; I like to think that I tapped into a deeper part of myself when I discovered spoken word poetry, and I have found my passion in filmmaking. I am pursuing a career as a screenplay writer and director, with the ultimate goal of creating a production company to empower under and/or misrepresented people to tell their own stories.
At Duke, I am preparing to declare a major in Visual and Media Studies. I currently serve as co-Head of Content for The Bridge, an online publication by and for Black and Latinx women. I work as a videographer and editor at the Franklin Humanities Institute, and enjoy sharing my spoken word poetry at various events. I am constantly working to build my art portfolio, drawing inspiration from every direction in order to create impactful content.
Even when school gets rough, I am grateful to have the opportunities that I have to grow as a woman and as an artist, and I am so thankful to have found a home in Baldwin. Empowered women empower women, and Baldwin has surely empowered me.