Folasade M. Olajuyigbe is the President of the Women’s Dignity Initiative Inc. Board of Trustees and Founder of the nonprofit organization.

She has 15 years’ work experience in teaching and research in Applied Biochemistry, supervising graduate and undergraduate projects and mentoring younger women in science. She is a Senior Lecturer of Biochemistry and leads a research group in Enzyme Biotechnology and Environmental Health in Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria. She is an active member of the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World and Professional Member of the New York academy of Sciences where she serves as a mentor to STEM-focused high school girls.

Folasade is a Fulbright Senior Scholar at Rutgers University, New Jersey (2017-2018). She has always been distinguished for academic and career excellence through the several awards, research grants and fellowships she has won since the beginning of her teaching and research career in Biochemistry. Notable among these are the prestigious International Foundation for Science Sweden Research (IFS) Grants 1 and 2 (2004; 2011), Schlumberger Faculty for the Future Fellowship for PhD study in Biocrystallography at the University of Trieste, Italy (2006-2008), Elsevier Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics Young Investigator Award (2008), Junior Associate Award of The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, Italy (2009-2014), Schlumberger Faculty for the Future Fellowship for postdoctoral study in University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA (2011-2012), Nature Research Travel Grantee (2011), FUTA Excellence and Productivity Award 2011 (Vice Chancellor’s Special Recognition for Research), Extended Junior Associate Award, ICTP, Trieste, Italy; Extended (2014 – 2016).

Having attended several international and national conferences where she made presentations of her research findings in HIV Drug Discovery, Enzyme Biotechnology and Environmental Health, Folasade has also served as invited speaker, panelist and discussion facilitator on many international forums encouraging more participation and visibility of women in sciences. She serves as reviewer for many peer reviewed international Journals and has published about 35 research articles in refereed journals of high impact factor.

Folasade holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria as a split-site program with the University of Trieste, Italy, a Master’s degree (M.Tech.) in Applied Biochemistry from same institution, a B.Sc. in Biochemistry from the University of Lagos, Nigeria and MBA from the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria.

She loves God and she mentors younger women in the church as a member of Mothers’ Union the Akure Diocese, Anglican Communion-Church of Nigeria. She is also a pioneer member of the Cathedral Jewels of Christ, Cathedral Church of St. David, Akure, Nigeria, a non-profit women ministry that started operations in 1999 and makes annual donations to orphanages and leper colony in Akure, Nigeria.

With her career journey so far, she uses every opportunity she has to encourage girls and women out there that they can be distinguished for excellence in Science regardless of their status, backgrounds and locations.

Folasade is happily married with children.

Angela A. Johnsen serves on the Women’s Dignity Initiative Inc. Board of Trustees as Vice President and Treasurer.

Raised in West Africa, Angela currently serves as Project Coordinator for the Center for Urban Environmental Sustainability (CUES) at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. She graduated summa cum laude from Rutgers University in 2015 with a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture, along with a minor in Planning & Public Policy and a certificate in Community Sustainability from the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning & Public Policy.

In her work at CUES, Angela collaborates with Rutgers University faculty, local goverments, community groups and private firms to develop context-specific solutions to real world environmental challenges in New Jersey. In 2017, Angela served as project manager for the CUES component of the New Brunswick Parks Action Plan, a collaboration with the Trust for Public Land to analyze existing park conditions and develop recommendations for the City of New Brunswick, NJ. She also managed the development of the first formal Master Plan for the Bergen County Parks System in Bergen County, NJ, which received a 2018 Merit Award from the New Jersey Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects. Some of her ongoing projects include a Healthy Community study focusing on increasing bicycle and pedestrian access to public open space in the City of Perth Amboy, NJ, and an environmental and economic study of the Hackensack River corridor in Bergen County, NJ, for a proposed cooperative regional planning initiative.

Angela's primary design interests lie in partnering with communities to develop more vibrant, context-sensitive public spaces that balance human needs with economic sustainability and environmental stewardship. She has received numerous academic awards and was a national 2014 recipient of the Sigma Lambda Alpha Travel Grant towards independent research in Rwanda, East Africa. She has participated in placemaking charettes at the Project for Public Spaces in New York City and studied landscape architecture in St. Croix, USVI, and Northern Italy.

An avid traveller and teacher at heart, Angela has encouraged and tutored students from early childhood through adult ages in a wide variety of subjects from public space design to English language to dance.

Ebenezer O. Olajuyigbe serves on the Women’s Dignity Initiative Inc. Board of Trustees as Committee Chair.

He is currently the Director, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Centre, University of Medical Sciences, Ondo, Nigeria (UNIMED) and Ordained Priest in Akure Diocese, Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion. He began his career at Federal University of Technology, Akure in 1993 as Systems Programmer II, and through the years assumed many positions and rose to the position of Associate Director in 2011. In 2016, he became the pioneer Director of ICT Centre in UNIMED.

Ebenezer Olajuyigbe has 25 years of national and international experience as an Information Technology expert. He has successfully initiated and completed several ICT projects in FUTA and UNIMED. He is committed to eradicating ICT illiteracy from the society. He has served actively as Committee Chair and Member in several Committees within the University and Church System. He is currently serving as the National Alumni Chairman, Campus Christian Fellowship, Nigeria Fellowship of Evangelical Students (CCF – NIFES) of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria and Secretary, The Cathedral Light, St. David’s Cathedral, Ijomu, Akure, Nigeria. These positions have exposed him to providing solutions to several challenges of today’s youth. In 2005, the Cathedral Light donated a building to provide quality health care for the immediate community. He has also counselled a lot of youths and persons.

Olajuyigbe earned a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Sciences from the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria (1991); Master of Technology in Computer Science (2011) and Master of Business Administration (MBA) (2003) from the same University. He was ICTP – TRIL Fellow (September, 2007 – September, 2008) at The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics – Training and Research in Italian Laboratory Programme, Trieste, Italy. The fellowship was utilized at the Grid Laboratory, Software for measurement Unit, Synchrotrone, Elettra, Italy. He belongs to several academic and professional bodies.

Ayodeji B. Arogundade serves on the Women’s Dignity Initiative Inc. Board of Trustees as Secretary.

Ayo is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Lewis-Clark State College, Lewiston, Idaho. He graduated from the Post-Doctoral Bridge Program in the Hough Graduate School of Business of the Warrington College of Business at the University of Florida with an area of specialization in Marketing and Management. In addition, Ayo holds a Ph.D. and Master’s degrees in Biological and Agricultural Engineering from the University of Idaho, coupled with another master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA). Ayo has represented Lewis-Clark State College in African recruitment tours in Nigeria, Ghana, DR Congo, Angola, and Cote D’Ivoire.

Prior to accepting the faculty position at Lewis-Clark State College in 2015, Ayo worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher, and remote sensing consultant at the University of Idaho. During this time, Ayo developed a novel method to characterize and quantify the inter-annually repeating component of melt patterns of snow across a watershed. This development overcomes a number of ubiquitous and significant current problems in snowcover determination, including problems with cloud obscuration of the ground surface, the ability to do within-season snowmelt forecasting, generation of snow cover maps for times preceding the availability of satellite remote sensing instruments, and determination of the impact of a broad range of climate change scenarios on snowcover and melt. Ayo’s snowmelt research was supported with grants and contracts from the National Commission on Energy Policy, the US Geological Survey (through the Idaho Water Resources Research Institute), the US Department of Agriculture (through a Hatch grant), and the Idaho Transportation Department (for a climate study on the likely impact of snow on proposed US Highway re-alignment alternatives). The work was significant enough that it was invited to be included as a chapter in the book, Multiscale Hydrologic Remote Sensing: Perspectives and Applications (2012). Further demonstrating its widespread relevance and influence, another aspect of this research pertaining to policy implications for irrigated agriculture was published in Natural Resources Policy Research.

Ayo is the local pastor for the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Glory of God Parish, located in Moscow, Idaho. The parish is one of the 802 parishes of Redeemed Christian Church of God in North America, with headquarters in Texas, and the overall headquarter in Nigeria. Ayo is happily married with children.

Sruthi Duvvuri serves on the Women’s Dignity Initiative Inc. Board of Trustees as Public Relations Officer/Treasurer.

She is a Software Engineer at Larsen and Toubro Infotech, Analytics & Information Management, Edison, New Jersey with about five years of real time experience in Apache Hadoop Components, Hive and Pig analytics. Sruthi had hands – on experience with Spark, MongoDB, Zookeeper, HPCC, and R Programming and real-time experience with OFSAA, Talend, Informatica, UNIX & Linux platforms with strong SQL knowledge in Oracle. She analyses vast data stores to uncover insights while maintaining security and data privacy. Sruthi communicates with internal and external clients to determine specific requirements and expectations, managing 
client expectations as an indicator of quality. Prior to working in New Jersey, USA, she had worked in Pune, India for the same company for 3 years.

Sruthi is highly skilled in collation and development, coding, testing and debugging of applications. She also demonstrates excellent communication and interpersonal skills. Remarkably, she has won some awards and recognition to her credit such as Go Extra Mile (GEM) Award for outstanding performance in Citi AML Capital Markets project., and Appreciation by Citi Client for remarkable efforts in Citi AML Capital Markets & Citi AML Optimization project.

She holds a Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science & Engineering from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University of Hyderabad, Telangana, India. She is certified as Cloudera Certified Developer (CCDH) for Apache Hadoop, CDH 5 and
certified in Basics of R Programming.

Sruthi became a Christian in January 2017 and serves the Lord as member of the Grace Alliance Church, Piscataway, New Jersey, where members are devoted to loving God, loving people and serving others. She is also an active member of the Women of Grace Ministry in the church.