Deborah Owusu-Bonsu (born 25 August 1984) better known by her

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

as Sister Derby or Sister Deborah is a Ghanaian-Romanian television presenter, musician and model of Akan origin and a former presenter at

e.tv Ghana e.tv Ghana also known as ETV Ghana is a free-to-air terrestrial television network broadcasting 24-hours a day from Accra since its launch in October 2009. As of December 2011 it will also commence terrestrial transmissions in Kumasi. Beyond Ac ...

Early life and education

Deborah Vanessa Owusu-Bonsu was born on 25 th August, 1984, to an Ashanti father and a Romanian mother. Both of her parents were collectors of world music and art. She is a television show host, model, musician, academic, and

graphic artist A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, p ...

. Owusu-Bonsu is the sister of popular

hip life Hiplife is a Ghanaian musical style that fuses Ghanaian culture and hip hop. Recorded predominantly in the Ghanaian Akan language, hiplife is rapidly gaining popularity in the 2010s throughout West Africa and abroad, especially in the United Ki ...

musician

Wanlov the Kubolor Emmanuel Owusu-Bonsu, known by his stage name Wanlov the Kubolor (born September 8, 1980, in Ploiești, Romania) is a Ghanaian-Romanian musician and film director born to an Akan father and a Romanian mother. Kubolor is a Ga word that essentiall ...

who starred in the film Coz Ov MDeborah oni. Owusu-Bonsu attended Christ the King International School, then Wesley Girls' High School. She graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Publishing Studies from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology followed by a

Master Degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in Book/Journal Publishing from the

University of the Arts London University of the Arts London is a collegiate university in London, England, specialising in arts, design, fashion and the performing arts. It is a federation of six arts colleges: Camberwell College of Arts, Central Saint Martins, Chelsea Coll ...

Professional career

In 2012, Deborah Vanessa Owusu-Bonsu recorded and released a single (music) entitled 'Uncle Obama' referring to Barack Obama in which was covered by United States television network CNN. Since 2012, Deborah Vanessa Owusu-Bonsu was the host of ''The Late Nite Celebrity Show'' program

broadcast Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum ( radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began ...

by television network

. She later moved to GHOne Television where she hosted her show, ''Gliterrati'' for a brief period before handing over to

Berla Mundi Berlinda Addardey, popularly known as Berla Mundi, (born 1 April 1988) is a Ghanaian media personality, women's advocate and voice artist. She co-hosted the 20th VGMA with Kwami Sefa Kayi. Education Berla is an alumna of St. Theresa's School, ...

Ghana Jollof

In the mid 2010 when the competition among West Africans about whose Jollof rice was better, expanded into the "Jollof Wars". The "Jollof War" competition is especially prominent between Nigeria and Ghana. In 2016 Deborah Vanessa Owusu-Bonsu released "Ghana Jollof", which poked fun at the Nigerian version and at Nigerians for being proud of their version.

Personal life

She dated rapper Medikal for three years, before breaking up in 2018. Shortly after she introduced one David as her new partner but shortly after that relationship ended. After that turn of events, the uncle Obama hit-maker revealed in an interview that she is done with me

Activism

Deborah Vanessa Owusu-Bonsu has been actively involved in sanitation and recycling campaigns using her music. In 2018, she made a call on the government of Ghana to ban the use of plastic bags. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, she and her brother (

) made nosemasks from recycled secondhand clothing to help reduce clothing waste from dumpsites and the sea. Owusu-Bonsu has also been vocal about the rights of LGBT+ individuals in Ghana. In 2021, she spoke against the

Ghanaian anti-LGBT bill The Ghanaian anti-LGBT bill (formally the ''Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill'') is a proposed law in Ghana that would introduce wide-ranging restrictions on LGBT+ rights. The bill was approved by the Parliament of Ghana on 28 Februar ...

and the shutting down of the

LGBT+ Rights Ghana LGBT+ Rights Ghana is a Ghanaian organization that advocates for LGBT rights in Ghana. The organization has engaged in some forms of activism including creating the Ghana Gay Blackmail List to combat the blackmail and extortion of gay men. In 202 ...

office. She also featured on

Angel Maxine Angel Maxine Opoku is a Ghanaian musician. Maxine is known as the first openly transgender Ghanaian musician. Early life and education Raised in the coastal city of Tema, Maxine says that her home was "deeply religious and musical" and was whe ...

's ''Kill The Bill'' and ''Wo Fie,'' which used music to advocate for the rights of LGBT+ individuals in Ghana.

Discography

Singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Owusu-Bonsu, Deborah Vanessa 1984 births Akan people Living people Ghanaian television presenters Ghanaian female models Ghanaian musicians Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology alumni Alumni of the University of the Arts London Ghanaian people of Romanian descent Ghanaian women academics Ghanaian women television presenters People educated at Wesley Girls' Senior High School