Lola Akinmade Åkerström is a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was derived from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jo ...

photographer, speaker, travel storyteller and an international author whose books are published in 18 languages. She is based in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, Sweden. Her work focuses on culture, tradition, and lifestyle. She is a Hasselblad Heroine and 2018 Bill Muster Travel Photographer of the Year. In January 2024 her novel, ''Everything is Not Enough'', earned a nomination in the Outstanding Literary Work at the NAACP Awards.

Early life and education

She started her early life in

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

state in southwest Nigeria, where she completed her early schooling before relocating to the United States at the age of 15. She studied Geography Information System (GIS) and holds a master's degree in information systems at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

. At the age of 19, she gained admission to the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

in England but failed to pursue it because of funding issues. In 2006, Åkerström relocated to Sweden with her husband.

Career

Her work focuses on culture, tradition, and lifestyle. Åkerström started her career as a field journalist at

Eco-Challenge ''Eco-Challenge: The Expedition Race'' is a multi-day expedition length adventure race in which teams of four (five in the early years) competed. It originally aired on TV from April 1995 to April 2002. Based closely on the Raid Gauloises advent ...

. She worked for 12 years as a GIS developer before becoming a professional photographer. Between 2006 and 2007, she joined Matador Network and worked as an editor. In October 2009 she resigned her appointment at the GIS world to pursue her passion. In June 2011, Åkerström contested in a pre-selection program organised by

Quark Expeditions Quark Expeditions, a travel company headquartered in Seattle, Washington (as of 2017), offers Polar regions of Earth, polar region expeditions aboard expedition ships and icebreakers. The itinerary changes between polar regions with the season ...

to pick a writer that will be traveling to the North Pole for the project of documenting its

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...

. In 2012 she participated in the expedition race in Fiji, where she started the combination of her traveling, photography and writing skills. In 2016, she visited the Italian

Unesco World Heritage Sites World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...

Sabbioneta Sabbioneta () is a town and in the province of Mantua, Lombardy region, Northern Italy. It is situated about north of Parma, not far from the northern bank of the Po River. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages o ...

and

Mantua Mantua ( ; ; Lombard language, Lombard and ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lombardy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, eponymous province. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the "Italian Capital of Culture". In 2 ...

for exploration. She has dispatched from more than 70 countries and her work has appeared in publications, online and in print, including ''

National Geographic Traveler ''National Geographic Traveler'' is a magazine published by National Geographic Partners, NG Media in Armenia, Belgium, the Netherlands, China, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Latin America, Israel, Poland, Romania, Slov ...

'',

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, and

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

, The New York Times, The Guardian, Travel + Leisure, Lonely Planet, Vogue,

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

, ''

'', Travel Channel's World Hum, San Francisco Chronicle,

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

Traveler, Sherman's Travel, Fodors.com, ISLANDS Magazine, United's Hemispheres, AFAR, Guardian UK's Been There, Smithsonian.com, City Magazine, The Away Network, Transitions Abroad, and The Matador Network. She has collaborated with brands such as

Dove Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...

, Mercedes Benz, Intrepid Travel,

Electrolux Electrolux AB () is a Swedish Multinational corporation, multinational home appliance manufacturer, headquartered in Stockholm. It is consistently ranked the world's second largest appliance maker by units sold, after Whirlpool Corporation, Whi ...

, and National Geographic Channel. Her photography is in the National Geographic Image Collection and she is a member of Women Photograph and Wonderful Machine. She was recognized as one of the Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD) in Media & Culture, and she runs her own online academy, Geotraveler Media Academy, dedicated to storytelling. She lives in Sweden, teaches travel writing and is the current editor-in-chief for Slow Travel Stockholm.

Awards

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Akerstrom, Lola Akinmade Living people Nigerian women photographers University of Maryland, College Park alumni Nigerian expatriates in Sweden Nigerian women writers Nigerian expatriates in the United States Nigerian magazine editors Nigerian travel writers Year of birth missing (living people)