On the 16th of July 2015, Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness, The Duke of Edinburgh visited the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham as part of the activities lined up to celebrate the borough’s 50 years anniversary.

The Chadwell Heath Ward was chosen as a ward to visit by the Royal Couple and tasked with the privilege of welcoming them and taking them round the Chadwell Heath Centre was Nigerian born Councillor Folashade Bright

Remarkably, that was Sade’s seventh time of meeting them. When she was Speaker (Civic Mayor of Hackney) she also had the privilege of welcoming Her Majesty to East London University .

 

Folasade Bright became Speaker (Mayor) of Hackney in the municipal year 2006-2007, the first African and certainly the first Nigerian in the borough to hold the office.Prior to being elected Mayor, she was deputy Mayor in 2005-2006. and Chair of Hackney Labour Group from 2004-2005 and also Director of Hackney Homes. Her other many commitments include chairing meetings of the full council, trustee of many organisations, School Governor, and Honorary President of Age Concern Hackney.

Duing her tenure as Mayor, she supported 2 Charities – Age Concern Hackney and The Saint Joseph’s Hospice and actively undraised for these charities.

Currently a Councillor under the platform of the Labour Party, Sade is Human Resources Practitioner my training. She is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and holds an LLB (Hons) and Masters in Employment and Human Resources Management. Having worked in local authority for over 18 years in various senior management roles she left to start her Education/HR consultancy – Bright Futurez with her husband Pastor Gbolahan Bright MBE.

Sade studied at Federal School of Arts and science Ondo and Lagos Lagos State University {LASU) where she obtained her first degree. She proceeded to UK in 1991 to study Law. Additionally, she also obtained a Diploma in Personnel Management and a Master’s Degree in Human Resources Management from University of Westminster and Metropolitan University (formerly University of North London ) respectively.

Sade became seriously interested in politics from 1995, just following the trend of politics in the news and hoping one day to be involved. She joined the Labour Party in 2000 and got elected as a Councillor for Haggerston Ward in Hackney for 8 years (2002-2010) before relocating to Barking and Dagenham and got back on the Council in 2014.

Sade says she has enjoyed every moment of her political life through helping so many constituents and contributed immensely to the world of politics.

 A devout Christian, and an ordained Pastor of The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Sade ministers at The Master’s Sanctuary along with her husband, Pastor Gbolahan Bright who was recently Awarded with a Member of the British Empire (MBE) in the Queen’s 2015 Honours list, at Buckingham Palace for “Services to Education in East London”. They both run Free Maths Tuition Centres across boroughs of Hackney, Havering, Newham, Barking and Dagenham and pupils are taught free of charge regardless of their background, ethnicity, social orientation.

Sade’s main occupation is Educational Consulting HR and Public speaking. She is also an Author of a book titled, Dream Big: Stretch Your Boundaries – a book that was carefully crafted to uplift and support the belief that “you can achieve all you had considered impossible and equip you with the required tools to live the life of your dream”.

The proud mother of three children – 1 boy and 2 girls, is a recipient of Many Awards including the Gathering of Africa’s Best – Councillor of the Year 2006 Award, 2007 Rare Gems Award for contributions towards “GOOD GOVERNANCE” in Abuja, Nigeria, the Havering Carer’s Award in 2013 and several other community awards.

Sade is an extremely busy Philanthropist who is involved heavily with various community initiatives , projects and charities. She is the President and Founder of The PENNU Charity, (an organisation named after her grandmother). Twhich aims  to empower the older and vulnerable persons to lead a life of dignity and respect and to support a full spectrum of community-based services to enable them to maintain their independence and dignity and to live their lives to the fullest.

She Guest speaks at various seminars, workshops, and events geared towards the welfare of orphans, women and children and she is an active member of both the London Mayors and London Labour Mayors Associations.

 According to the theme of Afolashade Bright’s book, “Dream Big: Stretch Your Boundaries” ; “you can do anything you wish to do, have anything you wish to have, be anything you wish to me and meet ANYONE you wish to meet.

A true and genuine message from a true and genuine role model.

 

 Copyright Jummy Ariyo 

August 2015