Chiney Ogwumike, 32, has become a household name in basketball, broadcasting, and foreign policy. When she’s not breaking down plays or championing the growth of women’s basketball globally, the two-time WNBA All-Star, and younger sister of Nneka Ogwumike, is working to facilitate youth empowerment and development through the lens of sports.
Ogwumike, who serves as a member of President Biden’s White House Council on African Diaspora Engagement, announced the launch of her new foundation “Queens of the Continent” last month. In the conversation below, she shares why she started the initiative, her passion for impact, and how her Nigerian-American heritage has shaped her into the athlete, broadcaster, and advocate she is today.
*This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
When you went to your first basketball practice wearing jorts, a halter top, and Keds, did you ever imagine that basketball would open the door to so many opportunities for you?
Chiney Ogwumike: Honestly, I didn’t. We always tell people we fell into basketball and then we fell in love with it, and it’s always been about sisterhood. For me, my older sister, Nneka, was the first one who tried it and then she sort of carried us along on her back along the way. We always looked at each other as teammates, not like opponents. A lot of people ask, “Oh, what were those backyard battles like?” And I’m like, we didn’t have those because Nneka was literally teaching the game like every “Ada"—the oldest of the family—would.
So that first practice, we definitely felt out of place. But they say greatness is only on the other side of uncomfortable. You have to push yourself through some uncomfortable things and then you’ll find what you are really made of. The jorts, the halter top, all of those things were not ideal, but I do think that by finding the game, it transformed our lives and opened the door to so many other amazing things.
Can you talk about what the sport means to you and what it has given you?
Ogwumike: It means everything to me. One, it taught me confidence. As a woman, particularly a woman of color—a woman of heritage—trying to find her place in the world in Houston, Texas, where your girl was never picked for dances, and always was taller than everybody else, and her pants were shorter than everyone else. It taught me that there’s a place that I belong and that what made me different is actually my superpower and my strength. That was being tall, that was being athletic. So I did not fit in. But now we look at a society where people that don’t fit in are unique and special. That’s your superpower. That’s what makes you.
I always say that I was blessed with the best of both worlds, the American Opportunity, but that Naija spirit of determination. Basketball helped become a vehicle for me to find my best self and really become super confident in who I was. On top of it, it helped me find my family—literally sisterhood. Every team that I’ve been on, I’ve always pushed the idea of sisterhood and that’s what my team has become, largely because I played with my sisters. From middle school, high school, AAU, college, even now, to the pros, I’ve always played with them. But everyone that plays with us knows that we approach the game as family and every one of our teammates is family. That dynamic is so powerful when we are no longer competitive but more collaborative. I think that’s the value that sisterhood has been to me individually, but it’s been contagious in every space that I’ve been in.
I love that! You are very big on giving back—we’ll talk more about all of your efforts in a minute—but was there a moment or encounter on your journey where you realized, wow, this sport has offered me so much, I need to pay it forward. If so, what was that moment?
Ogwumike: When I was in college at Stanford University, I had to shoot my shot but I also had a lot of help. I go back to sisterhood because many of the people I [will mention] are not just role models, but they’re goal models. I start with my older sister Nneka. Of course, I have an amazing mom and dad, but featuring my mom right now and then I had two amazing mentors at Stanford. The first is my Hall of Fame coach, Tara VanDerveer, who’s the all-time winningest coach in women’s college basketball. Then my mentor, who was my major advisor, former Secretary of State, Dr. Condoleezza Rice.
PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 21: Head coach Tara VanDerveer of the Stanford Cardinal celebrates with Chiney Ogwumike (L) a former player and Condoleezza Rice (c) former Secretary Of State after Stanford defeated the Oregon State Beavers 65-56 at Stanford Maples Pavilion on January 21, 2024 in Palo Alto, California. VanDerveer recorded her 1,203 NCAA career victory passing Mike Krzyzewski with 1,202 NCAA career wins. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
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I hit a a point in my junior year where I was really struggling. My sister had left for the pros, she was super successful, one of the greatest, if not the greatest, Stanford women’s basketball players ever. I’m the little sister that has to sort of carry that mantle and move it forward. I felt that pressure and top of that, I felt the pressure of being a student.
During my official visit, I was fortunate enough to meet former secretary, Dr. Rice and so when I was on campus, she held me accountable for my experience. She said to me “Chiney, these are your interests. What are you going to do with them?” I was like, I kind of like International Relations. She said “Oh, I’m in charge of that major, that’s great. I’m going to be on you.” And so she was on me, and a part of that major requirement was to go study overseas.
The problem I found with the overseas program is that there were not many opportunities to go to Africa. My primary specialization was Africa and my secondary specialization was comparative international governance. I wanted to go spend time back home [in Nigeria], because I never really got that opportunity as a top-tier athlete. I was always training, practicing, or in school.
With the help of Dr. Rice and my own Hall of Fame coach, I was fortunate enough to have my own creative session abroad and serve as a guest coach on a foundation called “Access to Success.” They’d held basketball camps in Benin City in Nigeria so I was studying in Abuja under the Ministry of Petroleum for eight weeks and also the National Assembly Committee on Human Rights.
But in my free time, I would go serve as a guest coach for this foundation. It changed my life, because not only did the young women and men there know who I was without even me being aware of my impact and my representation, but it was also just realizing what I took for granted. Just being able to walk to a gym with no problems, now I’m no longer in those jeans shorts and halter tops, I’m in the best of Adidas. I have the world at my fingertips, where a lot of these young boys and girls just wanted an opportunity, an opportunity that I have, that I would never take for granted ever again.
Particularly, there was this one little girl who was like “I can’t come on the court. There’s so many guys there.” I said to her “Girl, let’s go on there. We can school the guys.”
So having that perspective completely changed my purpose. I went back to Stanford realizing that I was playing not just for myself but for those people back home who just want an opportunity to pursue their dreams. I was just so fortunate to be born in the U.S. where it was more of the norm. That was the moment where my mindset shifted from the pressure to just purpose.
Thank you for sharing that. You attended the Global Africa Business Initiative’s “Unstoppable Africa” event, in New York City earlier this month, where you announced the launch of your new foundation, “Queens of the Continent”. Why did you decide to start this foundation and how did you come up with the name?
Ogwumike: The reason why I decided to launch a foundation is because I’ve taken so many trips back to the continent, ever since my time at Stanford when I was studying overseas. When I became a pro, it was my mission to go back as much as I could because I realized the power of representation and what it could do to inspire those on the ground just by going back home. I was working so much with NBA Africa in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, and South Africa for so many different events.
I started meeting so many great people in particular through my experience the last year as a member of President Biden’s inaugural White House Council on African Diaspora Engagement. We went on a trip to Lagos and Abuja and I met so many great people. I’ll never forget the conversations I had with the Tony Elumelu Foundation that had a whole bunch of young female entrepreneurs who spoke about mental health and imposter syndrome, and how even sometimes their partners are the ones that are telling them and questioning whether they can do what they want to do. On top of having the first ever boys and girls NBA Africa Academy camp on the ground when I was there, there was so much to do and I was like, how can I help?
I was like okay, I have to do something. I have to create my own platform. One thing I have realized is that oftentimes, because sports is just such a global unifier, it tends to help young boys and men first because there are still a lot of preconceived notions and stigmas globally about what women can do, particularly through sports.
My goal was to create strategic investment and support for young girls to pursue their dreams just as much as anyone else. I want to put young women and girls front and center so they don’t have to wait for programs to be equal opportunity. Instead, my foundation, and through the help of this sisterhood that I’ve developed, is prioritizing them so that they can pursue their dreams as much as possible. Lastly, I’ll say this, Queens of the Continent is inspired by one of the trips that I made back in 2020—right before everything went crazy—to Queens College in Lagos, Nigeria.
My mom went to Queens College. My aunties and so many family members have gone to Queens College. I went back there because it was important for me to see where my mom grew up and the network of women, they call them “OGQCs”, that are global.
Everyone knows that those alumni networks back in Nigeria are still super strong. I went back to Queens College. My mom said that when she went there it was just a couple hundred girls and that a lot of powerful women that have emerged from that school.
They invited me to speak to the girls when I went there and there were thousands of them so excited about having someone coming to see them and to say, “I see you.” I went to their gym and they did not have lights, they had holes in the floors yet there were girls that competed on the basketball team.
It was my mission to refurbish their facility and that sort of set the groundwork for what Queens of the Continent aims to do. To captivate the imaginations of the youth, to cultivate the jewels of the continent with young women and girls, and to be able to create opportunity for them through the lens of sport, which affects the ecosystems of their communities. I’m super hyped! We’re taking the problems that might seem so small and might get overlooked, and allowing us to create creative solutions so that everyone can live their best lives.
Wow, that is incredible! I can see how much passion and love that you have for this. How long have you been planning to start your foundation?
Ogwumike: It’s always been something that I’ve wanted to do but I think the challenge for me is that oftentimes when we look at the ecosystem of sports, when there are foundations, it’s so simple for men in positions of power, per se, NBA, NFL, you have million dollar contracts, and you can go and allocate maybe a percentage of that to help foundations. For us as women, the world is catching up to our power.
We have to redefine what it means to win, redefine what it means to give back, and figure out different ways to be creative about finding ways to address these solutions. I’ve always had this passion and I’ve always worked with groups that aim to create solutions to this. Whether it’s the NBA, the WNBA, NBA Africa, or the Basketball Africa League, there are so many great programs, but I have yet to see one that is strategically focused through this amazing resurgence that we’re having in women’s basketball and women’s sports overall, to help young women and girls.
To be able to be a vehicle to address problems big and small, I’m talking about, creating mentorship networks so people can have access to be inspired and learn ways that successful Fortune 500 female CEOs have learned, and translate that information through the age of Zoom to the amazing young women entrepreneurs on the continent, that is such a simple, small thing that can help build confidence amongst the next generation. It can build even greater aspirations.
We just witnessed a tremendously successful Olympics but every time we read headlines about it, typically, when it comes to [Africa], a lot of these top-tier athletes have had so many struggles in pursuing their dreams. We want to be a creative solution so that we can work with federations so that these athletes feel like they have just the same amount of support to compete at the highest level and represent their countries as we are so proud of them doing.
Then on top of it, there’s the infrastructure aspect, where there’s a proliferation of courts, and basketball—other than maybe pickleball now—is one of the fastest growing sports on the continent. But do we have the infrastructure to support what it means for young women to pursue sports? What are their needs health-wise and education-wise in conjunction with just building courts?
By prioritizing the needs of young women and girls you’re also including the entire community.
You said the three pillars for who you are are athlete, analyst, and advocate. In following your journey, representation and giving back are at the core of every single thing you do. I’ve heard you say “Impact is what motivates me” Why is that so important to you?
Ogwumike: My dad has a saying and I just think about it all the time because when I first came into the WNBA, my goal was to be an All-star, Rookie of the Year, Champion, all of those great titles that you can find on Wikipedia. But after I got injured, this saying comes to mind. “Every disappointment is a blessing if you allow it to be,” because you have to have the perspective of positivity to move forward and that will make you better—that will help your character.
When I dealt with major injuries, those turned into blessings. It turned into a platform for me to become a broadcaster and to step into my voice and my power. [My perspective] shifted from the MVP, Rookie of the Year, champion to how can I create an impact? How can I leave the game in a place that is better than what it was before, but aligns with who I am?
As I started developing as a broadcaster, while also being a full-time athlete, I started realizing that my voice is my power. My connection with people is my power.
It’s funny because on the council with the White House, there’s so many [discussions] and policy. As athletes, we want to do. We want the reps, we want to go out there and so basically, trying to merge those worlds where you can have impact through your voice, but also follow through. I always tell people, in basketball, you have to shoot your shot, but you also have to follow through to give your shot the best shot of making it. I have to follow through in my passion for the game, my passion for my heritage, my countries, my continents, follow through and that’s where the foundation is that. It’s literally taking those words and putting it into action.
So much of who you are is rooted in your Nigerian-American heritage. What are some of the best values from your culture that have made you into the person you are today?
Ogwumike: Wow, being Nigerian American is the best of both worlds. Being Nigerian, you have that resilience, that determination, that hustle, that spirit, and also, most importantly, there’s a joy to being African. No matter what you’re up against you still look at life as a blessing and something positive, knowing that good things will always come.
As an American, you can truly feel like you’re in the land of opportunity, where your dreams can be actualized. All you need is your work ethic. Sometimes you say luck, but luck is where preparation meets opportunity. I feel like that’s the merging of my two worlds. Preparation is my Nigerian work ethic but then opportunity is like the land of opportunity with America. I just think that being able to be myself unapologetically, to live authentically in my skin, to honor my culture—knowing who I am allows me to show up in spaces authentically as myself and not fit a prototype that is predetermined for me. That’s what it’s been like both on the court and in broadcasting.
I started off broadcasting wearing those, no shade to Calvin Klein, but those cookie-cutter Calvin Klein dresses just trying to do what I saw before, when I realized that if I made a mistake it didn’t feel right. I was like If I’m going to make a mistake, let it be me being me. So that’s when I started wearing my culture. This dress [I’m wearing right now] is Hanifa, an African designer. Understanding that there are so many different facets, from what you wear to who you advocate for, to how you prepare, to how you show up, that everyone’s watching. My mom has a saying “Tiny drops of water make a mighty ocean.” The little things you do can turn the tide to something good.
Switching gears, I want to actually talk about your wedding because when you talk about being unapologetically yourself, I feel like that was the epitome of that. You got married almost a year ago and I feel like you nearly broke the internet with all of your beautiful pictures. But it was so refreshing to see Nigerian culture on display in major publications and magazines. There were probably a lot of people that were experiencing that for the first time. Why was it so important to you to have a traditional wedding and to do it so publicly?
Ogwumike: It is just a part of who I am. Even though I was born and raised in Houston, Texas, I grew up in a Nigerian household, and to be able to show what that looks like and how you can honor both cultures has always been important. It’s a part of my identity and it’s a part of my husband’s identity as well. [The planning] was a lot in the middle of a season but you know what they say, it takes village. For me to be able to celebrate with people that have helped me become who I am, and helped him become who he is, the Naija way, it was just a really fun experience, but also a great way to honor everything. A lot of people see what they see on TV, whether it’s me as an athlete or me as a broadcaster, but this was me as a person, and so to be able to express that was just the time of my life.
I love that! So a lot of people don’t realize you have dealt with injuries for the entirety of your pro career, but while you were dealing with those injuries you were honing your craft to become the amazing analyst that you are today. What have you learned from dealing with those seasons of ups and downs?
Ogwumike: I’ve learned that the word of the day is multi-hyphenate. I feel like, naturally as women, we are multi-hyphenate. You’re expected to be sisters, mothers, caretakers, and reliable people in society, on top of showing up in the spaces where you may work. When it came to my adversity, I had already [considered] that society already questions the value of female athletes and the value of women in sports. So how do you reclaim that power? How do you show up in spaces that can fight against that?
To me that was becoming a broadcaster, not just a broadcaster but a broadcaster in the NBA. My knowledge, preparation, and joy for basketball, allowed fans who might have questioned, “Hmm, why is the WNBA player speaking on the NBA?” When they realized she is right. They say you have to work twice as hard to get half as far. We put in the time and that gave me the confidence to step into that space, dealing with a little bit of imposter syndrome, but over time, to see those barriers be broken down, to walk around and have so many people come to me and say “Chiney, you’re giving it to Stephen A. [Smith] and Kendrick Perkins, I love that” and then they’ll say “Oh and I went to your game this year.” Now they’re coming these days and saying “Oh, tell me about Caitlin Clark, tell me about Angel Reese” The paradigm has shifted. It’s just basically not getting deterred or disappointed or disheartened by where society is today and understanding that things can change tomorrow.
Going back to your earlier point about being multi-hyphenated. Women have been told for so long that there’s only one seat at the table but your career is a testament to the fact that there are multiple seats at multiple tables. What does that mean to you?
Ogwumike: Shoot, I’m gonna take it further. We got to build our own dang table and that table will be beautiful because that’s how everything is that is made by women. You put your blood, your sweat, and your tears into it, but you you wear it with grace and poise.
We’re so conditioned to fight for that one seat and then start looking around, but soon, as I mentioned before, we realize that we’re stronger being collaborative instead of competitive. They can’t drown us out. They can’t limit our opportunity when we create our own and when we look to ourselves as individual entities.
The way I parallel it is that the shift in the WNBA really started happening around 2020 when we decided for our approach to the league, our sponsors, and our marketing, to look to us not as a product of something else, but as something that stands on its own. What it stands for is, right now, a billion-dollar business that is in its valuation. But when you compare it to something else, people will say, “Oh, you’re doing nothing.” But I feel like the same people that say that don’t even have that type of thing that they’re a part of, they’re just criticizing.
Once we have our perspective, where we look to ourselves as standing on our own two feet, that’s where we can really take ownership and do the game, our jobs, how we show up, justice. I sit even now in a seat that I feel is too small for me, but that doesn’t deter me from being here until I can create a platform where we can all win. I feel like there are so many women like yourself with what you’re doing right now, that are creating similar platforms, and the tide is completely turned. It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when.
I love that. Okay, so when you’re not doing all of the things we mentioned, you somehow have the time to serve on the President’s Advisory Council on African Diaspora Engagement in the U.S. – can you talk about your role and what it means for you to get to serve the U.S. and the African continent—to make a global impact?
Ogwumike: To this day, it’s like a dream role! As you know, my parents came with me [to the White House]. They’re super proud. It was just one of those things where I’m like, wow! Because I’d previously served on the WNBA Players Association, but I’m no longer in the WNBA, so I was like, where’s a way that I can lend my voice and my passion? Then President Biden announced that he was creating this council, and to be able to be nominated and then accepted as the youngest woman on the council, to me, blew my mind! Also, I’m like, sitting there with billionaires and CEOs and Viola Davis! I just think it just shows the power of dreams. We’ve shifted from this idea that success is only, as we know, doctor, lawyer, engineer, these steps up the ladder, but now we can sort of hop around. creative industries matter.
The Global Diaspora is powerful. Social media technology has brought us together in ways that we feel connected, even if we haven’t met. There are so many capabilities to bring us together and so for me to represent creative industries, which are music, entertainment, and sports— powerhouse economies of the future, and also places where the youth are spending a lot of their not only passions but also their actual consumerism. To me, it is truly awesome!
Our council has ambitious goals, but again, government policy takes time. It’s something that I think, no matter who’s in power, is important to continue pushing for the next generation, because the number I keep saying, is that by 2050, one in four people on this planet, will have African heritage. We have to find ways to tap into that wild potential and I think it’s already happening.
Chiney we have to wrap but before we do I have a quick “For the Culture” themed lighting round... ready?
Ogwumike: Let’s do it!
Afrobeats or Amapiano?
Ogwumike: Oh Afrobeats! No shade!
Who are your top 3 Afrobeats artists of all time?
Ogwumike: WizKid, Burna Boy, and Fela. I have to do classics. Tems is my girl—she’s my honorary fourth!
What Afrobeats song has been on repeat for you lately?
Ogwumike: “Wickedest” by Tems.
Editor’s Note: By Way of Africa is a series committed to highlighting the talent and stories from the African continent and its diaspora. African stories are worth telling, and the culture—all of the languages, tribes, and traditions—is worth celebrating. Embedded in these narratives is a profound testament to the diligence, discipline, and work ethic deeply ingrained in African heritage. Whether born on the continent or dispersed across the globe, the contributions of these stories to society resound uniquely, by way of Africa.
