Nigerian American gossip blogger, Angie Nwandu has been named in Time’s 30 Most Influential People On The Internet list. Angie is behind one of the most popular gossip instagram accounts- TheShadeRoom. Angie Nwandu’s parents emigrated from Nigeria to the United States in the late 1980s; they later gave birth to her in 1989. Angie’s parents were in a violent relationship. Sadly, Mr. Nwandu murdered his wife and was sentenced to 28 years to life in prison in 2002. With no immediate family left to live with, Angie and her four sisters were incorporated into the Los Angeles foster care system.
Angie claimed to have been abused verbally, mentally and sexually. At 13, she was enrolled in a program for foster children called Peace for Kids. After receiving a full scholarship, Angie graduated from Loyola Marymount University in 2012 and went on to work as an accountant for a motorcycle company which stopped paying her after a while. By March 2014, Angie was without a job and left with nothing to do, she began posting gossip on celebs with the user name The Shade Room. Today she has made a mark for herself in the blogging niche and she’s earned a spot in Time’s list.
Below is Time’s feature on her.
“As more and more of our own daily interactions happen online, so, too, does celebrity drama. And Nwandu, 25, has made it her business to capture it. Two years ago, she started The Shade Room, an Instagram account and blog that aims to be like Page Six for celebrities on social media: a chronicle of who likes whose posts, who comments on whose photos, and who starts following (or better yet, unfollowing) each other. Since then, TSR has become a burgeoning media empire, replete with its own tipsters, staff (there are now fourfull-time employees), and advertisers—all of whom serve an audience of 3.9 million. And counting.—Nolan Feeney”
Other names included: Kanye West, Kim Kardashian-West, Drake, Donald Trump, J.K. Rowling Cristiano Ronaldo, Caitlyn Jenner, Joy Cho, James Corden, Laci Green , Josh Holz and Daniel Lara DJ Khaled, Johnetta Elzie and DeRay McKesson Felix Arvid, Ulf Kjellberg (a.k.a. PewDiePie) Lele Pons Essena O’Neill Narendra Modi Elise Andrew Ken M Lilly Singh (a.k.a. Superwoman) Matt Drudge, Andrew Bachelor (a.k.a. King Bach) Kayla Itsines, Peter Bouckaert Josh Ostrovsky (a.k.a. The Fat Jew) Tess Holliday Helen Van Winkle (a.k.a. Baddiewinkle)
Additional Reports by PRNG