Aziza Uko is a communications professional, political consultant, and media entrepreneur with over twenty-three years of experience in media, marketing communications, corporate communications, brand strategy, political strategy, electioneering, public policy, philanthropy, writing, editing, and banking. She is a Nigerian publisher serving as the President and Executive Editor of The Trent (www.thetrentonline.com), an award-winning online news platform, one of Nigeria’s most influential online newspapers with one of the most robust global media partnerships for a Nigerian newspaper. The Trent’s media partners include Huffington Post, New York Times, BBC, CNN, ABC News, Metro UK, The Independent, The Guardian UK, E! Online, TMZ, Vanguard, ThisDay, The Guardian, and a host of media platforms.

Aziza holds a bachelor’s degree in Marketing from the University of Calabar, where she graduated at the top of her class, winning academic prizes for the year. She is an intellectual, thought leader, peace-builder, and social justice warrior who is deeply committed to growth and learning. She is an alumna of the Lagos Business School, having gone through the institute’s Executive Management Programme (2007) and Entrepreneurship Programme (2013).

Aziza co-founded Ziza Group, a media and marketing consulting firm whose clients include many blue-chip companies, SMEs, and governments, in 2009. She was seconded to Red Media Africa Group in 2010 as Corporate Planning Director overseeing a portfolio including Corporate Transformation, Corporate Services and the Corporate Brand. Red Media owns The Future Awards, Y! Magazine, YNaija.com, Y! TV, Teen Y!, Y! Radio brands. She also served as the Chief Operating Officer of the Future Africa Project from 2012 to 2013.

In 2015, Ziza Group created Ziza Statecraft, its political consulting division, which has provided services to several top political campaigns and politicians, including Peter Obi, the Labour Party Presidential Candidate for 2023; President Goodluck Jonathan; Valentine Ozigbo, 2021 Governorship Candidate; Governor Nyesom Wike, the governor of Rivers State; Governor Udom Emmanuel, the governor of Akwa Ibom State; and Dr Olusegun Mimiko, the Zenith Labour Party Presidential Candidate for 2019.

Aziza served as the Director of Media and Communications for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) State Governorship Campaign Council for Anambra 2021 and Director of Media and Communications for the Valentine Ozigbo Campaign Organisation. In this role, she received high marks from leading newspaper editors, the body of journalists, top political analysts, and political observers who rated Valentine Ozigbo, the PDP’s gubernatorial candidate’s, use of media in electioneering as “revolutionary”, “cutting edge”, and “simply the best”.

Ziza Media, a division of Ziza Group, has provided media, public relations, and marketing services for several leading institutions, companies, governments, and high-profile individuals, including Aiteo Group, SEPLAT, Google, GTBank, Zenith Bank, NTel, Conoil, Moni Pulo Limited, LG (Fouani Nigeria Ltd), a Bank of Industry/UNDP Project called Access to Renewable Energy (ATRE), Jumia.com, Ondo State Government, Gombe State Government, Senator Godswill Akpabio, Feet ‘N’ Tricks Limited, Nigeria’s Next Top Model, Africa’s Next Top Model, and many others.

Before founding The Trent in 2013, Aziza was the Editor-at-Large for Y! Magazine and YNaija.com, Nigeria’s leading youth-focused media brand. Her key achievements include becoming the only and the youngest journalist to secure an exclusive sit-down interview with President Goodluck Jonathan alongside Chude Jideonwo. When she assumed the role at YNaija.com, her keen insight into markets drove the brand to a top 45 website (from Top 250) in Nigeria in less than a year.

From 2001 to 2010, Aziza worked at Bank PHB (formerly Platinum Bank Limited, now Keystone Bank Plc) where she spearheaded the Bank PHB Sponsorship thrust, which included partnerships with the US government on the Fulbright Scholarship, the British Council on International Young Creative Entrepreneur Awards, and The Apprentice Africa, which were groundbreaking initiatives in her industry. She was a co-executive producer of Apprentice Africa.

Aziza was part of the team that created and launched the Bank PHB brand, which to date, has been unsurpassed in terms of excellence in marketing communications and brand placement practices. While at Bank PHB, she was responsible for a marketing and communication budget running into N3 billion ($20 million US Dollars) annually.

As a writer, Aziza has a deep passion for social justice, personal development, and the creative arts, and her writing has been published in national media platforms ThisDay, The Guardian, Vanguard, Daily Post, The Trent, YNaija.com, Y! Magazine, Next Newspapers, Signal, Linda Ikeji Blog, News Guru, Farafina Magazine, and Platinum Bank’s Passion, Bank PHB’s Inspired and Shakara. While at Bank PHB, she created and also served as editor of the magazines, ‘Passion’, ‘Inspired’, and ‘Shakara’, which were house and lifestyle magazines.

Aziza is a Co-convener and the Executive Director of Victory Action PAC (VAPAC), a political action committee dedicated to leadership development in Africa. VAPAC played a central role in the media and communications strategy and execution for the Peter Obi presidential bid of 2023 and operation, which included social media penetration, content creation for international press like ‘The Economist’, film production, and more.

Aziza served as the Executive Producer of the Nigerian Freestyle Football Championship and the African Freestyle Football Championship, themed Freestyle UNLOCKED Africa 2020, both hosted by Feet ‘N’ Tricks International, the largest promoter of freestyle football in Africa. The 2020 championships received 152 entries from 21 countries participating in the first-of-its-kind online games. In February 2024, she was appointed into the Board of Feet ‘N’ Tricks International as a Director.

Aziza is on a life-long quest for knowledge, leading her to go through courses in diverse fields of study. Her favourite subjects are leadership, communications, speaking, writing, wellness, thinking, mindfulness, self-development, and human evolution. Among Aziza’s teachers are President Bill Clinton, Cornel West, Hillary Rodham Clinton, David Axelrod, Karl Rove, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, George Stephanopoulos, Neil Gaiman, Salman Rushdie, Wayne Dyer, Michael Beckwith, Marisa Peer, Lisa Nicols, Ken Honda, Mahatria, Neale Donald Walsch, Naveen Jain, Joe Dispenza, Vishen Lakhiani, Jon Butcher, Eric Edmeades, and several others.

She is the founder of non-profits Nollywood Networks and Women Rising Africa, which are focused on developing Nigeria’s TV and Film Industry and raising women leaders on the African continent. Aziza is also a member of the Oronto Douglas initiated Council for Policy and Development (COPDEV), Nigeria’s most influential domestic policy think-tank during the Goodluck Jonathan administration (2010 to 2015) and the Council on African World Affairs, a think-tank based in Washington DC.

She is married with four children.