Davina Adanna Ugochukwu
Davina Adanna Ugochukwu
Attorney / Founder / President of MiCreate
Washington, D.C. / Texas
www.micreate.org
twitter @micreateus
instagram @micreateus
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WHAT DO YOU DO?
“I am an attorney and the founder of MiCreate. ”
I founded MiCreate as an answer to the lack of legal representation for survivors of human trafficking who use their stories towards advocacy work and business endeavors. MiCreate’s mission is to be a safe house for the works of creative survivors so they will not be re-victimized by those trying to capitalize on their art and creations.
Specifically, MiCreate connects survivors who identify as entrepreneurial creatives, artists, and inventors to free legal services, business and financial resources, and industry mentors. The free legal services offered include entertainment legal services such as copyright and trademark registration, pursuing infringement cases, and contract negotiations.
WHAT STEPS DID YOU TAKE TO GET TO WHERE YOU ARE NOW?
My path to MiCreate started in theatre. I always thought I would act, write funny, informative plays, and direct shows in partnership with homeless and survivor communities. My parents, however, wanted me to go to law school, which I did, and (thankfully) ended up loving. During law school, I started traveling, mostly solo-budget travel, which exposed me to awe-inspiring and horrendous sides of the world. It also bubbled me in a world of creativity that I missed and craved from my theatre days.
After law school, during my international master of laws program, I studied the intersection of human rights law with business and technology, focusing on how each affects the other. I learned how wealthy and powerful transnational corporate subsidiaries have decimated poor communities, and the inventive ways people utilize seemingly mundane technology, such as transforming thrown away tires into footwear for families that could not afford to buy shoes.
Since graduating from my master of laws program, I knew I needed to create a career path that allowed me to mix all of my loves into a cohesive plan towards fighting human rights violations. Thus, MiCreate was born – a mesh of my love for human rights, art, and creativity with business and technology.
How do you stand out in your field?
My belief that professionals of any background can make a difference using the skillsets they use in their careers, side hustles, and non-career related hobbies is what makes me stand out. Often times, people see their professional and personal lives as something separate and unrelated to human rights work, whereas I believe that there are human rights issues and resolutions in all facets of life. Therefore, in order to tackle these issues, professionals from different industries can use their current skills to work towards a global culture where everyone is able to freely exercise their human rights.
WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON RIGHT NOW?
Right now, MiCreate is building its network of survivors and resources. We are reaching out to survivor networks, law firms and clinics, financial institutions, other non-profit organizations, and corporations. This network will serve as a major vein of MiCreate’s mission.
WHAT'S YOUR STYLE/PERSPECTIVE/TASTE? DO YOU HAVE A PROJECT THAT REPRESENTS THIS?
My style is inclusiveness. Personally, and through my work at MiCreate, I want people to feel welcomed. Welcomed to be and express who they are, welcomed to help others, and welcomed to be helped.
WE ARE ALL SLASHIES WITH MULTIPLE SKILLS, WHICH ONE DO YOU WISH YOU COULD DO MORE OFTEN?
I wish I could work more on my horror fiction and travel writing. While much of my current non-work time is spent on MiCreate, I still find moments in my days to write ideas for my stories and travel articles I plan to publish in the future.
WHAT IS FRUSTRATING YOU RIGHT NOW?
I wish I could focus on MiCreate full time AND make an income doing so. Working on it a few mornings and evenings is frustrating. I would like to wake up in the morning and know I can spend several hours on a set of tasks, rather than spurts of 20-30 minutes here and there throughout a day or week.
Currently, tasks that keep landing at the bottom of the To Do list are tedious ones that involve enlisting the time of others; for example, various apps MiCreate uses for its virtual office are inexplicably having a difficult time integrating with one another, meaning that my volunteers and I have spent several hours over several days with third-party support teams who are just as confused as we are!
IF YOU COULD HIRE SOMEONE FOR $20/HR, WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE THEM DO TO MAKE YOUR DAY EASIER?
I would get MiCreate a part-time secretary or assistant who can help with administrative tasks, like the task of speaking to third-party support teams when the technology we use have minds of their own. I also hate dealing with posting on social media, and paying someone to focus on keeping the organization’s social media life alive and current would be awesome.
LET'S BRING OUT THE TIME MACHINE. WHAT DO YOU WISH YOU COULD HAVE TOLD YOURSELF, WHEN, AND WHY?
I wish I had told myself to keep on the course of my theater career, and the dream I had of traveling from one community to another to create theater programs that helped homeless communities financially thrive in order to have consistent access to shelter and other everyday needs.
IF YOU COULD TALK TO AN EXPERT TO GAIN MORE INSIGHT ON SOMETHING, WHAT WOULD IT BE ABOUT?
I would pick the brain of an expert on creating game plans upon game plans for helping non-profits, such as my own, build strong foundations and gain financial independence.
WHAT KIND OF OPPORTUNITIES/PROJECTS ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?
A great opportunity would be contract negotiation projects in which MiCreate represents survivors who have performance or speaking opportunities. Many survivors are offered wonderful sounding opportunities through which they can share their stories, but, oftentimes, the contracts they sign do not reflect their best financial or intellectual property interests. I would love for MiCreate’s attorneys and attorney partners to represent these clients, completely free of charge, and show them that they deserve to own and disseminate their stories according to their terms.
Another great opportunity would be for MiCreate to work one-on-one with survivor clients to help them bring an advocacy or business dream to fruition. Such an opportunity would include conducting market research with the client or clients, helping them complete a small financial education course being offered by a partner of MiCreate, connecting them with the necessary business and financial resources they need for their business to succeed, and providing them with counsel to help incorporate their business. These opportunities would hopefully turn to long-lasting partnerships in which MiCreate could serve as counsel for their business and other needs.
DESCRIBE YOUR IDEAL JOB/CLIENT/COLLABORATION.
An ideal client to work with would be the National Survivor Network. Working with them would bolster MiCreate’s referral program to provide as many survivors as possible access to the entertainment legal representation and business resources MiCreate offers.
Further, MiCreate is interested in collaborating with industry moguls like music artist FKA Twigs and writer Nnedi Okarafor, to provide mentorship and guidance to up and coming artists in the MiCreate Network. I admire Fka Twigs and Nnedi Okarafor because they have maintained their unique artistic visions through a variety of industry struggles. I believe those qualities make these artists great role models to survivors.
Who is a creative that has helped you elevate your work?
I have had several people help elevate MiCreate’s work thus far. Firstly, I would like to highlight founder and CEO of the Cause Collaborative, Rebecca “Becca” Delaney Johnson. Becca and her team did an incredible job of capturing who MiCreate is and how MiCreate wants to grow through their creation of the MiCreate logo, website, and branding. Further, Becca and her Cause Collab crew worked with my personal budget, and never made me feel less worth their time for being a small start-up non-profit. Finally, Becca has graciously taken the time to speak to me on several occasions as a business mentor. I recommend the Cause Collab and Becca a hundred times over, as their primary focus is to help bring small organizations like mine to life. Becca’s email address is Becca@thecausecollab.org and her organization’s website is www.thecausecollab.org.
I would also like to give a shout out to a current MiCreate volunteer, Claire Sauter, who has helped me get MiCreate’s marketing outreach efforts organized. Claire is so sweet to offer her expertise to MiCreate’s as she brings a high-level of organization and professionalism to MiCreate’s outreach efforts. She has helped re-ignite my confidence towards a part of MiCreate, marketing and outreach, that has terrified me in the past. I connected with Claire through her work as the engagement manager at The Cause Collaborative; now she is focusing on independent work as a marketing strategist and content developer. Her email address is Claire.L.Sauter@gmail.com and her website is www.clairesauter.com.
Finally, and not to be disgustingly romantic, but rather to be honest, MiCreate would not have happened without my beautiful and vivacious partner, Angela Norwood. She has thoroughly supported me on this swervy road of starting and maintaining MiCreate. There have been times where I felt a bit lost in my endeavors, and she has always been there to remind me of who I am and what I have set out to accomplish through my non-profit work. She is also a creative-leaning attorney, but only uses social media to lurk at meme pages and share wildly inappropriate posts with me and her family members.
HOW SHOULD SOMEONE APPROACH YOU ABOUT WORKING TOGETHER?
Email and social media messages are great ways to reach MiCreate. Great conversations would center around synergy – ways MiCreate’s work can further your mission, and how a partnership with MiCreate serves MiCreate’s clients.
HOW DO YOU STAY CREATIVE?
Ambient electronic dub/chill step music
This member profile was originally published in January 2021.