Esther Ijewere-Kalejaiye

Esther Ijewere-Kalejaiye is a Nigerian author, advocate, women and girl child's rights activist and a columnist for The Guardian. She is a key member of Walk Against Rape (W.A.R), an advocacy initiative created to assist rape victims and seek justice. This initiativewas endorsed by the Lagos State Ministry Of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.This campaign led to her organization organizing rape sensitizing workshops in secondary schools across the Nigeria tagged College Acquaintance Rape Education (C.A.R.E), in partnership with the Lagos state Ministry of Justice and the Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT).

A graduate of Sociology from Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Ogun State, Nigeria,

Esther is the founder of Rubies Ink Initiative for Women and Children, an umbrella organization which covers several women and girl child-related projects including Walk Against Rape, Women of Rubies, Project Capable, Rubies Ink Media and the College Acquaintance Rape Education Workshop. At the start of her career with Rubies Ink, she had to self fund all projects. In 2013, her activism against rape led her to write the book Breaking the Silence, a book that informs about rape and its scourge.She runs a community for men called Men Who Inspire to celebrate the bravery in men.

Esther is the initiator of Project Capable, a Lagos State Ministry of Education approved programme which is a youth mentoring initiative aimed at creating a positive mindset in secondary school students. In 2015, she organized a walk against rape which attracted top celebrities like Kate Henshaw, Ali Baba, Toni Payne, Jimmy Jatt and others. She is a key member of Walk Against Rape (W.A.R), an advocacy initiative created to assist rape victims and seek justice. This initiativewas endorsed by the Lagos State Ministry Of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.This campaign led to her organization organizing rape sensitizing workshops in secondary schools across the Nigeria tagged College Acquaintance Rape Education (C.A.R.E), in partnership with the Lagos state Ministry of Justice and the Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT).

Her contributions to the Nigerian society has been recognized by several institutions and governmental parastatal. On 9 July 2016, she was awarded the “Young Person of the Year Award” at the 2016 Miss Tourism Nigeria beauty pageant. She is also a recipient of Wise Women Awards' "Christian Woman in Media Award" which she won in June 2016. In 2018, Esther won the Social Entrepeneur of the Year Award at the Exquisite Ladies of the Year Awards.

Ijewere-Kalejaiye is married with two children.