Luvvie Ajayi

Early life

Lovette Ajayi was born in Nigeria; she moved to Chicago with her family when she was nine. She attended Whitney M. Young Magnet High School in Chicago, then the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, studying psychology.

Career

Ajayi began her career in marketing and digital strategy, and started blogging 2003. Her site AwesomelyLuvvie.com amassed a following particularly for Ajayi's recaps of television shows like Scandal, drawing the attention of Scandal showrunner Shonda Rhimes. In 2016, The New York Times reported that Ajayi had approximately 500,000 between her personal Twitter feed and the Awesomely Luvvie website.

Ajayi published her first book, I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual, with Henry Holt & Co in September 2016, and debuted at number five on the New York Times best-seller list. Ajayi has said the inspiration for the book came after she learned a journalist had plagiarized several paragraphs of her writing—and when confronted, he said he was unaware he should have credited her work. Consequently, a "return to ethics—a return to a higher level of behavior for oneself and others—becomes the central idea of Ajayi’s book," in The Root's description, but the "collection of witty essays is less about pointing fingers and more about building a positive, healthy self and society." The Chicago Tribune called the book "whip-smart, take-no-prisoners hilarious." Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers have acquired I'm Judging You to adapt as a cable comedy series through their company Shondaland and ABC Signature.

In 2016, Ajayi was the first writer invited to speak at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and her event sold out.