Michaela Onyemere, the Nigeria D’Tigress forwarder, has celebrated her appearance on the X (Twitter) billboard campaign.
Onyemere, a forward for the Chicago Sky and a member of Nigeria’s D’Tigress team for the 2024 Paris Olympics, took to Instagram to express her thrill and encouraged her followers to persevere in pursuit of their dreams.
She wrote, “If you tweet it, you can be it. I am so honoured to be a part of this Twitter billboard campaign alongside so many other influential people. Chase your dreams to the fullest extent, no matter how crazy people think you might be. I was 13 when I tweeted this, and eight years later, here we are! If you can believe it, I promise you can be it. Dream big always.”
According to her, the billboards are located in New York at
7th Ave and 49th Street, 42nd Street and 8th Ave, Times Square, Bryant Park Subway Station, and newsstands throughout Midtown; San Francisco in Kearney WS and Montgomery Muni Station; Los Angeles in The Hollywood Roosevelt and Sepulveda WS.
Onyenwere was selected sixth overall in the first round of the 2021 WNBA Draft, and she got off to a flying start with the New York Liberty; her average of 8.6 points and 2.9 rebounds per game, plus 37 three-pointers made, was the highest among all rookies in her class.
She won every Rookie of the Month award to become just the fifth player in league history to complete that sweep. She capped a fantastic season by winning the Rookie of the Year award, falling just two votes shy of a unanimous win, and making the All-Rookie Team of the Year.
Onyenwere is expected to be a big plus for the D’Tigress at the Games, and she has never shied away from speaking about her Nigerian roots.
“I am the daughter of Nigerian immigrants,” she said on the WNBA’s ‘Naija-MMADE’ YouTube show. “Both my mom and my dad were born in Nigeria. It is such an honour to represent Nigeria.
“I am just so proud to be Nigerian, and I never let anyone forget it,” she said in another show on YouTube, ‘On Her Mark’. “I make sure I let people know I am Nigerian because it is a big part of who I am, and the Nigerian community has completely embraced me.
“From Draft Night, I was getting messages from young Nigerian kids who are in Nigeria, saying you are an inspiration. You don’t really think about those things until you see those messages. I am influencing people on a different continent. They’ve supported me from day one, and I am grateful and appreciative of the support I have received from the Nigerian community.”
In the 2024 Paris Olympics, Nigeria’s D’Tigress face a challenging group stage, pitted against formidable opponents all ranked within the top 10, including host nation France (ranked 7th), Canada (5th), and Australia (3rd). Ranked 12th, D’Tigress will commence their Olympic journey on July 29 with a match against Australia.