Christabel Nzekwe- Excel worked from the UK remotely for social enterprise, Garden World Nigeria. Christabel first visited Africa in 2021 and witnessed first hand environmental degradation in rural communities in Nigeria. She was particularly interested in discovering opportunities to assist in improving environmental conditions in the Nigerian diaspora. Garden World Nigeria is a social enterprise dedicated to promoting environmental sustainability and conservation practices that empower local communities. When Christabel first started working with Garden World she saw very quickly how they embraced social media and used it to reach their clients. For example, they use Pinterest to showcase different categories of indigenous tropical plants and trees and tropical garden design examples.
Using social media for environmental journalism
Garden World have also developed a podcast called ‘Living Green’. The podcast aims to educate listeners on Nigerian environmental issues and native plants. Christabel worked on the ‘All About’ series which highlighted useful Tropical plants such as okra (abelmoschus) and dacryodes edulis which have culinary and medicinal uses. Christabel researched, recorded and also produced complementary social media promotion posts for each podcast episode.
Advice for Landscape students looking for work experience
Christabel first recommends finding an area of interest. Often students can feel underqualified but keeping open to trying new things and taking small steps can make a big difference to helping grow a career in Landscape Architecture.
For students wanting to find international landscape architecture opportunities, I recommend first finding an area of interest and contacting landscape-related organisations within the region about remote voluntary/internship opportunities. Being proactive and presenting your portfolio online can be another way of getting noticed.
Christabel Nzekwe- Excel
Landscape Architecture BSc student