GoWoman Africa Issue 2 | Page 30

Cover Story Sierra Leone Miatta Kargbo: A Promise To Deliver Words & Images: Vickie Remoe W hen I walked into Miatta K a rgbo’s office at the Ministry of Health, she told me she was going to let her hair down for our photo shoot. She seemed a lot more relaxed, and a lot more comfortable with the idea of being photographed 30 GOWOMAN SEPTEMBER|2013 than she had been the day before. As she unpinned her hair from her signature side swept bun she said, “pipul dem say na wan grain style ah get”. The critics say that she only has one style. But what they don’t know is that Sierra Leone’s newest Minister of Health is a product of corporate America. Miatta has spent all of her adult professional life working for Eli Lilly, a multinational pharmaceutical company in the US with operations across the globe. There she was trained and groomed for 15 years to join the company’s senior management. You don’t get to the top as a black woman in America GOWOMAN SEPTEMBER|2013 31