Ozioma Egwuonwu, M.A.
Ozioma Egwuonwu, M.A. is an internationally recognized speaker, strategist, and expert in Transformational Strategy and Systems Change. She is the Founder and Chief Strategic Transformation Officer of BurnBright International, a transformational training, coaching, and consulting company dedicated to igniting human potential, and serves as Expert Faculty within the Singularity University network.
Born in Nigeria and raised in New York, she has spent more than two decades helping individuals, organizations, and communities reimagine possibilities and chart new pathways toward their desired futures. Regarded as a prominent voice in transformation and the future of human potential, she works at the intersection of strategy, culture, and systems change.
Through BurnBright International, Ozioma consults on complex strategic problems and transformational initiatives for a broad array of clients, including governments, Fortune 100 companies, nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, small businesses, and early-stage startups seeking breakthrough results.
The firm specializes in transformational coaching, consulting, and custom programs that span leadership, strategy, empathy and inclusion, and pitching and presence. She frames transformation as a leadership imperative, equipping clients with the tools to move beyond outdated models and build roadmaps for a flourishing future.
At Singularity University, Ozioma speaks and trains on exponential mindset, leadership, and transformation. In 2020, she launched Reinventing the Future, a strategic transformation training model that teaches leaders, teams, and organizations to navigate complexity and generate innovative solutions through shifts in mindset, motivation, methods, and models. Her keynotes, among them Becoming the Exponential Leader and Leading Transformation, explore how individuals and organizations can activate purpose, power, and performance in an exponential age.
As a keynote speaker she has taken the stage at the United Nations, TEDx, SXSW, and Web Summit, and has lectured at institutions including Oxford University and Columbia University. At TEDxBrooklyn, she introduced her Inspired Excellence framework. Watch Ozioma Egwuonwu at TEDxBrooklyn, Meet Ozioma Egwuonwu — SingularityU Portugal Faculty, Reinventing the Future with Ozioma Egwuonwu, and Ozioma Egwuonwu: Ignite Your Inner Renaissance.
In 2012, Ozioma founded World Dream Day, celebrated annually on September 25th as a global day dedicated to activating ideas, goals, and dreams. What began as the International Day for Dreamers has expanded through live and virtual events, online programs, and community gatherings around the world. Built on the conviction that held within each dreamer is a wealth of potential, the initiative has grown into a worldwide movement reaching participants across dozens of countries, and it marked its thirteenth annual celebration in 2025.
Ozioma served on the faculty of Columbia University’s School of Professional Studies between 2011 and 2016, where she developed and taught a graduate course on developing and implementing ideas and briefly served as Interim Director of its Communications Practice master’s program. From 2012 to 2016, she worked as a strategic consultant in connection with the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW57), partnering with New Future Foundation, an NGO in consultative status with the UN.
She was also a contributing writer for The Huffington Post. Read her Contributions in The Huffington Post. Earlier in her career, Ozioma worked in cultural strategy and brand innovation, serving as Vice President and Head of CULTURA for North America at RAPP and as Vice President of Strategic Planning at Global Hue, after beginning her professional life as a broadcast producer and strategist with agencies including Saatchi & Saatchi. Across these roles she led work for brands in the portfolios of Procter & Gamble, General Mills, Verizon, Ford Motor Company, Walmart, and Nestlé, among others.
Ozioma pursued doctoral studies in Management, specializing in strategy and entrepreneurship, at Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, completing her graduate coursework with Distinction. She completed Harvard Online’s Leaders of Learning program in education innovation and earned a Certificate in Women’s Entrepreneurship from Cornell University.
She earned her Master of Science in Television, Radio, and New Media from Brooklyn College, where she received the Top Scholar in Communications Award, and earned a combined Bachelor’s and Master’s in English along with a Bachelor’s in Communications from the University at Albany, where she was a Presidential Scholar. She also studied digital strategy and emerging media at New York University and holds a certification in Strategic Foresight.
In 2018, Ozioma led the winning team at Startup Weekend Lisbon. The daughter of a diplomat, she was born in Nigeria, spent her early years in New York, and now serves clients around the world. She has taught and spoken on platforms alongside renowned transformational leaders, including Jean Houston, Ken Wilber, and our Barbara Marx Hubbard.
She is also an Earth Ambassador for Home for Humanity and has shared her transformational teachings at wellness institutions including the Omega Institute.
Visit her website and LinkedIn profile, and read her writing on Substack. Follow her on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and X.