Joanna Rowlands, Floella Benjamin and Lois Momoh in the International Slavery Museum

If, like me, you were born in the seventies the name Floella Benjamin will evoke happy memories of jolly people, multiple-sized Teds and variously shaped windows… when Opal Fruits were Opal Fruits and Pacers still existed. This weekend my lifelong ambition to meet the lady herself was realised when she visited the International Slavery Museum to give a talk for International Women’s Day.
 
Floella’s come a long way from looking through the round window and has a CV that most people would die for. She’s impossible to define in a word - actress, TV presenter, businesswoman, author, this list isn’t exhaustive. She’s been awarded an OBE, runs her own production company, is a Doctor of Letters, Chancellor of Exeter University and works tirelessly for charities such as Barnardo's.

Floella is pictured here with me and my colleague Lois Momoh in front of the Black Achiever’s Wall, a place on which Floella has surely earned? The list of people featured on the wall is by no means exhaustive, so today I’m launching a one woman campaign to make sure Floella gets a good speck next time the display is changed.