“Once a fellow always a fellow“… is the slogan of all ICANN fellows and no matter the age or years of being an alumnus, it is still one slogan that lights up a room where fellows are. 
I recall my ICANN fellowship journey back in ICANN49 when I can say I barely understood what ICANN is all about, but I learnt about it through a technical workshop I attended and I decided to know more about the organisation. I did my best in putting in an application and fortunately, it was strong enough to get me into the fellowship space and then my ICANN journey began. One beautiful thing about the journey is that being in ICANN helps you to network with other arms of the Internet ecosystem and this I did with all joy. I became actively involved in some of the constituencies in ICANN and volunteered my expertise in these communities within and outside of ICANN.
As competitive as the fellowship has always been, the ICANN76 fellowship application was no different. I ensured I had completed all online courses expected of all applicants before I put in my application. Fast forward to the 7th of November 2023, I got the “Congratulations!!!” email with a link in it. As if the email was not just enough, the link led me to the page where I got to know that I have also been selected as the recipient of the Tarek Kamel Fellowship Recognition and you can also read more about the Tarek Kamel Fellowship Recognition Award here. 
Putting how I felt that fateful night into words, will not do justice to the feeling but I can simply say, it was one of the best feelings ever. It was like having a rainbow come up in the sky after a cloudy and heavy rainfall.
After a few days of reading and re-reading the email and the webpage of the news. Then, came the worry of will I be able to attend the meeting in person or if it will be a virtual meeting for me. This 2was because I understand the stress of being an African and a Nigerian when it comes to visa application. No matter how legitimate the travel reasons are, you have to go over and above in submitting your documents (submit more than the required documents, nothing less but everything more) and it still does not guarantee approval. Another serious hurdle I also know is that getting a visa appointment early on before the travel date is another challenge entirely. These worries alone gave me sleepless nights and I will simply credit all to God and my husband for helping me through those moments. All attempts to use a travel agent proved abortive because none of them could guarantee a timely visa appointment.
Thanks be to God for the prayers and encouragement from my husband, because I could not even pray about it myself. I just decided to reach out to the Mexico embassy in Nigeria via email for enquiry and against all that I had read online and heard from agents and other people, the embassy responded to my email in less than a week with the necessary information and documents that I needed (so in my case, the Mexican embassy did respond to enquiries).
Fast forward to a month before my travel, the next bout of worries came, and this time, it was about the state of the country during and after the presidential elections…indeed the devil never rests. Job.2:2.
Thankfully the election went peacefully against all speculations and I found myself on my way to Cancun, Mexico. It was indeed one of the smoothest trips I ever had, from not forgetting any important document at home and having to worry myself into a stupor, to not being pulled aside for cross-examination when about boarding a plane.
I arrived in Cancun with a group of co-ICANN fellows, whom I met during my layover in Paris and we became almost inseparable throughout the ICANN76 meetings. 
Cancun indeed lived up to its name as the destination spot for spring break. The weather was just perfect, and not to talk of the beautiful clear blue water and white sand beaches, it was a beautiful view from my hotel room. 
The meeting venue was in an area known as the hotel zone and the hotels there are so spectacular in their architecture. Most of these hotels have their front area facing the roads and their back to the sea, in other words, most of them had their private beaches that the visitors need only go to the public beaches if they choose not to. I was lodged at the Grand Fiesta Americana Coral Beach Resort and I will say it was the best hotel I have ever lodged in. I don’t need to say too much, but you can check out their website and if you find yourself in Cancun and you need that luxury feel, just make sure you are lodged in the hotel.
To the business of the day and why I was in Cancun, as an ICANN76 Fellow and the recipient of the Tarek Kamel fellowship award recognition. Also, as the ICANN AtLarge Social Media Working Group Vice-Chair representing the African region (AFRALO), I was volunteering at the ICANN booth . 
So, I had my schedule fully packed because I needed to be at almost all meetings that relate to Africa, AtLarge and NCSG as much as I could and also attend all ICANN Fellows mandatory sessions. Since it wasn’t my first ICANN meeting, I will say it was much easier and I could attend these meetings with a sense of purpose. Not forgetting that the acronyms were less confusing (smiles) and the conversations in the room made more sense to me so much that I was able to contribute. Like, I said in a previous ICANN post that I once wrote, face-to-face meetings are usually the concluding point for some of the conversations earlier started on the mailing lists.
Thank you to Siranush Vardanyan (the ICANN fellowship program manager) for a job well done, from the first email welcoming fellows, to the post-meeting report submission, it was top-notch. Each of her emails pre-ICANN76 was well-detailed providing needed support to the fellows. The fellowship mentors were also as supportive as necessary to ensure that the fellows were up to date on the ICANN learn courses prerequisites to the meeting. It is not everyone that gets Jenifer Lopez as their fellowship mentor, I am one of the lucky few (smiles) 
(Siranush and I – image above, Jennifer Lopez (third from right and fellows).
The fellowship activity that stood out for me, is the consensus playbook/role-play that was introduced into the fellowship activities during the ICANN68 virtual meeting (COVID-19 pandemic era). As one of the first set of fellows to start the activity, it is one of the best activities for fellows and so far as it is a major way of introducing anyone to ICANN policy development processes. Having to still be able to carry out the activity physically in a room with others where we can brainstorm and share ideas made it more fun and educating for me (Presentation Slides here). If there is an activity that I will miss as a fellowship alumnus, it is role-play. I will encourage future fellows to take that fellowship activity with all seriousness, read all the documents shared on it and follow the links provided to archived documents for a clearer background to some of these ICANN policies. Also, the “Art of Small Talk” was another wonderful learning session for the fellows (Full video recording here Full transcript here). Thank you Melissa Good and your team for doing the job so well, I look forward to future engagements with you on this and especially on the Policy Transition Program (PTP).
Another highlight of the ICANN76 meeting for me was during the fellows and nextgen meeting with the board, and it was beautiful seeing that the board chair – TRIPTI SINHA and the Interim CEO/President – SALLY COSTERTON are women (yippee!!!). One of the questions directed at these two women was what are the qualities expected of women to be qualified or become a CEO in a male-dominated industry? and the response from these two women resonated so much with me that I cannot help but keep it to heart ever since… both of them admitted that it was never an easy feat but it takes a whole lot of determination, perseverance and hard work.
Because childcare is an issue that we do not have to pretend it isn’t, women have the babies and until men start having babies physically, that remains an imbalance that we can not ignore but we have to accept and we must not give up. As women, we should have the principle of reaching behind and bringing people (other women) with us. We should also practically show people what reality looks like and women, brings something different and beautiful to leadership roles, so we are role models. We must stay the course, and keep doing what we’re doing. The principles of success are the same regardless of what your background is, and it’s perseverance, hard work, being prepared and not being afraid. You will get bumps and bruises along the way. Pick yourself up and keep going.
As women, we need to support each other and at the same time, not alienate the men because we’re all in this together, we all have to support each other. We don’t have to be afraid, we shouldn’t be afraid. Peradventure, we feel downtrodden or left behind or overlooked, we should just keep persevering, and ultimately doors will open.
We must also take a lesson from all the bruises we get and make sure we don’t inflict that same wound on someone else and we must keep our confidence no matter what.
(Full video recording here
Full transcript here). 
** Did I tell you that the usual ICANN meetings AtLarge Social Media Twitter competition was won by Fellows (all 3 prizes!) 2 prizes went to Fellows from Africa (AFRALO), (yay!). 
In short, Cancun was a whole experience, both professionally and socially. I look forward to having an actual pleasure trip to Cancun sometime soon (embracing financial independence, fingers crossed). 