MONROVIA – Liberian entrepreneur and media personality LeAnn Knowlden has earned recognition in three African countries this year, adding continental attention to a career that began with a student newspaper she launched as a teenager.
Knowlden, founder and CEO of Monrovia-based Top Agency, was named among Africa’s Top 100 Female Leaders 2026 by the SOWA Awards in Zimbabwe. In Tanzania, Iconic Africa named her Iconic Woman of the Year 2026 in the Business Leadership and Social Impact category. In Ghana, she was listed among the 100 Most Influential Africans in Infrastructure 2026.
The three honors cover different areas: women’s leadership, business and social impact, and infrastructure.
Early start in media
Knowlden’s interest in media dates to her school days. At about 14, she founded The Jaguar’s Journal, a student newspaper at her school in Liberia.
She has recalled that the paper’s success earned her a chance to meet then-Vice President Joseph Nyuma Boakai. She had hoped to meet the President that day, but met Boakai instead and sold him two copies of the paper.
Boakai, who served as Vice President from 2006 to 2018, was elected President in 2023.
Zimbabwe and ‘Africa by Africans’
Knowlden’s trip to Zimbabwe for the SOWA Awards also advanced Africa by Africans, a cultural storytelling project she leads. The visit produced her first hospitality partnership in Southern Africa, with Victoria Falls Safari Lodge.
The project promotes the idea that Africans should travel the continent, support African businesses and tell African stories themselves rather than relying on outside accounts.
Social impact in focus
The Tanzania recognition highlighted her social impact work. Knowlden helped promote a fundraising campaign for Tilnette Woods, a young Liberian woman who needed hip surgery. The campaign met its goal, and Woods has since had the surgery and is recovering, according to Knowlden’s office.
A broader view of infrastructure
On the Ghana recognition, Knowlden has described infrastructure as more than roads and buildings, extending to the systems, partnerships, platforms and businesses that open access to economic opportunity.
Through Top Agency, she has worked in communications, events, brand strategy, cultural programming and entrepreneurship. She also hosts television programming and runs Planet LeAnn, a cultural storytelling platform.
Knowlden describes her work across business, tourism, media and community building as parts of one goal: connecting people, brands and opportunities across Africa.
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