China’s Black Pearl Mariatu Kargbo?
Mariatu Kargbo, also known as BLACK PEARL OF CHINA, is an artist and philanthropist who was born very poor in Sierra Leone. She travelled to China where she became famous through CCTV’s “Road to the Stars” talent show. She is now devoted to giving back to less privileged people around the world. She was among the first foreign volunteers at the Sichuan earthquakes in 2008 and 2010 and in the year 2016, she was appointed as Cultural Ambassador-at-L
Mariatu achieved Sierra Leone’s first ever Guinness World Records title in 2012 and teamed up with Tencent and the World Food Programme to achieve a second World Record in 2014 for the most contributions to a charity fund-raising event in 24 hours in support of the Ebola-affected countries of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. Mariatu supports many charities in China, Africa and around the world and has established her own foundation which has changed the lives of thousands of kids. Mariatu was a finalist in the Miss World competition in 2009 and won two awards for Talent and Fashion.
She has performed widely in China with top artists such as Jackie Chan and Yang Wenwen as well as performing for the Top 100 Entrepreneurs, including Jack Ma (founder of Alibaba). In 2018, Mariatu was chosen to perform for President Xi Jinping and the First Lady and all Africa’s Presidents and First Ladies at the FOCAC event in Beijing. In 2019, Mariatu was selected as one of the Top 100 Influential Africans under 40 by MIPAD at the United Nations in New York. In 2020, Mariatu launched “Small Small Chinese”, a new online video series that introduces Chinese culture and teaches people to speak simple Chinese words and phrases
