MAWULI Evelyn

General
HERITAGE
She was born to parents from Ghana in Toyohashi, Japan. Her family was granted Japanese nationality in 2009, when she was called up to the Japanese national team for the U16 Asia Cup. "I told my parents that I wanted to play as a part of the Japanese national team in the future. Unlike us [Evelyn and her sister Stephanie] who were born and raised in Aichi Prefecture, I think it was a big decision for our parents but they accepted my feelings and decided to acquire Japanese nationality. However, it was hard to apply for naturalisation. Although my parents, who had been working in Japan for many years, didn't have any problems with conversation in Japanese, they had to study a lot for tests about Kanji [Chinese characters adapted in Japanese writing] and write reports in Japanese. I'm really grateful to my parents. I became strongly motivated to give back as a representative of Japan." (nagoyatv.com, 01 Jul 2021; projectdesign.jp, 01 Oct 2019; nagoyatv.com, 28 May 2014; sponichi.co.jp, 11 Jul 2014)

BUSINESS
In 2020 she set up a sports management company called 'Circle of Life', and a sleeve manufacturing business known as 'Laundry Japan GK'. "It is a mission of both Circle of Life and mine to find many different activity styles for female basketball players. It has been a dream since I was a child to put my ideas into shape. I appreciate it very much that I was able to take on such a challenge. I would like to devote myself to both basketball and management." (circle-of-life.biz, 01 Jan 2021)