Pan-African womanhood celebrated

ZERRIN OTENG*

Set to launch this March, AMAKA Studio (AMAKA) is a digital media publisher dedicated to celebrating Pan-African womanhood in all its vigour, diversity and dynamism. The platform was founded in 2020 by 24-year-old Nigerian-American Adaora Oramah. 

With a mission to tackle the challenge African women face in finding culturally relevant content that speaks to their experiences, needs and interests, AMAKA sets to break new ground. The publication will spotlight stories from a perspective that speaks directly to the lived experiences of women in Africa and across the diaspora – an audience that is under-served and under-represented when it comes to mainstream media. A particular focus for AMAKA is to bridge the gap between North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Content will focus on Fashion & Beauty, Lifestyle, Music, Politics & Society, Business & Innovation, Health & Wellness and Arts & Culture.

AMAKA is spearheaded by CEO Adaora Oramah, a writer and photographer who studied at NYU and LSE. Inspired by photographers such as Nadine Ijewere, Ruth Ginika Ossai, Renell Medrano, Adaora has previously contributed to platforms such as Quartz Africa, AYO Magazine and New African Woman Magazine, and worked in strategy and marketing at VICE, OkayAfrica, Omnicom’s RAPP Worldwide and Aruliden. Her varied experience in content creation, marketing strategy and photography gives her a strong foundation for developing impactful creative narratives and she sees AMAKA as a big reflection of her career as a creator and creative strategist. 

Driven by a desire to create a haven for African women that she believes her, her mother and her sisters would have benefitted from growing up, Adaora founded AMAKA to give a platform to stories that amplify African women’s voices and experiences. Adaora feels, ‘There hasn’t really been a clear dedication to amplifying these stories properly and, you know, I think a lot of women just felt that the African story is always conveyed through a Western lens. I think this is about taking ownership and autonomy of our stories and the whole idea is to try to authentically implement that.’

 
It’s particularly important to AMAKA to give a platform to a new generation of Pan-African changemakers and cultural-leaders that aren’t receiving their rightful spotlight from other media outlets. AMAKA CEO, Adaora Oramah said, ‘I feel like a lot of women are often marginalized or sidelined in these conversations so I think it is our duty to highlight women who are really making a change in various industries and creative spaces. AMAKA is a purpose-driven endeavor with social development at its core, dedicated to developing Africa’s creative infrastructure and economy. Working in collaboration with large Pan-African entities and SMEs, we aim to contribute to the development of Africa’s creative industry through educational content, webinars, workshops, panel discussions, funding opportunities and more.’

It’s important to Adaora that AMAKA is a fully-inclusive community for all African women from across the world, however they identify. AMAKA is a platform that serves to celebrate and empower the modern African woman – in all of her nuance and strength. Along the way, AMAKA aims to cultivate and unify a powerful community of dynamic African women from across the globe, centred around shared experiences. 

AMAKA brings together talented media and content specialists with a wealth of experience from across the industry, who have notably worked with Teen Vogue, The New York Times, DAZED Media, Complex, HBO, VICE, Boiler Room, OkayAfrica, Universal Music and more. Predominantly led by African women and women from the African diaspora, amongst the new faces at AMAKA are Ivie Ani as the Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Director and Zerrin Oteng as the Marketing and PR Manager. The new team is dedicated to publishing engaging and relevant content for African women.

*Brand Marketing & PR Manager