Original Story Published by: Matthew Hall, www.selamta.ethiopianairlines.com
Photo Source: Mighty Fine Productions
(Above) Dorothy Ghettuba
“This is who we are – and we are fabulous!” Dorothy Ghettuba, award-winning Kenyan TV producer, is feeling joyous about the content she is developing. In her role as Director of African Original Series at Netflix, she is responsible for commissioning exciting new voices from across the continent. “Shows like Queen Sono from South Africa, Far From Home in Nigeria… these are stories about Africa, told by Africans, for Africans. With pride and without apology.”
Ghettuba has always been passionate about storytelling and the power of television to communicate these stories to audiences. When asked about her fondest memories of growing up in ’80s and ’90s Nairobi, her first response is: “Watching television! Obviously, I was like many children, playing out late, and enjoying sports like basketball and hockey. But I really enjoyed watching television! I sat so close to the screen, I needed glasses! Neighbours, Home and Away, Melrose Place, 90210. This is how I travelled to places I had never been, like Australia, LA…”
Ghettuba refers repeatedly to the idea of watching TV shows as a form of travel – “moving between ‘little worlds.’” Television, she says, can be a “joy or a distraction”, but it can also educate people about humankind, about other lives in other places. “How do people all over the world eat? How do they love? This is what me and my team are doing… representing the little worlds we exist in, how different they are. Telling authentic stories… from the world to the world.”
Despite this love of storytelling, it wasn’t until her early 30s that Ghettuba began her career in the creative industries. Her parents dismissed her plans to go to film school, encouraging a more “financially responsible” career. In her teens she moved to Canada, then to the USA to attend Andrews University in Michigan, where she studied communications and political science. After graduation, she worked in Canada with a venture capital fund. Here, Ghettuba demonstrated a financial acumen that greatly assisted her when trying to secure funding for her first show, Block D.
What prompted her to dramatically change career and move back to Nairobi just after her 30th birthday? Ghettuba explains, recalling two incidents. The first was a visit to Kenya to attend a wedding, when she noticed the local TV station had soared in popularity for broadcasting locally produced content, in Kiswahili (the local name for the language known in English as Swahili, and one of the most widely spoken African languages), for a local audience. “I realised there was power in seeing your people, your experiences and your stories being represented back at you.”
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