Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kahenya Kangethe. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Kahenya thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

In early 2021, I stumbled across this article about an African entertainment company run by Gambian women called Fye Network. FyeN focused on increasing African representation in the publishing space and wanted to take those values into the children’s animation industry. This got me thinking about my childhood experience growing up in Kenya watching TV. I realised I had never really seen myself on screen, through the animated shows I was watching as a kid I could tell you so much about America, I could probably name every American state but at the same time, I couldn’t tell you what the capital of Tanzania was.

The numbers are fascinating because Africa has the youngest population in the world 60% of the continent is below 25, and by 2030, over 40% of the world’s youth will be African. So why isn’t anyone making anything for these kids?

Even if I was a 2nd-year university student at the time I knew that this was an opportunity to give African kids something to see themselves in. If anything, give my child self something I would’ve loved to watch. I think that’s why this is the most meaningful thing ive worked on, it’s exactly what I needed as a kid growing up in Kenya.

We set out on a journey of discovery and failure which has taught me so much about this industry. Now I am arranging meetings with some unbelievable names in the Animation industry and trailblazers within African animation specifically. The best part about it is the overwhelmingly positive feedback we get from people in the industry, especially the industry professionals who are African or part of the African diaspora.

The future is bright for Africans in animation and I’d love to play a small part in that.

Kahenya, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Hi I am Kahenya from Kenya and I am a producer and director of animation at Fye Network. Like a lot of creatives, my journey seems to be a chain reaction of happy accidents. I actually wanted to be an engineer for most of my life, it was only in the last weeks of high school that I seemed to have my artistic awakening, I couldn’t imagine spending the rest of my life fighting with math and physics.

Fast forward to my second year of university, covid was raging across the globe and the Rise-Up Animation program started in the wake of the black lives matter movement. I began to realise that making it in the industry is more about being lucky and ready than anything a university course could offer, I needed to take a more active step in my career.

Then Disney announced Iwájú, unlike every other Disney production, Iwájú was going to be in partnership with African comic company Kugali, promising authentic African storytelling straight from the source. That was the wake-up call I needed. Iwájú validated the pursuit of African storytelling, proving that there was an appetite for the African perspective and, in many ways, set off the chain reaction that lead me to Fye Network (FyeN) and the sisters that run the company.

What started as a simple internship at a family-owned entertainment company quickly turned into pitching TV shows to some of the biggest companies in the world. I got plunged into producing mid-way through my degree, and I haven’t looked back.

If you would like to pitch us your own African story or see our work, check out fyenetwork.com or email me personally at [email protected].

At FyeN, our slogan is ‘Our Stories Our Way’, and I think that has bled into my personal work. As a Director and Animator, I focus my work on romanticising Africa and African stories. I think the future of African animation is romanticising our culture and stories, the same way that Miyazaki’s Ghibli romanticised Japan and its culture, and Walt Disney’s Disney romanticised European stories and culture.

I just directed my first animated short Nyuso, exploring the dichotomy of being African away from Africa. I think that project was very important to me because I got to explore African iconography and design from across the continent. I also got to talk about my experience moving to the UK for school and my subsequent struggle with the European perception of Africa, something I think a lot of Africans and other people of colour experience coming to a country with such deep colonial roots.
You can find Nyuso on my Vimeo (Vimeo.com/kahenya).

What do you find most rewarding about being creative?

What am I trying to say, and is it clear to the audience? That seems to be the two big things I wrestle with whenever I try to create anything.

I think the most satisfying part of being creative is when someone immediately understands what your trying to say and resonates with it. There’s something so satisfying and validating about that experience.

A perfect example of this is at Fye Network. The most satisfying about shopping authentically African IP is when you get in a room with network executives and they completely understand the importance of African representation, especially at the preschool level. There’s no better feeling.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

It took me a while to realise that I wanted to pursue a creative career so If I went back in time to give myself some advice, it would be to surround myself with other creatives and latch onto anyone who seemed to have it figured out. I think a community is probably the most important resource that creatives can have, be it a group of fellow travellers with similar artistic goals or just one person you trust that you show your work. I think I spent too much time in a vacuum of creativity, and I wish I surrounded myself with more artists when I was younger.

I would also tell myself about podcasts. Kenya doesn’t have a big animation community, so, as a kid, I would be ecstatic if I knew the number of obscure podcasts where old industry pros shared their experience breaking into the industry for hours and hours.

Luckily, the animation industry is becoming increasingly transparent, and access to information is getting so much easier, especially for people like me, thousands of miles from LA. Today I would tell someone who wants to break in to search Rise-Up Animation* and register immediately.

*Rise Up Animation is dedicated to increasing diverse talent in the animation industry by providing BIPOC with industry advice, portfolio feedback, resume feedback and the tools needed to turn their dreams into a reality.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kahenyakangethe/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kahenya-kangethe-623b011b3/
• Other: Vimeo.com/kahenya Linktr.ee/kahenya

Image Credits
1- My Logo 2- FyeN Company Logo: Fyenetwork.com 3- Nysuo- Short film poster 4 & 5- Examples of my illustration work