We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful YaAdam Fye. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with YaAdam below.
YaAdam, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s jump right into how you came up with the idea?
FyeN started from our frustration with the lack of African representation in children’s media: the depiction of African characters as only wildlife animals and no princess to call our own. It boils down to giving Africa the voice she deserves, telling our own stories and controlling the perception of Africa and subsequently, Africans.
YaAdam, 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?
Creating mirrors and windows
Fye Network (FyeN) offers a suite of entertaining and educational children’s media that centers the African child, on the continent, and throughout the diaspora. Through our content, we have created mirrors for African children to see their experiences reflected back to them, both affirming and amplifying their lived experiences. These reflections of their experiences are foundational to how they begin to view and value themselves and understand their place in the world. Research shows that identifying with popular characters with the same identities in mainstream media leads to higher self-esteem on several dimensions.
Our content serves as a window into African and Black experiences, enabling others to build understanding, empathy, and respect for people from different backgrounds. We have an opportunity to invite diverse audiences into the lives of fellow human beings from across the street and around the world, breaking barriers, and establishing mutual respect and care.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
We started this journey 15 year ago and back then we were told no one cared about our African stories. Today, people are seeing that Africa and its diasapora is a large untapped market and jumping on the bandwagon. We have been knocking on doors and told ‘NO’ so many times by the gatekeeper who often are white women but it doesn’t stop us- as our vision is bigger than us.
We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.
My co-founder is my sister Anna, I couldn’t imagine being on this journey without her. We truly balance each other out and we capitalize on our strengthens to push things along. As she would say ” our destinies are tied together”!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.fyenetwork.com
- Instagram: @fyennetwork
- Facebook: Fye Network
- Twitter: @fyenetwork
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ_HRy72jvnzw6uBkwo_7Ag
- Other: www.fyenpublishing.com
Image Credits
N/A