Meet 2022 FAME Week Africa’s Top 10 women in entertainment

The announcement is a build up to FAME Week Africa’s partnership with Women in Music South Africa in May in an effort to ramp up efforts to create a level playing field for female music professionals.

The creatives, who were drown from various segments dedicated to music, film, animation, digital content and TV, include local artists Namakau Star and XXC Legacy as well as Canada’s Domanique Grant. Others are Content Connect Africa managing director Antos Stella (South Africa), film director Ayten Amin (Egypt), Nickelodeon VP of recruitment and talent development Camille Eden (US), Netflix director of Africa originals Dorothy Ghettuba (Kenya), M-Net executive head of programming general entertainment Nomsa Philiso (South Africa), Realness Institute and Filmmaker co-founder Mehret Mandefro (Ethiopia/US) and FilmOne Entertainment head of production Mimi Bartels (Nigeria).

“FAME Week Africa sees all of these exceptional women as winners, not only for their individuals strengths and creativity, but for their collective impact on the world of entertainment,” FAME Week Africa creative and content director Martin Hiller said. “Join us at FWA’s Top 10 Women in Entertainment live and see exactly how these sisters are doing it.”

Meet the Top 10 women in entertainment whose work will be featured at FAME Week 2022:

Namakau Star

Born in Johannesburg and now based in Cape Town, Star has made a significant contribution to the alternative R&B and hip hop scene. She has made a number of television appearances and received recommendations from different media outlets. She gained popularity in 2021 when she was featured on Music’s curated playlists. In June this year, she launched her debut seven-track EP called Landing through Paradise Sound Systems.

XXC Legacy

A singer, rapper, theatrical performer, clarinettist, pianist, and violinist, XXC Legacy (born Thandiswa Mthethwa), has been dubbed a visionary for her accomplishments in the music and entertainment industry. She graduated from the National School of the Arts where she studied music theory, played piano and clarinet, and participated in musical theatre.

Domanique Grant

Domanique Grant is an award-winning singer, songwriter, creator, and entrepreneur. As a millennial advocate, Grant engages with brands, thought leaders, and media (TEDx, CTV, NBS) to share what millennials really feel. She is one of 20 Canadian artists selected for the SOCAN TD Incubator recognising artists with high viability out of 1 000 from across the country for her EP album PLAYHOUSE, which has been performed on more than half of the continents around the world.

Antos Stella

Antos Stella has made a huge impact on the South African music scene in the past 30 years. As a leading content aggregator focused on telecommunications and digital distribution, she has been involved in some of South Africa’s biggest international artist deals. 

Ayten Amin

Amin won several national awards for her first short film, Her Man. Among the awards she received for her debut feature film, Villa 69, were the Special Jury Award for Arab Film at Abu Dhabi Film, the Cairo Film Connection Award for Best Film, and the Hubert Bals Award at Durban FilmMart. In 2011, she co-directed the documentary Tahrir, which was selected at the Venice and Toronto International Film Festivals and nominated for the Berlinale Award for Best Documentary in Cinema For Peace. In 2019, she directed 20 episodes of the hit drama Saabe Gaar (The Seventh Neighbour), a 70-episode TV series.

Camille Eden

Eden describes herself as a collaborative leader with a focus on recruiting, recruitment development, outreach, and talent management. She enjoys supporting creatives of all levels to achieve their goals. Among her accomplishments is being one of 54 black animation professionals to recreate Nickelodeon’s iconic Great Day in Harlem.

Dorothy Ghettuba

Currently, Ghettuba is Netflix’s director of original series for Africa. She is a co-founder of the Nairobi-based Spielworks Media, an African production company launched in 2009. In 2016, she was named among C. Hub magazine’s 100 most influential creative personalities. Ghettuba is also a 2016 Archbishop Tutu Fellow with the African Leadership Institute.

Nomsa Philiso

Philiso is currently the executive director of programming for M-Net’s general entertainment division. A 25-year veteran of broadcast and media, she has extensive experience in media sales, channel content management, and technology project implementation. 

Mehret Mandefro

Mehret Mandefro, a native of Addis Ababa, received the Community Service Award in 2009, and in 2014, she was honoured by WomenWerk at the International Women’s Day Celebration in New York City. In the same year, she co-produced Difret, directed by Zeresenay Berhane Mehari. In addition, Mehret produced a Zeresenay Berhane film called Sweetness in the Belly, as well as a documentary called The Loving Generation.

Mimi Bartels

Mimi Bartels has worked in content creation, film production and distribution for more than nine years. The focus of her work is on building collaborative excellence that will push Nigerian storytelling to the next level.

Find more about FAME Week Africa here.