Vanessa Ford

COO, KUKUA Degrees: B.Sc. in human biology (University of Toronto) and M.Sc. in global health (Oxford University) Age: 36 Based in: Lisbon, Portugal Former HIV/AIDs researcher turned media producer Vanessa Ford co-founded the women-led children’s entertainment company Kukua in 2018. Since then, she has become the driving force behind Super Sema, the first animated superhero TV series to feature African characters and have a focus on science and technology. (Lupita Nyong’o voices the grown-up Sema, whose younger self fights villains using “technovating” powers.) Once based largely in Hollywood, Ford’s industry is being increasingly decentralized: She’s from Toronto and now lives in Lisbon, while Kukua is based in both Nairobi and London. The series has amassed 70 million views since its debut on YouTube Originals in 2021. Now, Ford is building…

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Canadian Business (Digital) - 1 Issue, Fall 2022

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