Shiba Melissa Mazaza, Founder
UK born, Malawian, South Africa-based Shiba Melissa Mazaza is a music journalist, media strategist and curator working with those that value new and exciting voices across Africa. Nominated for SheSaidSo’s Alternative Power 100 Music List in 2018 and selected by the prestigious Salzburg Global Seminar in 2020 to participate in the Young Creative Innovators Forum, she aims to ring in the next generation of culture curators and archivists, fostering the economic and creative freedom of African and black voices within her latest venture, Mount Makeda Media House.
BACKGROUND
Starting as a music journalist at the now-defunct One Small Seed Magazine in 2012 and Okayafrica in 2014, the following years saw music journalist, media strategist and curator Shiba Melissa Mazaza building an interest in the machinations of the music industry at large -- and how African sociologies impact our continent’s creative expression. Since then she has penned investigative pieces for platforms such as mixmag, DJ Mag, Resident Advisor, okayafrica and Afropunk, and worked on dynamic teams representing groundbreaking artists such as Gqom pioneer DJ Lag at Black Major, along with managing amapiano star Aymos as well as working on campaigns for PLATOON in the New Music Africa division. Also a freelance curator for Apple Music's dance-centric playlists, she has managed stages at, and programmed festivals at Design Indaba, Encounters International Film Festival, Cape Town Electronic Music Festival and Littlegig, as well as the hands-on task of discovering new talent for Afropunk. Simultaneously, she enjoys a fruitful voice over career for hundreds of clients from Woolworths to Volkswagen and Emirates, while building a non-profit organisation with her father, dubbed the African Consciousness Institute, which aims to contribute to the wellbeing of African creatives with the help of mindfulness, consciousness and spiritual health practices.