Nana-Saa Kessie

Nana-Saa is a trained actress and producer with a BFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, where she studied Drama, and double minored in Producing, and Business of Entertainment, Media & Technology. She has experience in script development and public relations, and most recently served as an associate producer at the award-winning creative advertising agency, Johannes Leonardo. 

Throughout her career, she has always been an advocate for black voices in the advertising and entertainment space. During her time at Johannes Leonardo, she led the charge on creating platforms and spaces that celebrated cultural richness within the African Diaspora allowing for a deeper understanding of the unique perspectives within the community. Her initiatives included hosting a live-podcast taping that explored the dynamics among several communities within the diaspora through the lens of advertising, producing panels highlighting BIPOC and creative talent with disabilities, and leading the agency’s programming for Black History Month. 

Her zeal for this kind of work is the very reason why she decided to embark on a Master’s in African Studies at Oxford. As a Ghanaian-America, she aims to deepen her knowledge of the African continent and plans to investigate the concepts of Westernization and Decolonization in 21st-Century African Pop Culture, particularly in music, media, film and theatre.