African Diaspora Dialogue
Nana Agyeiwah Odeffour is building what she once searched for, a platform where African stories are told with dignity, depth, and purpose. From Bogoso to London to the diaspora dialogue space she created, her work reflects a media practitioner who treats storytelling as both calling and responsibility.
National flag of Ghana
I am Ghanaian, proudly Akan, and shaped deeply by the values woven into my upbringing. I was born and raised in Bogoso, a town in Ghana’s Western Region, where community was not just a concept, it was a lived reality.
Where I come from, the community raised you as their own. The environment I come from shaped my sense of accountability, humility, and respect, values that still guide me today.
Even food carried meaning. I grew up eating authentic Akan dishes prepared with the love of people who honour their traditions. Those flavours and everyday practices taught me pride in where I come from and reminded me that identity is something you carry and not something you perform.
What matters most to me is that no person should suffer at the deliberate actions of another. My life is anchored in faith and purpose, and I carry a deep conviction that my work and my voice must contribute positively to others, especially across Africa and its diaspora.
Being African, to me, means carrying stories that existed long before me. It means walking with collective responsibility. It means seeing the world through the richness of community, culture, and connection.
My nationality, ethnicity, and language shape my worldview by reminding me that identity is both personal and communal and that, I am part of something bigger than myself.
From my ancestors, I have inherited unwavering faith, inner strength, and the spirit to push through challenges. I have learned to find joy within myself, and to understand that happiness is a state of mind, not something tied to possessions or circumstances.
These generational lessons are shaping the woman I am becoming grounded, resilient, and committed to living with integrity and purpose.
My first formal role was as a Front Desk Executive at a media company, a radio station. It was the doorway into a world I had admired since childhood. As a child, I watched the evening news religiously, even when the vocabulary was beyond my understanding. I believed it was one of the most important jobs in the world.
Working at the radio station taught me discipline, communication, and how storytelling can influence communities. It exposed me to the structure, pace, and power of media work and it confirmed that media was not just an interest, but a calling.
Today, my career in content, storytelling, media production, and Africa-focused communication is deeply rooted in those early experiences. They laid the foundation for the trajectory I am now on; amplifying African stories, shaping narratives, and creating meaningful platforms across the diaspora.
“Media is a tool that can build or break, depending on the hands it rests in.”
My education began in local primary, junior high, and senior high schools in the same town I was born. For my first university degree, I studied at the Catholic University of Ghana, where I obtained a BSc in Business Administration.
That training broadened my understanding of how organisations, economies, and people operate, and strengthened my analytical thinking and leadership.
But my passion for media never left me. Working in the industry pushed me toward further study, and I later completed a master’s degree in Communication and Media Studies at Brunel University London.
That experience solidified what I had always believed, media is a powerful tool that can build or break, depending on the hands it rests in.
Studying it at an advanced level helped me see media not only as storytelling, but as a force with political, cultural, and social weight.
My career journey holds milestones that feel less like achievements and more like purpose unfolding. An early defining moment was stepping into media as a television presenter in 2018. It shaped my confidence, sharpened my communication, and laid the foundation for the work I do today.
A major entrepreneurial milestone was founding Media7Seven, a platform designed to tell global stories. Under that vision, I launched African Diaspora Dialogue, a show that creates space for thoughtful conversations, policy-oriented insights, and uplifting the voices shaping Africa’s future from within the diaspora.
For me, these milestones symbolise more than progress. They symbolise purpose. They reflect my evolution into a leader committed to using media to influence development conversations, bridge Africa and its diaspora, and contribute meaningfully to Agenda 2063.
One of the biggest challenges I faced was navigating long periods of uncertainty, those seasons where opportunities were limited and progress felt slow. Media is unpredictable, and reinvention is not optional.
The most difficult part was balancing ambition with patience, and learning not to measure progress only through external validation.
What helped me overcome it was threefold, firstly, guidance from people who had already walked the path; anchoring myself spiritually because when you believe in divine purpose, the ultimate handbook comes from above; and finally, creating my own opportunities. Instead of waiting for someone to give me a platform, I began building one.
A major turning point came when I transitioned from being part of the media system to building my own platform. That clarity deepened when I moved to the UK for my master’s degree. Studying global media revealed something painfully clear that African stories were often misunderstood, simplified, or entirely absent.
I knew then that if I wanted Africa to be represented with accuracy, dignity, and depth, if I wanted to be part of real change, I had to stop waiting for space and create it.
That conviction became the birth of African Diaspora Dialogue, produced by Media7Seven. It redefined my path from participating in media, to using media as a tool for influence, empowerment, and transformation.
If I had to summarise my career story in one sentence, it would be this: I am a Ghanaian media practitioner who believes media is one of the strongest pillars of society and I am committed to using it to renew mindsets through storytelling.
I have been shaped by a circle of people whose influence goes beyond professional guidance into the foundations of my identity. My family and shepherds instilled faith, discipline, and purpose.
In my professional life, I have been guided by mentors formal and informal who saw potential in me before I fully understood it myself. Visionary African leaders, storytellers, and thinkers whose work has redefined how Africa can be imagined.
My vision for the future is the goal of Media7Seven is to use the power of media to inspire a generation that sees differently, thinks differently, and acts differently.
