Zeda was born out of a deep frustration with the erasures, and the flattening of African women’s lives in mainstream media. As a journalist and creative storyteller, our founder, Mwende Ngao, saw firsthand how harmful gendered narratives are reproduced across platforms. She also experienced what it meant to be a woman speaking up, pushing back, and trying to create work with integrity in systems that were never designed with women in mind.
Zeda began as a radical act of reclaiming space, and a commitment to imagining something different: a media company that centers African women, that takes complexity seriously, and that treats feminist storytelling not as a niche, but as a necessary and urgent cultural intervention.
This vision continues to shape Zeda’s ethos: one grounded in care, boldness, community, and truth. We believe stories shape what we believe is possible, and we want to play a part in the expansion of the frameworks and changing of the narratives that have underrepresented, misrepresented, or erased us entirely.
We tell the stories mainstream media overlooks, amplifying African women’s voices through editorial, audio, visual, live experiences, and publishing.
Our mission is to transform the media landscape through feminist storytelling and to create space for African women and girls to be equal players in the cultural conversation.