Documentary journalist and writer Esther Armah left Britain last year to live in New York where she launched her self published memoirs and relaunched her production company. She updates Words of Colour on her growing skills as a playwright, director and business woman as part of her creative journey.

July 2007

Esther Armah

‘Yo, Ma. Yo Ma! You know who you look like? You look like Mary J! Ya know, Mary J Blige! Same eyes and everything!’

Brooklyn, New York. The gaggle of boys on the corner always greeted me this way. Being called ‘Ma’ and being told I looked like Mary J Blige seemed to be my first and major introduction to living in New York. Since I wasn’t the young men’s mother, I was both perplexed, and then a little pissed.

It took a friend to explain the New York lingo of calling young women ‘Ma’, as in ‘mamacita’ – a term of some kind of affection. Hmmm, I call my mother ‘Ma’, so I was never going to be cool when the name conjured up an image of a 73-year-old woman. Now, my mother still looks fly – but hey, 73 is still 73. And I’ve a long way to go before I get there.

I had been in New York for a while and the Mary J Blige comparisons continued. I know, I know! Anyone who knows me is reading this and thinking ‘she doesn’t look anything like Mary J Blige’. Well, I agree. New Yorkers, apparently, hold a different view. So, my second career as a Mary J Blige look-alike intact, here I am in the Big Apple. It’s creative heaven for me.

My first book is called ‘Can I Be Me?’ and I’ve now adapted it into a two-hour, one-woman show featuring a New York-based, black British actress. It’s meant I’ve discovered an ear for dialogue I didn’t realise I had. June was a major month for me. I was invited by the Harlem-based New Heritage Theatre company to do a formal dramatised reading at a wonderful venue called the Museum of the City of New York.

It’s a funky museum with a great space where the theatre company performs annual, well-received dramatisations by well known and up and coming authors. The selection process was long and arduous, but the welcome news of being chosen to be part of the 2007 series is great. Dramatised readings are used to attract producers to a piece of work, create exposure and buzz around that work and elevate the profile of the writer and the rest of the cast.

With New Heritage, they provide and pay for everything: rehearsal space, lighting technicians, overheads – all is taken care of. It’s been a great confidence booster. I lost my father last year. His death prompted me to explore new beginnings. It was time to evolve my business, shift my focus and let go of work that I was never going to do again. A documentary journalist by trade and a radio presenter primarily with the BBC, it was time to move on.

I knew I wouldn’t be making documentaries any more. I knew my production company (Centric Productions) would be focusing much more on leadership, creative media and marketing within literature, and rebranding Africa. I also knew there were two identities: my personal identity as a writer and the company brand. So, it was time to ensure that my business reflected that shift, as did the website.

A creative literary consultancy is now part of the business. We do dramatised readings as a creative marketing tool for writers, offer consultancy for first time writers to complete the first draft of their manuscript as a radio programme on books, and are working on an internet programme on books.

I’ve discovered a love and a skill for writing dialogue. I cast and direct the dramatisations, and have discovered a love of directing. In rebranding Africa, the company creates events or supplements offering fresh visions of this continent to an audience whose mainstream media menu is stuffed with famine, helplessness, hopelessness and corruption.

I instinctively understand branding and how significantly it contributes to the effective launch of a writer and their work – or indeed any artist. I incorporate all of this into my newly evolved business. It’s been a ball. My new clients include a first time novelist of a now award-winning book, the editor in chief of a New York-based business magazine and an aspiring author writing a book about lessons her father taught her about business. And my first contract for rebranding Africa is creating a business supplement about female entrepreneurs of Ghanaian descent in New York, Ghana and London.

New York isn’t always easy. It’s known as the city of the hustle. Opportunity lives here, without doubt. Be prepared, know your brand, explore your field, clarify your vision, know what you uniquely bring, respect your authenticity; work hard. This is my recipe, my ingredients for this New York life - and I love it.

Last but not least, the sheer amount of eye candy coming from the plentiful supply of fine looking brothers always makes the day go easier.

Have a nice day now!

Read: Synopsis of ‘ Can I Be Me?’

Biography

Esther Armah is an international award-nominated tri-media journalist who has worked in the UK, US and Africa. Her work spans print, radio and television. She is a published author, a playwright and director of a creative media company - Centric Productions. In print journalism, she has written for ‘The Guardian’, ‘Pride’, ‘Essence’ in New York, ‘The Africa Journal’ in Washington DC and ‘West Africa’ magazine in Africa and Europe. She has a monthly column in the US newspaper ‘The New Ghanaian’. In radio, she has made award-winning documentaries for BBC Radio.

In the UK, she hosted ‘Up All Night’, a live BBC 5 Live radio talk show on international current affairs. In US radio, she co-hosts ‘Wake Up Call’ every Thursday on WBAI in New York, has co-hosted ‘What’s At Stake’ on WPFW in Washington DC and hosts ‘Off The Page’ also on WBAI. In television in London she has worked in front of and behind the camera for BBC and commercial television. As a reporter, her work has taken her from Peckham in South London to Pretoria in South Africa including Washington DC, Philadelphia, Ghana, Nigeria, Lesotho and Kenya. She’s founding director of the London and New York-based creative media production company ‘Centric Productions’.

Website: www.centricproductions.co.uk

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