Maba Ba

Imagine having an accent in every language you speak, including in your home country? Maba Ba is a Senegalese-born, New York-based filmmaker, musician, writer, and entrepreneur exploring what it means to live between worlds. His work spans film, wine, music, and philosophy—each medium examining identity, belonging, masculinity, emotional inheritance, and myth. Full links to YouTube and Spotify in bio. Essay this episode is based on - Black in the World. His storytelling began in Senegal, sharing stories during power outages—early lessons in how narratives shape emotional worlds. After studying computer science at Old Dominion University, he moved to New York to pursue 3D animation and acting, which led him into filmmaking. Through JoyeDidi, the company he co-founded, Maba produced Baamum Nafi, an award-winner at Locarno and Senegal’s submission to the 2021 Academy Awards. He also produced Samedi Cinema (Venice, TIFF) and is developing Demba, a story of grief, fatherhood, and emotional inheritance. JoyeDidi also brings cinema to communities across Senegal via an inflatable outdoor screen. Beyond film, Maba explores ritual and mythology through Flying Whale Wine, created in Roussillon, France, blending Dogon cosmology with terroir-driven craft and featured at major food and wine festivals - His writing, podcast (Black in This World), and upcoming debut album further explore diaspora, masculinity, trauma, and reinvention. Across all forms, Maba’s work shares one through line: using story and ritual to reconnect people to themselves, each other, and their origins. Maba is styled by @baayfall_fashions

It certainly feels like it’s just you against the world at times. Writing this piece gave me a lot of joy, clarity, and strength. I hope it can do the same and more to others. You’re not alone. “Black In This World” (BITW) pronounced Between. #love Find it on my substack mababa1.substack.com link in bio

Thank you to everyone who made the @wintergetdown what it was. Truly one of the most beautiful experiences I’ve had in a long time. Thank to @wearethegoodlife for making happen. I learned how to snowboard just a year ago on Aspen Mountain, so this was my first time riding outside of Aspen. @outboundmammoth gave me an even deeper appreciation for the sport, for the mountains, and for the feeling of freedom that comes with it. More than anything, I loved the people I met there. The energy, the kindness, the conversations, the laughter. @willysoul thanks for making sure @flyingwhalewine was there. The flying whale felt at home :) I left with great memories, a bigger love for snowboarding, and real gratitude. Thank you for welcoming me into it all. Looking forward to coming back. 📸 @trecywendy 🫶🏿

Essay this episode is based on - Black in this World. BITW. Maba Ba is a Senegalese-born, New York-based filmmaker, musician, writer, and entrepreneur exploring what it means to live between worlds. His work spans film, wine, music, and philosophy—each medium examining identity, belonging, masculinity, emotional inheritance, and myth. His storytelling began in Senegal, sharing stories during power outages—early lessons in how narratives shape emotional worlds. After studying computer science at Old Dominion University, he moved to New York to pursue 3D animation and acting, which led him into filmmaking. Through JoyeDidi, the company he co-founded, Maba produced Baamum Nafi, an award-winner at Locarno and Senegal’s submission to the 2021 Academy Awards. He also produced Samedi Cinema (Venice, TIFF) and is developing Demba, a story of grief, fatherhood, and emotional inheritance. JoyeDidi also brings cinema to communities across Senegal via an inflatable outdoor screen. Beyond film, Maba explores ritual and mythology through Flying Whale Wine, created in Roussillon, France, blending Dogon cosmology with terroir-driven craft and featured at major food and wine festivals - His writing, podcast (Black in This World), and upcoming debut album further explore diaspora, masculinity, trauma, and reinvention. Across all forms, Maba’s work shares one through line: using story and ritual to reconnect people to themselves, each other, and their origins. Maba is styled by @baayfall_fashions

The cost of being strong. Essay this episode is based on - Black in this World. Maba Ba is a Senegalese-born, New York-based filmmaker, musician, writer, and entrepreneur exploring what it means to live between worlds. His work spans film, wine, music, and philosophy—each medium examining identity, belonging, masculinity, emotional inheritance, and myth. His storytelling began in Senegal, sharing stories during power outages—early lessons in how narratives shape emotional worlds. After studying computer science at Old Dominion University, he moved to New York to pursue 3D animation and acting, which led him into filmmaking. Through JoyeDidi, the company he co-founded, Maba produced Baamum Nafi, an award-winner at Locarno and Senegal’s submission to the 2021 Academy Awards. He also produced Samedi Cinema (Venice, TIFF) and is developing Demba, a story of grief, fatherhood, and emotional inheritance. JoyeDidi also brings cinema to communities across Senegal via an inflatable outdoor screen. Beyond film, Maba explores ritual and mythology through Flying Whale Wine, created in Roussillon, France, blending Dogon cosmology with terroir-driven craft and featured at major food and wine festivals - His writing, podcast (Black in This World), and upcoming debut album further explore diaspora, masculinity, trauma, and reinvention. Across all forms, Maba’s work shares one through line: using story and ritual to reconnect people to themselves, each other, and their origins. Maba is styled by @baayfall_fashions

Maba Ba is a Senegalese-born, New York-based filmmaker, musician, writer, and entrepreneur exploring what it means to live between worlds. His work spans film, wine, music, and philosophy—each medium examining identity, belonging, masculinity, emotional inheritance, and myth. Full links to YouTube and Spotify in bio. Essay this episode is based on - Black in the World. His storytelling began in Senegal, sharing stories during power outages—early lessons in how narratives shape emotional worlds. After studying computer science at Old Dominion University, he moved to New York to pursue 3D animation and acting, which led him into filmmaking. Through JoyeDidi, the company he co-founded, Maba produced Baamum Nafi, an award-winner at Locarno and Senegal’s submission to the 2021 Academy Awards. He also produced Samedi Cinema (Venice, TIFF) and is developing Demba, a story of grief, fatherhood, and emotional inheritance. JoyeDidi also brings cinema to communities across Senegal via an inflatable outdoor screen. Beyond film, Maba explores ritual and mythology through Flying Whale Wine, created in Roussillon, France, blending Dogon cosmology with terroir-driven craft and featured at major food and wine festivals - His writing, podcast (Black in This World), and upcoming debut album further explore diaspora, masculinity, trauma, and reinvention. Across all forms, Maba’s work shares one through line: using story and ritual to reconnect people to themselves, each other, and their origins. Maba is styled by @baayfall_fashions

We leave things in each other. Ways of trusting. Ways of holding back. Ways of reading what is not said. Some of it comes from care. Some of it comes from harm. It stays in the body. It shows up later. In how we open. In how we hesitate. Someone else meets that version of us. This one is for the survivors… full essay on my substack… ❤️🫶🏿❤️

March… Grateful ❤️🙏🏿🍷

In March I wrote almost every day. Essays. Pieces that start in the body and open into something I can’t close. A melody carried across generations. The way harm rewrites itself into innocence. The current you fight and the one you learn to move with. I kept seeing the same structure. The story comes first. Then the act. Simplify someone enough and anything becomes possible. I wrote about being seen. About projection. About what we carry into each other without knowing. Each piece started small. Something lived. I followed it until it became about us. How we see. How we explain. How we love and fail each other. I stayed inside the tension. Subscribe to my substack, link in BIO With Love, Always….

Brooklyn Bayou…. The third iteration of the “On The Bayou” Culinary Experience took place in a beautiful brownstone in Brooklyn, NY. On The Bayou is about food, community, and cross pollination. Being able to lean into my gifts and bring smiles and laughter to so many people is something I don’t take for granted. I had the pleasure of collaborating with @mababa1 and his amazing @flyingwhalewine on this experience and it was truly magical. Thank you Maba!! Many more to come!! I have to thank everyone who made this possible, Lexi (@noirstyle ) I couldn’t have done this without you. Thank you is an understatement. Ritzy (@ritzy__rodriguez_ ) I’ve been admiring you and your work from afar and I’m so grateful we finally got a chance to work on a project together, you are a pure talent with a wonderful spirit and energy. The first of many! And to my brother @shawnantoineii , thank you for showing up for me. To have you come and capture the evening through your lens was a gift! You know how we do. My Brother Du’Bois! What can I say. You are so immensely talented and someone who continues to inspire me. I am blessed to call you a friend and Brother. Thank you for blessing the night with your musical gifts. You killed it bro! @duboisakeen Merele, thank you for speaking so beautifully and telling the story of how we met and letting people know I am not only a Chef but I am an Artist first! Thank you for that. I needed to hear it. @merelewilliams To everyone who showed up and showed out. Thank you for being apart of this Culinary Experience. We have so much on the way so stay tuned!! A TIME WAS HAD!!!! Love always, #joebyjoe #culinaryexperience #bayoubyjoe #art #culinaryarts

Bet on yourself and just do it. @flyingwhalewine and @nike thank you @chefjeffdidit for the collab! Onward and upward…. Cheers! 🍷

I used to think my claustrophobia was about space. Planes. Elevators. Closed rooms. That’s what it looked like. The first time it hit me was on a space ride at Disney World. After that, it followed me for years. In Kenya, I had to get off two separate planes. I couldn’t do it. My body would take over. Later, through EMDR, I started to see the pattern. It was never about the space. It was about moments where I stayed when I wanted to leave. Moments where I stayed silent when I needed to speak. My body had been holding all of it. And once I started changing that, something shifted. Today, I’m sitting in a small plane. Calm. Present. Breathing. I don’t take that lightly. A phobia is real. It takes over your body. Getting through it takes real work. I’m deeply grateful to be here. Grateful to believe in change. Grateful to see that real growth is possible.