For young creatives, Joseph Nti ’15 shares lessons for creating your own space

By the time he graduated from Ashesi, Joseph Nti was recognised on campus as a creative industry force in the making. After launching one of the most read student magazines in Ashesi – the Ink – he discovered an interest in content creation and the creative arts; an interest which he has pursued for several years now.

Today, Joseph’s cosmopolitan Youtube show “Off the Top” and podcast “Sincerely Accra” have made him a recognised artist. And he is just getting started.

“From starting and managing the publication of The Ink at Ashesi, I not only gained a portfolio, I also gained invaluable experience in production work and creative direction,” he shares. “There are not very many media houses or creative agencies that will allow young people to lead top shows or productions. The Ink allowed me to gain some visibility into the process of creating content for a diverse audience, and I learned a lot from the many student contributors who supported the magazine.”

 

 

Joseph has now defined a personal style that is both authentic and relatable, tackling topics across his shows that many in his audience find necessary.

“The beauty of independently creating content today is that you get to carve your own niche,” he shared. “Over time, I have learned to tap into popular culture and the lived experiences of my peers and colleagues. And I see it resonating from the feedback I receive.”

While more people can create and share content these days, Joseph believes the creative arts deserves more attention especially in the classroom. In 2018, he teamed up with Ashesi faculty to design a Creative Arts curriculum for the Ashesi Innovation Experience, an enrichment program to help high school students appreciate the various college pathways they could take.

“A lot of people are either gifted or passionate about the arts, yet are more likely to be told to focus on traditional paths like engineering, medicine, and business,” he explained. “Yet creativity matters a lot, even in engineering, medicine, and business. It plays a role in helping solve complex problems, in how stakeholders are engaged, and how information is communicated. Harnessing this in students much earlier will serve a lot of good.”

With a steadily growing subscriber base for productions he’s currently hacking at, Joseph hopes his work will inspire other creatives to put out more content that reflects the modern Ghanaian society.

“In our local creative community, we are each other’s support,” he shared. “Just seeing another person creating, failing sometimes, and not giving up is important for all of us. Over time, I’ve learned that opportunities will always come my way. However I have also learned that sometimes I need to create opportunities for myself.”