Episode #48 with Tobi Kyeremateng

The Swinging Palm Trees Podcast

On today's episode I chat with producer, writer and director Tobi Kyeremateng. She shares on the podcast how she started her career, what she has learnt working within theatre, becoming a producer, and working on various projects within the industry. She also shares why she started 'The Black Ticket Project'.
We also chat about her writing, including essays that have been published in The Guardian, The Independent & Gal-Dem. We talk about issues of Race, and the discrimination and misogyny towards women.
We chat about her Nigerian/Ghanaian heritage, influences and her directorial debut, Ówàmbè, (roughly translated from the Yorùbá language as 'It's happening there') about the Uniqueness of African parties, in particular Nigerian Hall parties and celebrations. Tobi also shares on the podcast what one of her favourite sayings is.
Tobi Kyeremateng is a multi-award-winning producer and writer from South London.
As a producer working across film, liveness and audio, Tobi has curated an impressive portfolio of work for organisations including BBC, British Vogue, Horniman Museum, Institute of Contemporary Arts, National Theatre, No Signal, Priority at O2, Roundhouse, Royal Court Theatre, Tate Modern, PUMA, Sony Music and more, and has had her work platformed on BBC Three, BBC Four, Complex, FACT Magazine and NOWNESS to name a few. As a writer, Tobi has written for media outlets including Black Ballad, Blavity, gal-dem, Howlround, The Guardian, The Independent and LOVE Magazine, and has had essays published in Black Joy (Penguin, 2021) and Making Hip Hop Theatre (Bloomsbury, 2021). In 2021, she released her debut audio-documentary, RAVE RITUALS, on BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 6.
Tobi has won several awards including: 'Creative Award' (Industry Minds UK 2021), 'Special Award: Producer' (Off West-End Theatre Awards 2020), ‘Arts & Culture’ Award (Women Of The Future Awards 2019), ‘Best Producer’ (inaugural Black British Theatre Awards 2019), and ‘Inspiration of the Year’ (Stylist Magazine’s inaugural Remarkable Women Awards 2019). Tobi has led workshops, guest lectures and panel talks for a number of institutions including Oxford University and Goldsmiths University, and has hosted in-conversations with the likes of Diane Abbott and Malorie Blackman.

Tobi is a Senior Artistic Associate at the Bush Theatre, Board Trustee for Peckham Platform, Diversity School Initiative and National Youth Theatre, and mentor for Sour Lemons and I LIKE NETWORKING. In 2020 she was invited to become a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and was nominated by BBC presenter Clara Amfo in the Duke and Duchess' inaugural Black History Month Next Generation Trailblazers, as well as being included in ELLE Magazine's '10 Trailblazing Women Changing The Future You Need To Know' alongside Koffee, Holly Fischer, Celeste and Margaret Busby. In 2020, she featured on the cover of gal-dem as part of their Community Issue. Tobi's directorial debut docu-fiction film, OWAMBE, is showing on Netflix as one of 10 recipients of the inaugural Netflix Documentary Talent Fund, and she is writing her debut non-fiction book, THEATRE SH*T (Jacaranda Books), celebrating contemporary Black B

Thanks for listening to the episode. I'd like to thank my guest for their time, insight and being a great sport!
I would also like to thank my producer, Ashanti Omkar, for all her hard work.
If you'd like to be a guest, drop me a line at [e-mail].
Keep Rising & Thriving. Aṣẹ!