Co-founder and CEO of the digital media company Face2Face Africa, Sandra Appiah has dedicated her professional career to amplifying pan-African voices and promoting black narratives on a global scale. Appiah uses her wide platform to empower and facilitate connections between people of African descent. Originally from Ghana, Appiah immigrated to the United States when she was 13 and earned her BS in communications from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications in 2010. She pursued her passion for video journalism through internships at the New York Times and HBO and worked at MTV upon graduation.
Throughout these experiences, Appiah witnessed a gap in representations of Black media and sought to fill it by founding Face2Face Africa in 2011. Over the past decade, Face2Face has grown into a global media company that reaches millions of viewers every year. The platform promotes pan-African news, current affairs, history, and culture. Additionally, it focuses on female empowerment, with an entire section dedicated to promoting topics relating to women.
Initially, Appiah used her own experiences growing up as an immigrant in NYC to shape the content and stories she highlighted on Face2Face. Describing her motivations, Appiah said, “It’s an obligation for Africans to have a strong, influential platform where they can dictate their stories and news concerning
Africa. Telling our own stories is the only way we can protect and control the “brand” of Africa, and consequently affect how every young African sees themselves.” In 2013, she was featured on Forbes Magazine’s 30 Under Thirty: Africa’s Best Young Entrepreneurs list for her accomplishments.
Furthermore, Appiah ensures that her influence extends beyond the digital domain by producing annual events, such as the “30 Black Stars” Business and Professional Achievers Conference and Awards in Houston, Texas, and the Pan-African Weekend Fest in NYC. Both of these are dedicated to creating spaces
for people of African descent to share and celebrate their accomplishments, stories, and leverage the power of diversity. She will be a Ghana MIPAD Honoree as part of the Year in Return 2019.
Appiah is passionate about entrepreneurship and the field of digital journalism, and we applaud her willingness to use her talents to amplify the voice of the African Diaspora. SIA-Africa recognizes Appiah as the Person of the Month.
