Amma Aboagye is the daughter of Ghanaian immigrants who raised her and her six siblings in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Through their sacrifices, Amma has gained over thirteen years of development and social policy experience in some of the most culturally rich parts of the US, Europe and Africa. Following her studies at Cornell, Columbia and the London School of Economics, She has run the gamut of profession experiences, from teaching in public schools in South Louisiana to developing evidence based education policy in Ghana to identifying opportunities to leverage learning and best practices to develop tools and processes that increase innovation and partnerships in development programming across West Africa.

Amma considers herself an intrapreneur, as she is always looking for innovative ways to disrupt the status quo. In 2017, She launched The Afropole, a brokerage that seeks to connect African and Afrodiasporan businesses in the food, beauty and creative spaces. The Afropole does this through communications, merchandise, advisory services and events, such as the inaugural 2017 Wax Print Festival which included conversations on the intersections of arts, culture and research. Since the launch of the festival, Amma’s ideas have been featured in the BBC, NBC, Vlisco &Co to name a few and her media experiences include radio, events, blogging and facilitating knowledge exchange on African and Afrodiasporan culture.

Amma is passionate about the nexus between innovation, culture and economic growth, and believes that Africans and Afrodiasporans have the power to use the work of their hands to bring a new world economic order. Through the Afropole, Amma is committed to the #buildblackglobally movement: a Pan African movement that centers culture, creativity and economic development through greater African participation and ownership in the globalization of cultural commodities— like wax print.