The first season of Girl Going Places, a travel show by Maame Adjei, takes its audience on a journey across Ghana in a new and exciting context: the millennial narrative. This is just one of many projects Maame is involved in. She is also known and loved by many as Zainab in An African City Ghana’s version of Sex and the City.
Maame began to explore Ghana after moving back home in 2012. She says, “I was blown away by some of the places I saw. Most people that I knew had never even heard of or been to these locations, even some Ghanaians living in Ghana!” She realized there was value in sharing her new experiences with a wider audience using a platform that would present the beauty she saw in the country.
Girl Going Places is a six-part wanderlust inspiring Youtube series where the audience gets to join Maame on a hike through the town of Likpe, a tour of the best places to buy local fashion items, and on a girls trip to some of her favorite hangouts in Accra. The series is cleverly shot and narrated in a way that makes you feel as though you’re right there with Maame. She shares that it was purposeful, “I wanted people to feel like they were on the journey with me”. It worked. After watching, I definitely have a strong desire to experience some of these locations first hand.
The premise of the show presents itself as a discovery of herself as much as her country. In Episode 1, we see Maame take a hike to the Likpe caves, which looks to be an excruciatingly physical journey. “There were so many times where I was like, “I can’t make it””. But she did make it and she introduced us to a part of Ghana we might never have been exposed to. The caves and their history are magnificent. Not so reminiscent of the perception that we might find of Ghana in mainstream media. That’s the beauty of using the internet as a platform; you control the narrative.
Most important to Maame is that Girl Going Places is inspiring locals to explore their own country even more. For her, there’s so much beauty to be discovered and shared with others. Not just for personal satisfaction, but also as a way of holding the power to tell a story from their own perspective.
As someone working towards a career in the travel industry, I had to ask how she was able to become successful, especially in an industry that is difficult to excel in. Her advice: “Push through. Once you start, there are so many reasons to stop but you have to find a way to start”. Her message to not wait for the right moment or for perfection, strikes home with me as I’m sure it will with so many others.
Personally, I’ve seen a few of my friends from Ghana, Ivory Coast and Ethiopia return home for better opportunities, and discover what it means to live in Africa as a millennial. The internet and social media allow us to show a different side of the continent: prosperity, opportunity, and a rich culture. This is exactly what Maame wanted to demonstrate with Girl Going Places. From the fashion, the food, and interaction, Maame is able to show an authentic yet underrepresented side of Ghana.
Season 2 of Girl Going Places will take us to other parts of the African continent. She’ll have companions from each country take her, and the audience, on a journey – showing us their lives with an unfiltered lens without any modifications to fit the social narrative that Africa often has.
Follow Girl Going Places on twitter to keep up to date with the new season.
