Today we’d like to introduce you to Helen Nde
Hi Helen, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I started my online platform Mythological Africans (or MA) in 2020 as a bit of a pet project. I was born and raised in Cameroon, a West/Central African country. I love to read and my taste bends toward fantasy, science fiction, naturalism, psychology and spirituality. It struck me at some point that mythology and folklore from all over the world is woven through these fields and in most cases they are well studied and have been thoroughly analyzed and contextualized. Not so much African mythology and folklore, although this has certainly changed over the last couple of years. So out of personal curiosity I started reading, writing and sharing about people, creatures, situations and themes in the mythology and folklore from the African continent. What I found, to my delight, was that there are many people out there with similar interests and who have also been looking for an accessible source of mythology and folklore from the African continent. MA is now a community of people from all over the world. Together, we explore mythology, folklore, spirituality, and culture from the African continent using storytelling, art, music, essays, live discussions, and public lectures. I also dabble in photography, art, poetry and sound experimentation (or music, haha!)
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has been…interesting. I am not a trained folklorist or anthropologist so one of the biggest challenges has been with being taken seriously. However, I studied Journalism and Communication in undergrad and then did my graduate studies in Public Health Research. I can thoroughly investigate a topic, synthesize and effectively share the information I find. I also try to remain grounded and have strong boundaries. If you have ever curated an online platform, you know there are people who will never be satisfied with how you approach a topic, others who are just plain trolls and others who are offended by your successes for whatever reason. A year ago or so, I decided to step back from actively curating MA as online community because the quality of the interactions had deteriorated along with the general quality of interactions online. Being deliberate about who I choose to engage with and how, has been very helpful. Thankfully, this has not stopped the community from growing or opportunities from coming. I think, generally, people can sense when you really just want to geek out over things you find interesting with like-minded people.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Since inception, Mythological Africans has:
– Hosted 40+ live discussions on X/Twitter Spaces.
– Presented multiple talks on various aspects of African Mythology and Folklore.
– Appeared as a subject matter expert on an episode of Monstrum on PBS.
– Produced 12 Episodes of the “Deep Dive Series” focused on various aspects of African culture.
– Produces 44 Episodes of the Mythological Africans podcast focused on African mythology and folklore as found in literature, music and film.
– Successfully raised funds to write and self-publish a book (“The Runaway Princess and Other Stories” which is available for free at https://archive.org/details/the-runaway-princess-and-other-stories-v-3 )
– Secured a publishing contract for “The Watkins Book of African Folklore” AKA “The MA Book” out March 11th 2025 (More here: https://www.helennde.com/projects/watkins-book-of-african-folklore)
How do you think about luck?
Oh wow… I have been incredibly lucky with MA. First, to have had the inspiration to launch the platform at a time when there was heightened public interest in the subject matter. But also in the friendships and connections I have made along the way. They have been incredibly supportive of the vision. Most of MA’s activities and projects are funded by people who believe in the work. This year, MA was able to support three interns who spent five weeks updating Wikipedia entries for mythological and folkloric creatures from the African continent. MA also cracked $1000/year in subscriber fees on Substack and recently, “The MA Book” reached the top of Amazon’s bestseller list for New Releases in African Literature as well as Mythology and Folklore. If there has been any bad luck, the good luck completely overshadowed it!
Pricing:
- $19.95 for “The Watkins Book of African Folklore”
- $5/Month or $60/Year for an MA subscription on Substack
- Support MA Projects: https://ko-fi.com/mythological_africans
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.helennde.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mythological_africans/
- Substack: https://substack.com/@mythologicalafricans
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helen-nde-a304471a7/
- Twitter: https://x.com/MythicAfricans
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB-qxXmFLv-cHnfRlY573Zg
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/phende-music
- Other: https://www.mythologicalafricans.com/
Image Credits:
Helen Nde
