Meet “Mama Yaa”

Nana Yaa Asantewa, an international storyteller, artist and workshop facilitator, is affectionately known throughout her travels as "Mama Yaa." She is a native of Kentucky where she acquired her love for stories and the arts from her family. Over a span of 16 years, she has shared her artistry in the Virgin Islands, the African countries of Togo, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Gambia and Gabon.

She has received the distinguished City of Louisville "Merit Award" and represented the city as a delegate to the 1994 International African and African American Summit.

The storytelling artistry of "Mama Yaa" is nationally televised via satellite on the "Telling Tales" series, produced by the Kentucky Educational Television Network. As a "storyteller" and presenter of the African oral tradition, she is featured in the prestigious "Gullah Festival" held in Beaufort, South Carolina.

An original dramatic piece written by Yaa, entitled "Freedom Knows My Name" is now touring. It is featured in the 1996 Great American Series for Hazard Community College in Kentucky. In 1995, it was presented for the Toni Morrison Conference held at Bellarmine University in Louisville. The work reveals the lives of three esteemed African American women, Matilda J. Dunbar, Araminta Harriet Tubman, and Fannie Lou Hamer. It is her people's story of freedom.

The artist is a graduate of the University of Louisville and has performed for the University's Women's Center, and the National Black Family Conference.

Nana Yaa Asantewa is a member of the National Association of Black Storytellers. Her work is inspirational and educational.

If you would like more information, please contact "Mama Yaa" at:

1-502-775-8824