Think Creative - Issue 7

Creative Life

a mission-driven community

walk this way A day in the life of a Creative team member

Amina Aminu Media Producer, NEI Plus

Until not too long ago, I couldn’t imagine that my professional career would require me to work with young children. My background was in Nigerian talk shows. That changed when I accepted a position as media producer with the Northern Education Initiative Plus in Abuja. Today, you can find me in primary school class- rooms, playing teacher, singing, dancing and cracking jokes — anything to get the perfect shot. I create media that supports teachers, inspires communities and shows the value of the project to funders and partners. Every day is exciting for me, and I always create my own fun around what I do. Part of that fun is acting like a kid when I’m

Separate from the radio series, I produced teacher training videos and community outreach videos on topics like parental support, community engagement, child support and the impact of non-formal learning centers. Whenever we are in the communities, people tell me their behavior has changed as a result of the videos. That feedback excites me. It also motivates me to do more each day. I’m always on the lookout for success stories to produce and more teacher training videos to learn from. But my creativity does not end with pro- gram deliverables. When Creative rolled out its code of ethics and business con-

Amina at work behind the camera in a classroom.

Every day is exciting for me, and I always create my own fun around what I do.” “

Amina captures the new “Big Books” for NEI Plus.

working with children. They see me as one of them and open up and get excited, giving me their attention and the smiling faces I need for videos. One of my biggest accomplishments was producing a 24-episode radio drama series in Hausa that focused on the importance of education. NEI Plus needed to encour- age families in Northern Nigeria to send their children to school and support their education. Typically, a show like this has a producer, director, cast director, production manag- er, second editor and script editor. In this case, I was almost the entire crew.

duct, “The Creative Way,” a call went out to all the programs in Nigeria to develop artistic interpretations of this important document. My team took a concept that could be seen as boring and turned it into a funny rap video that got people talking about ethics. When I’m not making a compliance rap video or movie and radio magic for the project, you can find me dancing on Instagram (@meenaceleb) and playing the character of the notorious Fatima on the popular Northern Nigerian TV soap opera “Muqabala” (Rivals’ Den). n

Amina talks to children before filming.

Photos courtesy of Amina Aminu

30 | Think Creative | Spring 2020