[caption id="attachment_340111" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Nicole Amarteifio, co-director and executive producer, An African City (Image: Amarteifio)"][/caption] Driven to address the constant portrayal of African women as poverty-stricken in mainstream media, creator of the web series, "An African City", Nicole Amarteifio, set out to offer a different narrative. Since launching the series on YouTube in March, the first episode has reached more than 150,000 views. Each week, fans awaited the release of a new episode to follow the story of five educated, stylish, African diaspora career women living in Ghana's capital city, Accra. The show recently had its finale, closing out with more than 600,000 views for the series as a whole. Like the characters on the series, co-director and executive producer Amarteifio returned to Ghana after living abroad. She draws inspiration from "Sex and the City" and real-life experiences of diaspora women returnees when crafting storylines. As Amarteifio's characters explore dating and deal with cultural, professional and social transitions, the show takes viewers on a journey with a group of friends whose careers are as impressive as their fashionable wardrobes. Shaping how her script translates on camera, this visionary woman is making waves globally as she provides an alternative depiction of African woman in media. BlackEnterprise.com caught up with Amarteifio to discuss her transition to working in Africa, how those experiences sparked a web series and her advice for women seeking global careers. BlackEnterprise.com: Why is it important for you to incorporate the professional lives of the women in the web series? Nicole Amarteifio: It's important for me to touch on the women's professional lives for the benefit of the viewers. I hope that there is something that they can gain or be inspired by from watching. For example, we mention the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which benefits African entrepreneurs who want to export items to the United States. Many African exporters don't know about it, so I was hoping that someone listening to Zainab's character share how she exports shea butter under AGOA would find it interesting and Google it. You started working on the series while living in the United States. How was the script affected by your own returnee experience in Ghana? I started writing the scripts in 2009 and by the time we got to production in Ghana, it was 2013. The scripts had changed completely by 2013 because I had been living in Ghana for a year by then. At that point, the scripts were impacted by my experience in the country. For instance, I pulled from daily interactions I would have with people and wove them into the script. Continued on next page ... [caption id="attachment_340134" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Cast, An African City (Image: AnAfricanCity.tv)"][/caption] Continued from previous page... Why did you choose YouTube to debut the series, and how did you market it? When you have a dream, there will be 101 excuses not to do it. It was that way with the dream of "An African Cityâ€.  If I would have waited around for a network to buy into the vision, I don't know how long I would have waited. So, I used Youtube to avoid making the excuse of having a dream but not having a network backing it. With Youtube being accessible and having limited barriers of entry, I opted to use it. For marketing, Mille Monyo, [the second] executive producer [for the show], sent out traditional news releases, but the project took a life of its own. My plan was to release it on Youtube, get a couple thousand hits an episode and then use it as a tool to talk to networks about the production quality, writing and actresses, but somehow, people started to hear about it, sharing it, and it eventually grew beyond my expectations. What lessons have you learnt in the journey from creation to production? I started out with a pilot and tried to crowd source [for funding], but it didn't work. I made mistakes in that pilot. I had not gotten what audiences wanted right. After that, I took a break and learned from the experience. Finally, one day, I was ready to pick up the scripts again. Now, if we were to crowd source again, there would be family of friends and supporters who would be ready to support it. What insights can you share about transitioning to the continent as a professional? Speak up. The first time I moved back to Ghana in 2005, someone advised me to be quiet as a returnee because returnees think they know it all. So, I started being quiet and holding back my views. But when I returned to Ghana again in 2009, I realized that I had gone away to get an education for a reason and the purpose of being back was to contribute and not be silent. So, I think it's important for returnees to know that it's okay to speak up. What advice do you have for women who want to move to Africa to pursue their career aspirations? Just do it. Pound the pavement. There are so many reasons not to. I just said I am going to Ghana in 2005. I had no idea what I was going to do, I just did it. If you either have family in a country or have a little bit of savings, just make the move. I did not want to be like one of my aunts or uncles that wanted to move back to Ghana but didn't do it because of different obligations. I didn't want that for myself, so I said, ‘Despite all the challenges I see about going home, I'm still going to get on the plane.' Nina Oduro (@NinaBasiwa) is the founder of AfricanDevJobs.com, a platform for Africa-based development job opportunities, professionals' voices and career advice, with a special focus on highlighting the contributions of Africans and the African diaspora. Committed to women's empowerment, education and youth leadership development, she serves an adviser, trainer and facilitator for programs and initiatives aimed at positive youth development in the U.S. and Africa.