Oluwaseun Babalola is a Fulbright Specialist, award-winning director, Emmy-nominated producer, and nonprofit founder/executive director (KOSINIMA, Inc.)
Proud to be a Sierra Leonean-Nigerian creative, Executive Director and Founder, Oluwaseun Babalola, is also a Fulbright Specialist, Emmy-nominated producer, director, and DOC NYC 40 Under 40 honoree, bringing a global perspective to African storytelling.
With over a decade of experience in documentary and unscripted content, she has created for CNN, HBO, Netflix, AMC, Starz, and more. Her work encompasses travel, identity, politics, and global Black experiences, most notably through the Emmy-nominated HBO film “Frederick Douglass: In Five Speeches,” CNN’s “United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell,” and a three-season digital docuseries and media platform that she created, directed, and produced independently, titled “ṢOJU,” that highlights youth culture in Africa and its diaspora.
Oluwaseun is a community organizer, having hosted and executed panels, events, and conventions internationally, with over a decade of travel, film, and television expertise in 20+ countries. These experiences and passion for equity and creative autonomy for Black creators led to the founding of KOSINIMA, Inc, a nonprofit that provides grants and career support for African and African diasporic filmmakers, including a short film grant for Black femme filmmakers. To date, she has funded and executive-produced eleven short films by Black women directors via her grant programs.
Currently, Oluwaseun is on a festival run with her written and directed short narrative film, Fighting Giants, which was filmed in Sierra Leone. The film premiered at the Oscar-qualifying Pan African Film Festival in February 2025.