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Maba Ba

@mababa1

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The Breach Philosophy: Observe, Learn, Create, Repeat.. lover of Art, Science, Spirits, Wine, Food.
Founder: @flyingwhalewine
Co-Founder: @joyedidi

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Imagine having an accent in every language you speak, including in your home country?

Maba Ba is a Senegalese-born, New York-based filmmaker, musician, writer, and entrepreneur exploring what it means to live between worlds. His work spans film, wine, music, and philosophy—each medium examining identity, belonging, masculinity, emotional inheritance, and myth.

Full links to YouTube and Spotify in bio.

https://mababa1.substack.com
Essay this episode is based on - Black in the World.

His storytelling began in Senegal, sharing stories during power outages—early lessons in how narratives shape emotional worlds. After studying computer science at Old Dominion University, he moved to New York to pursue 3D animation and acting, which led him into filmmaking.

Through JoyeDidi, the company he co-founded, Maba produced Baamum Nafi, an award-winner at Locarno and Senegal’s submission to the 2021 Academy Awards. He also produced Samedi Cinema (Venice, TIFF) and is developing Demba, a story of grief, fatherhood, and emotional inheritance. JoyeDidi also brings cinema to communities across Senegal via an inflatable outdoor screen.

Beyond film, Maba explores ritual and mythology through Flying Whale Wine, created in Roussillon, France, blending Dogon cosmology with terroir-driven craft and featured at major food and wine festivals - www.flyingwhalewine.com

His writing, podcast (Black in This World), and upcoming debut album further explore diaspora, masculinity, trauma, and reinvention.

Across all forms, Maba’s work shares one through line: using story and ritual to reconnect people to themselves, each other, and their origins.

Maba is styled by @baayfall_fashions taken in Los Angeles, California by @mababa1

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6 months ago

It certainly feels like it’s just you against the world at times. Writing this piece gave me a lot of joy, clarity, and strength. I hope it can do the same and more to others. You’re not alone. “Black In This World” (BITW) pronounced Between. #love Find it on my substack mababa1.substack.com link in bio taken in Brooklyn, New York by @mababa1

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10 months ago

We are beyond proud to have two finalists in this year’s Signal Awards for podcasters. Humbled to be alongside some of the industry greats, curating people and their objects.

We need your vote! Links in bio.

FINALIST - Best Indie Podcast Episode - Maba Ba: Black in this World.
FINALIST - Culture, Belonging, & Inclusion Category - Maba Ba: Black in this World.

We would love your vote to get Maba’s story to more.

Links to full YouTube and Spotify episode in bio.

https://mababa1.substack.com
Essay this episode is based on - Black in this World. BITW.

Maba Ba is a Senegalese-born, New York-based filmmaker, musician, writer, and entrepreneur exploring what it means to live between worlds. His work spans film, wine, music, and philosophy—each medium examining identity, belonging, masculinity, emotional inheritance, and myth.

@signalawards @mababa1 @podheadstudios @saintcecilia @sammicwong @icutmyownbangs @elastic_heart_collective taken in Los Angeles, California by @mababa1

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10 days ago

Our Private Sew & Sip with Flying Whale was a whole VIBE! 🧵🍷✨ We put the training paper to work, created tote bags & pillowcases, and most importantly—connected, created, and had fun doing it with an open bar!!!!

I’m looking forward to making this a monthly experience, with a new sewing project each time. 🪡 #fyp #explore #explorepage✨ #explorepage #artsandcrafts

More creativity. More community. More wine. 🍷 🧵 😎
Stay tuned! taken in Brooklyn, New York by @mababa1

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a month ago

LETS GO ⚡️⚡️⚡️

THIS MONDAY

TIX 🎫 In Bio

A Hip Hop collab dinner that only Harlem could rock.
@iam_cking @mababa1 @jamalpeoplesmusic @chefsalaam @cheflevar @freefoodliberateeverything taken in The Historic Emanuel AME Church, Harlem by @mababa1

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3 months ago

What if the words we use every day are carrying someone else’s perspective?

I spent most of my life saying “Middle East” and “Third World” without ever asking who decided those names, or why they became the default.

The essay isn’t about replacing one vocabulary with another. It’s about recognizing that language is never just descriptive. It reflects history, power, and the values of the people who first drew the map.

The most enduring forms of influence rarely feel like influence at all. They become common sense.

Sometimes the first step toward seeing the world differently begins with questioning the words we inherited.

Because before we can draw our own maps, we have to realize we’ve been navigating with someone else’s compass. by @mababa1

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3 months ago

Thank you to everyone who made the @wintergetdown what it was. Truly one of the most beautiful experiences I’ve had in a long time. Thank to @wearethegoodlife for making happen.

I learned how to snowboard just a year ago on Aspen Mountain, so this was my first time riding outside of Aspen. @outboundmammoth gave me an even deeper appreciation for the sport, for the mountains, and for the feeling of freedom that comes with it.

More than anything, I loved the people I met there. The energy, the kindness, the conversations, the laughter. @willysoul thanks for making sure @flyingwhalewine was there. The flying whale felt at home :)

I left with great memories, a bigger love for snowboarding, and real gratitude. Thank you for welcoming me into it all. Looking forward to coming back. 📸 @trecywendy 🫶🏿 taken in Outbound Mammoth by @mababa1

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5 months ago

Most of us think winning means surviving.

Building the business.
Raising the child.
Recovering from the heartbreak.
Starting over.

But I met someone who made me question that.

Years ago, she was abandoned in a foreign country with her two-year-old daughter and almost nothing to her name. She rebuilt her life from the ground up. She put herself through school. Built a career. Raised an incredible daughter.

By every measure, she had won.

Then I asked if she thought she’d ever get married again.

“I want to,” she said. “I just don’t know if I can.”

That’s when I realized something.

The hardest victories rarely happen in public.

They’re choosing to trust after betrayal.
To love after heartbreak.
To stay open after life has given you every reason to close.

The habits that help us survive one chapter often become the walls that keep us from living the next.

We mistake our defenses for wisdom.

Maybe life isn’t asking whether we can survive.

Maybe it’s asking whether we can remain open after we’ve survived.

We spend years learning how to make it through what happened.

Then we spend the rest of our lives learning how to stop living as though it’s still happening.

Perhaps that’s what winning really is. 🫶🏿 by @mababa1

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3 months ago

https://mababa1.substack.com
Essay this episode is based on - Black in this World. BITW.

Maba Ba is a Senegalese-born, New York-based filmmaker, musician, writer, and entrepreneur exploring what it means to live between worlds. His work spans film, wine, music, and philosophy—each medium examining identity, belonging, masculinity, emotional inheritance, and myth.

His storytelling began in Senegal, sharing stories during power outages—early lessons in how narratives shape emotional worlds. After studying computer science at Old Dominion University, he moved to New York to pursue 3D animation and acting, which led him into filmmaking.

Through JoyeDidi, the company he co-founded, Maba produced Baamum Nafi, an award-winner at Locarno and Senegal’s submission to the 2021 Academy Awards. He also produced Samedi Cinema (Venice, TIFF) and is developing Demba, a story of grief, fatherhood, and emotional inheritance. JoyeDidi also brings cinema to communities across Senegal via an inflatable outdoor screen.

Beyond film, Maba explores ritual and mythology through Flying Whale Wine, created in Roussillon, France, blending Dogon cosmology with terroir-driven craft and featured at major food and wine festivals - www.flyingwhalewine.com

His writing, podcast (Black in This World), and upcoming debut album further explore diaspora, masculinity, trauma, and reinvention.

Across all forms, Maba’s work shares one through line: using story and ritual to reconnect people to themselves, each other, and their origins.

Maba is styled by @baayfall_fashions taken in Los Angeles, California by @mababa1

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6 months ago

We leave things in each other.

Ways of trusting.
Ways of holding back.
Ways of reading what is not said.

Some of it comes from care.
Some of it comes from harm.

It stays in the body.
It shows up later.

In how we open.
In how we hesitate.

Someone else meets that version of us. This one is for the survivors… full essay on my substack…

❤️🫶🏿❤️ by @mababa1

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6 months ago

The cost of being strong.

https://mababa1.substack.com
Essay this episode is based on - Black in this World.

Maba Ba is a Senegalese-born, New York-based filmmaker, musician, writer, and entrepreneur exploring what it means to live between worlds. His work spans film, wine, music, and philosophy—each medium examining identity, belonging, masculinity, emotional inheritance, and myth.

His storytelling began in Senegal, sharing stories during power outages—early lessons in how narratives shape emotional worlds. After studying computer science at Old Dominion University, he moved to New York to pursue 3D animation and acting, which led him into filmmaking.

Through JoyeDidi, the company he co-founded, Maba produced Baamum Nafi, an award-winner at Locarno and Senegal’s submission to the 2021 Academy Awards. He also produced Samedi Cinema (Venice, TIFF) and is developing Demba, a story of grief, fatherhood, and emotional inheritance. JoyeDidi also brings cinema to communities across Senegal via an inflatable outdoor screen.

Beyond film, Maba explores ritual and mythology through Flying Whale Wine, created in Roussillon, France, blending Dogon cosmology with terroir-driven craft and featured at major food and wine festivals - www.flyingwhalewine.com

His writing, podcast (Black in This World), and upcoming debut album further explore diaspora, masculinity, trauma, and reinvention.

Across all forms, Maba’s work shares one through line: using story and ritual to reconnect people to themselves, each other, and their origins.

Maba is styled by @baayfall_fashions taken in Los Angeles, California by @mababa1

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6 months ago