About the Founders

Kennedy Ezumah is a storyteller, cultural producer, archivist, and technologist working at the intersection of media, technology, and culture. He is the founder of NZUKO Brand, a media and research company dedicated to documenting, interpreting, and bringing Igbo stories and cultural knowledge to global audiences. His cultural work began in 2013 when he founded Igbo History, a digital publication created to make research and stories about Igbo history and culture more accessible to audiences around the world. Over the past decade, his practice has expanded into cultural research, film and television, creative consulting, cultural programming, and archival work through NZUKO.

Kennedy leads NZUKO’s strategic and creative direction, working across research, media production, partnerships, business development, and cultural initiatives. He develops relationships and collaborates with researchers, filmmakers, brands, and cultural institutions on projects exploring Igbo history, identity, language, art, and contemporary life.

Alongside his cultural work, Kennedy is a software engineer at Dropbox and the co-founder and CTO of My Native Tree, a genealogy platform that helps families keep their memories alive forever. His background spans cultural production, software, and the built environment, bringing together creative, technical, and project-management perspectives. He holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Northeastern University and a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Stony Brook University. Across his work in technology, media, and cultural research, he is particularly interested in memory: how communities remember, how histories are recorded, and how technology can help preserve, reinterpret, and expand access to cultural knowledge for future generations.

Chinekwu Osakwe is a creative communications leader whose work spans writing, journalism, video, and multimedia storytelling. At NZUKO Brand, Chinekwu’s role is both creative and operational. As a co-founding partner, she helps shape the company’s vision while contributing across nearly every stage of its work: from editing documents, capturing content for social media, and organizing shoots, to producing multimedia projects. She leads meetings, coordinates events, communicates with partners, represents NZUKO at industry and community gatherings, and helps turn ideas into thoughtful, well-executed experiences. Her hands-on approach allows her to move fluidly between strategy, storytelling, production, and relationship-building in service of NZUKO’s mission to share the richness of the global Igbo experience.

Chinekwu also currently serves as Director of Marketing & Communications at the Contemporary American Theater Festival, the premier professional new-play festival in the United States. In this role, she leads communications and audience-engagement efforts for an organization known for producing bold, diverse, and contemporary American theater.

Her background includes editorial and reporting roles at Reuters, theGrio, ABC News, Lincoln Center and more, as well as marketing experience with Rolling Stone. Across each chapter of her career, Chinekwu has used the written word, visual media, and strategic storytelling to connect people with ideas, artists, and stories that matter. Her creative practice is rooted in cultural fluency, curiosity, and a belief in the power of media to deepen understanding and build community. She holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University and received her undergraduate degree from New York University.