Ghanaian YouTuber and global content creator Wode Maya has traced his extraordinary rise from a struggling childhood in the Western Region to becoming an international cultural ambassador, describing a journey shaped by humility, family sacrifice and an unyielding belief in Africa’s stories.
Speaking in a wide-ranging and deeply personal conversation with broadcaster Lexis Bill on JoyOnDrive, Wode Maya reflected on a career he says still feels surreal, even as it has taken him into presidents’ offices and global forums with a diplomatic passport.
“I still wake up and ask myself, ‘Are you Wode Maya?’” he said, admitting that public recognition often catches him off guard. To stay grounded, he explained, he lives as though only one person follows his work. “Every day, that’s my mentality,” he said, stressing that remembering where he comes from keeps him disciplined.
That sense of humility, he noted, was reinforced recently when his own brother expressed surprise at the scale of his popularity during the visit of American streamer iShowSpeed to Ghana. “He said, ‘I know you, but I didn’t know you’re this big,’” Wode Maya recalled, a moment he said brought the reality of his influence home.
For all the international attention, Wode Maya said the most fulfilling part of his journey has nothing to do with numbers or fame. Instead, it is being able to care for his mother following the death of his father in 2017. “Being able to take care of my mom is something I will never take for granted,” he said.
He revealed that he has built an estate in his mother’s honour and now lives with her, a responsibility that has become more urgent as her health has declined. Hospital bills, he said, can be overwhelming, but his platform has made it possible to shoulder them. “Without this platform, I wouldn’t have been able to do this for my mommy,” he said.
The name “Wode Maya,” he explained, is itself a tribute to her. Drawn from Chinese, it translates to “my mother,” a nod to the woman who emotionally supported his decision to become a YouTuber when his father initially opposed it. Trained as an aviation engineer, Wode Maya said his father wanted him to follow a conventional professional path, while his mother encouraged him to pursue his passion.
Integrity and honesty, he said, are values instilled by his parents and reinforced by a childhood rooted in the church. Growing up in Ahekofi, Kofikrom, in Ghana’s Western Region, he described a life of acute hardship that he and his brothers now recount with laughter, but which at the time was defined by struggle.
“There were times we slept without electricity for a year,” he said. His mother sold kenkey to support the family, while his elder brothers took on heavy responsibilities before and after school. He recounted how his father, unable to pay rent, sometimes hid when the landlord came to collect arrears.
Years later, he said, the emotional weight of that period returned when he discovered that the house he grew up in belonged to the mother of the current Member of Parliament for Essikado-Ketan. “My entire family had goosebumps,” he said, recalling how far they had come from those days.
Despite the success, Wode Maya acknowledged enduring emotional challenges, particularly the absence of his father. “Sometimes I wish I could speak to my dad one more time,” he said, adding that he often wonders what his father would think of his achievements today.
Professionally, he said, the most difficult aspect of his journey has been loneliness and misunderstanding. Choosing to be an influencer at a time when the role was poorly understood in Africa meant enduring scepticism and backlash. “Nobody understands your dream,” he said. “You have to keep going until they get what you’re trying to say.”
His determination to tell Africa’s stories positively has come at a cost. Wode Maya said he has been arrested, deported and had his cameras destroyed while filming across the continent. In one incident, he said, he was detained in a pitch-dark room for filming in a restricted area without knowing it was prohibited.
“All this was happening, but I chose the positive aspect of the content,” he said, adding that he deliberately ignores the negatives to focus on the larger mission. He credited the rise of creators like iShowSpeed with helping global audiences better understand the power and reach of digital storytelling from Africa.
When exhaustion and discouragement set in, Wode Maya said his wife is his first point of support. Married to a Kenyan content creator, he described their relationship as deeply Pan-African. “We encourage each other,” he said, noting that as his mother’s health has declined, his wife has become his primary emotional anchor.
The couple met through their work, after Wode Maya reached out online while seeking collaborators who understood the risks of filming across Africa. Their relationship, he said, began during his travels through East Africa, where he rebuilt his career momentum after facing criticism at home in Ghana for promoting positive narratives.
“I started everything I’m doing in Ghana,” he said, rejecting claims that he neglects his home country. However, he acknowledged that intense backlash pushed him to continue his journey from Ethiopia and Kenya, where his “Africa to the World” movement gained traction.
Today, Wode Maya is widely recognised as one of Africa’s leading digital storytellers, celebrated for promoting culture, innovation and opportunity across the continent. Yet he insists his identity remains rooted in the boy from Kofikrom who watched his family struggle.
“Just be you, stay you,” he said, echoing advice he lives by even when meeting presidents in slippers, a personal trademark he says symbolises authenticity over appearances.
As his career continues to evolve, Wode Maya said his guiding motivation remains unchanged: honouring his parents’ sacrifices and ensuring that Africa’s stories are told with dignity. “The end result is beautiful,” he said. “And that’s what keeps me going.”