Juba Is Shifting the Focus Towards Female DJs In the Global South

Chinwe Pamela Nnajiuba aka Juba is a Nigerian DJ, currently situated in Berlin, who started her career in 2016 during what she describes as the "wave of afrobeats that connected with the kids of the diaspora."

HerAssurance podcast is a digital audio index centered on reflection and discussions surrounding the state of the music and DJ industry from the female perspective. With each episode presenting a different artist or DJ's experience, the podcast has slowly become an avenue for truth for its guests and listeners.=Juba embarked the project after the release of her first documentary, also titled Assurance, on Boiler Room TV, which featured three Lagos-based DJs: DJ Yin, Sensei Lo, and DJ Ayizan.

Share Her Power, the theme of the first season of the Assurance Podcast catered to helping and advising women who wish to get into the music industry whilst highlighting organizations and brands that support women and minorities in their career conquests.

The theme for the second season of Juba's podcast is Step Into You. We spoke to her below about the new season.

Would you say that the experiences of female DJs across communities are different?

There are definitely nuances but there's also similarity. In some places, there's more emphasis on pretty DJs and hot DJs being a thing, there's a lot of emphasis on DJs being aesthetically pleasing for men. Class and access also play a big role in certain places, and safety as well.

Tell us about the theme for the second season of the Assurance podcast.

This one will be Step Into You and it's sort of about taking up space and confidently owning your shit. So, rather than focusing on giving advice it's more like a reflection on our careers — what we did and how we navigated these spaces. It's giving advice but it's more so self-reflective. The DJs sort of send messages to themselves when they were starting out, recognizing what they would do differently.

What's your overall goal with this second season?

To not try to be like a "savior: and just talk to the women. They use it as a medium to talk about really important topics. For example, DJ Julianna from Colombia really wanted to talk about using music as a tool to build communities and educate. I think each different DJ has their aim for the podcast and what they want to get out of it. But for me, I'm interested in society and what's going on, and people will learn from it and resonate with it just like I am.

Who should people expect to hear from?

For this series, I kicked off with Gina Jeanz who is from Namibia and lives in South Africa. It was interesting to see her perspective as a Namibian in South Africa and seeing how that impacts her experiences. We had an interesting conversation about DJing under difficult circumstances. There's also Lyla, who I found to be really cool while looking at the Pakistan hip-hop scene, and the women there and their experience in music. There's also Coco Em from Kenya who's a journalist and DJ and has some really insightful things to say. I'm working on getting some Caribbean and Middle-East DJs as well.

Is a third season in the works?

I'm planning to release a compilation after this, which I'm hoping will come out after the season ends but in terms of a new season well never say never but I'd definitely be content with leaving it at 13 episodes.