Elsa Majimbo's meteoric rise to stardom shows no sign of letting up. The Kenyan Instagram star has gone from short funny videos to fashion collaborations, a designer Alphabet Book for Kids and Adults, NFTs, and now her debut film 'Elsa' will premiere at Tribeca Festival in June 2022.
We've all said it before and will probably keep saying it in awe, but who would have thought eating crisps online while delivering monologues that reflect daily life, would be a one-way ticket to stardom?
"No prophet is accepted in his own country," and for Elsa Majimbo the resistance she faced at home stands as proof of her destiny. It could be that Kenyans being an incredibly hilarious group look for more nuance in their comedy or that Elsa's delivery and format were adapted from a different female comedian who had more local support. Either way, Elsa's international fanbase helped catapult her to stardom.
She met what started as a right place right time situation with preparation, tenacity, and imagination. She is the first comedian in history to collaborate with Haute Couture staple Maison Valentino. This first edition of her debut book, "The Alphabet for Kids & Adults" is a children and adults book co-created and co-written with Mohamed Kheir and presented by the Maison. In her comedic style and tone, Elsa takes the reader through the alphabet from A to Z with two definitions for each letter, one for children and one for adults.
Shortly after, she and her team entered the metaverse by releasing an NFT collection of her letters. 'The Alphabet NFT Collection' started with 26 unique letter animations, followed by three releases of eight letters and ending in a raffle. Whoever acquired the NFT letters E L S A could enter a draw to win an exclusive Maison Valentino x The Alphabet for kids & Adults book.
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The megastar attributes her success in part to her manager Mohamed Kheir, whose unorthodox style and hyper strategic approach helped the duo achieve massive success in such a short time. Their global projects include co-created releases like Snack Queen (an ASMR-style song produced by Cautious Clay that dropped to coincide with U.S. Thanksgiving), Bedtime with Elsa (an interview series that is syndicated on Snapchat and features guests ranging from Lilly Singh and Daniel Kaluuya) and Ask Elsa (Majimbo's campaign with Bumble).
"Mo was clearly a fan who saw me the way I saw myself, not just for where I was at, but where I could be. He was strategic like me, we set huge goals, and achieved all them in a matter of months, then set even bigger ones -- we are now surpassing those as well," Elsa told Forbes.
Her latest undertaking is a self-titled short documentary that chronicles her exponential rise to fame in a global pandemic. 'ELSA' produced and directed by Julie Jansch and Mohamed Kheir and written by Elsa herself is set to screen at the Tribeca Film Festival. The film is under the Compass category which highlights documentaries about navigating life.
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