Mounia Aram didn't arrive in the animation industry through a straight door. Born in Casablanca and raised outside Paris, she came through a betrayal, a depression, a phone call to her sister in San Francisco — and a brother-in-law who happened to work in Japanese animation.
That's fate, she says. And she means it.
Today Mounia Aram is one of the leading voices in African animation — founder of the Mounia Aram Company, Africa Council Chair at the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, and a passionate advocate for diversity in kids content globally.
But none of that was planned. She spent years searching for her voice — through improv theatre, fashion shows, and a university degree in Arabic languages that led nowhere obvious. What she built from all of it is anything but obvious: a company, a global network, a mission, and now a memoir.
In this episode, we talk about:
— what anime taught her about the power of culture as a brand
— why AI is an opportunity, not a threat, for emerging animation studios in Africa
— the women who didn't support her — and the male allies who did
— the family fight that turned out to be the most liberating thing that ever happened to her
— and what it means to keep believing in yourself when the people closest to you don't
Mounia's memoir Route Détournée is out now in French — with an English edition on the way.
