Kofi Dormah ’15 traveled an unconventional path to becoming a filmmaker. When he immigrated to the United States from Ghana as a child, he didn’t know a word of English. After years of grappling with the once obstructive language, he turned the challenge of writing into an asset for entering the entertainment industry, where he created children’s commercials and ultimately launched his own production studio, Stolen Tribe LLC. “I feel like I’m not your traditional filmmaker,” he says. “But now I have a lot to say.”
For this Syracuse University alumnus, pursuing a creative career as a storyteller devoted to tales of the African diaspora has been a step-by-step learning experience shaped by his education, mentors and opportunities at Syracuse. “I had vision from everything I experienced in Syracuse,” he says. “And more than vision, I have the discipline. Syracuse gives you that discipline, and I use that same discipline in my filmmaking world.”
Dormah credits the School of Education for building his skills, strengthening his writing and preparing him as an educator with a “teacher-centered” mentality. Now, as an ambassador for the school, he enjoys sharing his journey, mentoring and speaking with students. “My School of Education background was literally everything for where I landed in my career,” he says.
Adjusting to a New Life in America
As a School of Education ambassador, filmmaker Kofi Dormah ’15 enjoys speaking with students and sharing his insights. During a recent visit, he met with selected studies in education majors Mikayla Parker ’27 (left) and Bobby Battle ’26 and talked about how the major has helped him in his career.
Dormah was an adventurous and athletic 7-year-old when he left the village of Tepa, Ghana, with his father and began a new life in the Bronx, New York. Even though he was surrounded by family and Ghanaian culture—there was little else to comfort a child whose world had turned upside down. “When I got off the plane it was snowy and so cold. I’d never touched snow before and I was terrified,” he says. “I was just an Ashanti kid, and I had never seen any other race or any other skin color other than my own dark skin.”
Syracuse had everything I needed. The rigor of being in classrooms was enlightening to me, and sometimes you need a bit of rigor to get ahead in life.
Kofi Dormah ’15
When his father settled them in Worcester, Massachusetts, Dormah found himself in a predominantly white elementary school. “I’m smart but I don’t know English yet, and I’m really scared,” he says. “Terrifying. Terrifying. Those years.” However, with the support of teachers and his father, he learned English and overcame the struggles and confusion of who he was as a young African immigrant growing up in America. “At that time, it was not popular to be African,” he says. “Inclusion matters to me, and everything that came after the darkness was moving toward an inclusive world.”
Dormah gravitated to sports and wanted to play football in college, but his father encouraged him to enroll at Syracuse University. A selective studies in education major with a minor in physical education, he committed himself to the classroom and was active in student organizations, finding an atmosphere that fueled his competitive spirit, challenged him academically, elevated his organizational and speaking skills, and provided a safe space. He participated in the TRIO Student Support Services program and the Multicultural Empowerment Network, served as president of the African Student Union and belonged to Alpha Phi Alpha, where he helped organize the fraternity’s A Walk to Remember, a fundraiser that raised awareness about local hunger. “Syracuse had everything I needed,” he says. “The rigor of being in classrooms was enlightening to me, and sometimes you need a bit of rigor to get ahead in life.”
Finding Filmmaking
Dormah pursues filmmaking and other creative works through his production studio, Stolen Tribe LLC.
Initially focused on a career in sport management, Dormah worked in marketing and event operations for the New York Red Bulls soccer club, then used his physical education background to land a public affairs position with Nickelodeon’s Worldwide Day of Play, which encourages kids to get outside and play. “The idea of working with kids never left my life,” he says. “We need people who care about kids.”
Dormah finds inspiration for his writing through books like Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eye.
Dormah absorbed all he could about the business, built relationships and made a seismic professional leap, moving into an associate producer’s role doing commercials for Nickelodeon. He studied at the New York Film Academy—where he created his first film, Momma Loves Me—and also took his next career step: writing and directing commercials for Viacom. There were children’s product advertisements for Nick—a Nerf Blast Off! competition with Terry Crews is one of his favorites—as well as commercials for MTV Video and CMT award shows, including one featuring then rising country star Lainey Wilson.
For Dormah, navigating different creative spaces means constantly adapting. “I’m in the commercial kids’ world, and I have to learn how to speak, how to pitch, how to write and then how to teach,” he says. Drawing a parallel to his Syracuse studies, he believes that developing knowledge and expertise in one area translates across fields. “If you’ve learned enough and done the curriculum,” he says, “you should be able to apply that knowledge to everything because every world has a different curriculum.”
Bringing Stories to Life
Dormah poses with the screenplay for A Long Ways Home, one of several movie projects he has in development.
In 2020, Dormah founded Stolen Tribe LLC in New York City, giving himself the freedom to pursue stories representing diverse backgrounds. “Everything comes with a different tone. I’m writing serious one day and having fun the next writing kids’ dialogue,” he says. “It allows you to stay playful, and I’m trying to tell stories that have deep, deep roots like Afrikan Giant.”
Among several projects in development, Afrikan Giant is a six-season crime drama series that features a Ghanaian American teenager exploring the world of scamming. He’s also shopping D-HI, an adult animated series about a football-crazed town; and A Long Ways Home, a family drama. Amid juggling projects, Dormah continues to embrace his role as an educator, cherishing the opportunity to teach through storytelling and the personal satisfaction of turning ideas into reality. “I’ve been able to create things out of my head and see them come to life,” he says.
