Kassianah

Most African-Americans living in the United States are no stranger to the word “racism”. It is a battle they fight everyday of their lives. For Kassianah Aya Joint (Kassy), an African-American of Ivorian descent, she had no idea what the world meant or the feeling it conveys until she settled in America.

Kassianah, who is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of FrancoSuite and Ivorien Suite, in a recent interview talked about how the death of George Floyd, which has since sparked waves of protests themed “Black Lives Matters” across the US, affected her and the realities facing black people across the world.

Hear her : ”The murder of George Floyd has affected me very deeply. Being that I am an African immigrant that grew up in America, I experienced racism first hand. When you are in Africa, what separates you is the tribe that you’re from and the language you speak. But when you come abroad, all of that changes.

“You are looked as black and a threat. I remember being called a nigger for the first time in America. I didn’t even know what it was until my cousin told me. It’s a different dynamic. And I believe that George Floyd’s death is just an outcome of more oppression. And it is time for black people to come up off of that oppression.

”And it starts with us coming together. When we, as Africans/Immigrants continue to separate ourselves from one another, we are giving society an upper-hand at letting that oppression continue. We must start speaking up (even on the continent) to let governments abroad know that killing an innocent, unarmed black individual is not right. We must start looking at African-Americans and many blacks in the diaspora as our brothers and sisters. Africa we can do more.”

Kassianah has been advocating and also protesting for many of the African-American youths getting killed in the hands of the police.

Kassianah Aya Joint is an Ambassador at the Department of Peacekeeping Operations at the United Nations. She works for her community, the African Diaspora. Through her work domestically and abroad, she found inspiration for Franco Suite.

After relocating from her home country of Cote d’ Ivoire, Kassy as she’s fondly called, settled in New York, USA upon completion of her undergraduate education in Foreign Affairs and Finance at Pace University.

She noticed a gap in media companies that represent Francophone artists, interests, companies and culture. There are numerous outlets that publicize what’s happening in pop culture in the United States and many Anglophone countries, offering platforms to celebrities as well as up and coming artists, influencers and creatives in general.

This type of platform was lacking in her home country and Francophone countries in general, and she founded FrancoSuite for French-speaking people with African origin throughout the Diaspora. FrancoSuite is an English-friendly company that serves as a bridge between Francophone and Anglophone Africa.

As FrancoSuite continues to build and grow its following, she is able to provide a hub, connecting those individuals now living abroad to things happening in their home and surrounding countries.

Kassianah is also a humanitarian with passion to work for the betterment of the black race. She runs an NGO called Kuziva By Kassy that helps young ladies finish their education and start their careers.

She has also been advocating for Africans living in the Diaspora for years.

She was the recipient of the 2018 Peace Ambassador Award by her peers at the United Peace Federation at the UN. She served that year very much at the best of her ability.