Aminatou Sow


Aminatou Sow is a United States-based businesswoman, digital strategist, writer, podcast host, and co-founder of Tech LadyMafia. She cohosts the podcast Call Your Girlfriend with her friend, the journalist and editor Ann Friedman.

Early life and education

Sow was born in Guinea, and grew up in Nigeria, Belgium, and France as the child of diplomat parents. She speaks five languages.
Sow received a B.A. from University of Texas at Austin.

Career

Call Your Girlfriend, "A Podcast for Long Distance Besties Everywhere", launched in June 2014. The content ranges from politics and pop-culture to menstruation and friendship. It also features interviews with prominent women. The show has reached #28 on the iTunes Podcast chart, and is produced by former NPR producer Gina Delvac. Friedman, Sow, and Delvac were driven to create the podcast specifically to infiltrate the space and deliver more female-friendly content.
Aminatou Sow hosts a Pineapple Street Media podcast focused on travel for women of color called which has also grown as its own digital platform.
Sow, and her colleague Ann Friedman popularized the term "Shine Theory". The term is in reference to the commitment to collaborating with each other instead of competing against each other. The term first appeared in Friedman's article for The Cut for NYMag.com in 2013.

Book

Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman co-wrote Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close which was released July 17, 2020.

Honors and awards

In 2014, Sow was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 list, which cited her work on Tech LadyMafia as well as her job as digital engagement director for veterans organization IAVA.

Personal life

Sow now lives in New York City.
In December 2017, Sow publicly announced that she had been diagnosed with endometrial cancer. In April 2018, she stated that she had been in remission for a month.