Chmba Chilemba, musician and activist, is combining her passions to create social change in Malawi and beyond.
Chmba Chilemba had her first taste of music as a child via her family’s vast collection of cassette tapes. Growing up in a musical household, she vividly recalls assisting her father during his DJ sets at the community house parties he and her mother used to host. Even then, the young creative exhibited a unique, innate lyrical prowess.
“I started flirting with music at a very young age, through my parents at these parties,” Chilemba tells Mission from her home in Malawi. “I would be crawling on the floor as a toddler, just observing the vibe from the crowd as my dad was on the decks. Once I got older, I would help with his sets by bringing him the cassettes he requested. Then, in my teens, I started making mixes for friends and gradually picked up gigs for my own house parties and college parties. Once I graduated, I started playing at bigger venues and festivals.”
The 30-year-old musician, born Ellen Chilemba, uses the moniker Chmba on stage. It’s a shortened form of her surname, Chilemba, but also references chamba, a popular music genre in her native language of Chichewa. Chilemba first gravitated to DJing because she loved the medium’s ability to bring people together. Her sound blends African electronic, house, and techno, often featuring touches of futuristic synths and Afro percussion.
The musician draws from her cultural roots and musical ancestry while acknowledging a larger pan-African sonic landscape. Given the male-dominated nature of DJing, Chilemba admits it’s sometimes hard to break through, yet she finds comfort in her community of female DJs. “While being a female DJ may come with its share of challenges, it also provides a platform for breaking barriers, inspiring others, and contributing to positive changes,” she says.
Yet despite these barriers, Chilemba and her infectious energy have made waves in the music industry. A few years ago, Chilemba caught the attention of the queen of pop herself, Madonna, who invited her to play at her A-lister-filled parties, including the post-Oscars bash The Party, held at the talent manger Guy Oseary’s home in Beverly Hills.
“While being a female DJ may come with its share of challenges, it also provides a platform for breaking barriers, inspiring others, and contributing to positive changes.”
Chilemba has also played at events all over the world, including for the World Economic Forum, the global advocacy organization Women Deliver, Glamour magazine, and the Malawian refugee camp-based nonprofit Tumaini Letu. She has also opened for artists including the Grammy winners Angélique Kidjo and Nile Rodgers, as well as Metro Boomin and Laura Mvula.
Beyond cultivating a DJ career, Chilemba is the founder of Tiwale, a social-first collective that supports women and queer and trans communities through education and opportunities. The impetus to create the organization came from Chilemba’s own experience. In primary school, one of her best friends stopped coming to school. When she asked her why she was no longer attending, her friend told her she was getting married.
“I remember thinking, ‘What do you mean you’re getting married?’ At that time, she was only 15 years old. It’s sad but also a common experience in my hometown. When you know the circumstances in Malawi, you understand why so many girls drop out of school so young. In Malawi, primary school education is free, but there’s a fee when it comes to secondary school. You have 114% of people attending primary school—even adults are going back to school—and when you get to secondary school, the percentage drops to 33%. Young women and girls only make up 6% of that number.”
After that interaction, Chilemba knew she had to do something. After a year of research and learning more about the issue, she founded Tiwale (which in Chichewa means “let us shine”), with the initial focus of offering business workshops for women, who could then apply for micro-loans. She officially launched the organization in 2012 with a team of five, all between the ages of 14 and 19. Their first initiative gave 40 women the opportunity to open their own businesses.
From there, the organization expanded to vocational skills training, running design, sewing, and tie-dye workshops that helped almost 70 women. The money raised from the products made in these sessions enabled Tiwale to buy land and build a community center giving access to homework support, a library, and more.
“With Tiwale, the concept was to create a space where we could provide entrepreneurial activities that could support young mothers to stay in school,” Chilemba says. “It really began as an experiment, and I’ve learned as I go. For example, for the first meeting I organized I expected ten women to show up, but we ended up registering 100 women. It was crazy.”
“I think having someone so close to me—and someone so smart—drop out, it really shook me. That really made me want to look into it and not only push the government to criminalize child marriage but also try to break this vicious cycle.”
Now Tiwale has two community centers in Malawi, offering digital literacy programs and vocational skill workshops. Since it was founded, the organization has directly supported 1,455 women and girls at its centers and 32,000 students across 24 schools in the country, as well as reaching over 40,000 youth via its workshops and campaigns. In recent years, Chilemba has added her music expertise to Tiwale’s offering, too, leading DJ and music production classes.
“I think having someone so close to me—and someone so smart—drop out, it really shook me. That really made me want to look into it and not only push the government to criminalize child marriage but also try to break this vicious cycle. We have generations of women going through this issue—it’s not just my friends but also my mother and grandmother’s friends. So I really tried to look at it and see how we could encourage women to become advocates and empower them.”
In addition to Tiwale, Chilemba works with the We Are Family Foundation (WAFF). The nonprofit is focused on empowering young people globally through mentorship and cultural programming. It runs Three Dot Dash and Youth to the Front Fund, two programs designed to support youth of color who are at the forefront of fighting systemic racism, inequality, and injustice. And while Chilemba helps directly with these, WAFF also has a third initiative, called Youth to the Table, which brings young voices to decision-making tables that are shaping humanity’s future.
“I joined the family in 2013—at the encouragement and nomination of a friend. She also works in gender-equity work and was the first to introduce me to the foundation. I ended up winning the mentorship, and while I was there, the foundation really helped me build some of the nonprofit systems that I couldn’t build on my own for Tiwale. I served as a volunteer and facilitator until 2018, when I officially joined the team as a Youth to the Front Fund acting director.”
Founded by Nile Rodgers and Nancy Hunt, WAFF is dedicated to the vision of a global family by creating and supporting programs that promote cultural diversity while nurturing, mentoring, and amplifying the vision, talents, and ideas of young people who are positively changing the world. “Nile is a genius,” Chilemba shares of her experience with her fellow musician. “He’s very concerned about the state of the world and how he can help in his own way. Even when you look at his discography—“Everybody Dance,” “I’m Coming Out,” “Le Freak”—it’s all positive. He spreads joy with everything he does, and he’s an absolute light. That’s the best way I can summarize him.”
“When I think about the big historical moments in history, for example, apartheid South Africa or the Civil War, I immediately think about the art that was produced.“
Nowadays, Chilemba’s two passions—music and social activism—are not mutually exclusive; instead, they inform each other: “When I think about the big historical moments in history, for example, apartheid South Africa or the Civil War, I immediately think about the art that was produced. I connect to those historical moments that I didn’t live through through the poetry that was released, the portraits of individuals, or the songs. Those pieces are what defined the moment. And that’s why I love being an artist—artists are crucial in capturing history. For me, creating music is essential to carrying movement and raising awareness.”
It has benefited her directly too: her DJ career has taken her all over the world and put her in front of people who can support her mission. “What’s been so beautiful is how all of these various passions have found a way to live harmoniously in my life and even nourish each other. For example, being able to be in spaces like the World Economic Forum is such a great networking opportunity because I get to spread the mission of Tiwale and find possible partnerships.”
Through her organization and role in WAFF’s work, Chilemba is able to amplify the voices of the women in her community and provide opportunities for education and personal development. Her achievements in social justice have earned numerous accolades, including a spot in Forbes’ Africa 30 Under 30 and being named a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Goalkeeper.
And yet, despite all the work that she has accomplished and the tributes received, Chilemba is not done. She is just as invigorated as when she started Tiwale at the age of 18. So what does that mean for the various facets of her work? With WAFF, she hopes to increase the organization’s funding and provide even more grants to artists. With Tiwale, she hopes to open a music-residency space where artists can create, learn, and connect. And with her own music, she hopes she can continue releasing new work that connects with people.
With everything she does, Chilemba proves that success extends beyond personal achievements. It’s about uplifting others and leaving a lasting impact on communities around the world.
Homepage image: Chumba Chilemba by Grace Tembo. Above image courtesy of the Chumba Chilemba/WAFF. This feature first appeared in the print issue of Mission – The Next Order – Guest edited by Nile Rodgers and Nancy Hunt, co-founders of We Are Family Foundation.
