Meet Selassie Ahorlu | Control Engineer & Event Curator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Selassie Ahorlu and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Selassie, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?

At the young age of 10 years, I got all the neighborhood kids together to clear out some bushes to use as our soccer field. I was passionate about the game of soccer. After successfully clearing out the bush and playing our first game on our new soccer field, I realized two things; I enjoyed the satisfaction of solving or overcoming a challenge and relished the joy of bringing the community together. I become the “organizer” in the community and also at school.

Fast forward, I was not satisfied with how events (within my Ghanaian community) were being organized in the LA area. I felt I could help the community do a better job with my organizational skills. I put together the first Ghana independence celebration for the youth in LA back in 2015. The success of the event propelled me to organize more events within the community.

Being a Pan-Africanist at heart, I expanded to curating events for the African diaspora in the LA area. Bringing the Diaspora community together was me reliving my childhood passion.

My first business (Emperor Vibes) is an event curating company that seeks to help bridge the diaspora divide and uplifts the community through entertainment. A year later, I founded AfropolitanLA – the LA chapter of Afropolitan Cities. AfropolitanCities’ mission is to build the largest online global Diaspora marketplace platform to make African culture, products, and services easily accessible to the world. We achieve this through our cultural exchange, professional exchange, business exchange, and an Afropolitan marketplace. Notable among our events are the Afrobeats Block Party & Jollof Cook-off series. The Afropolitan movement is for progressives & cultural enthusiasts living in the LA area seeking to connect, socialize and collaborate with other like-minded individuals.

Then in 2018, I started the Calabash M.A.F.I.A. The Calabash MAFIA™️ (an acronym that urges its members to Master Allegiance to Family, Integrity, and Altruism) is a lifestyle brand that honors the timeless truth  that the earth provides all we need to survive by networking conscious people with a shared commitment to reclaim the use of sustainable solutions for daily living. The brand exists to respect the African origins of survival and innovation that have blessed the globe for generations. We believe tradition links generations through shared rituals and a sense of belonging. Its common to see members and sympathizers carrying and drinking from calabashes. We always invoke ancestral blessings by saying “ May your calabash never be empty”.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?

In my “9-5”, I work as a Control System Engineer (CSE) supporting refinery process control systems: Distributed Control Systems (DCS), Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) & Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS) to meet desired feed rates and maximize conversions for the units. I work closely with other engineers to support instrumentation and control enhancements to improve plant reliability.

I get excited to troubleshoot and solve problems at work daily. Never a dull moment. I was blessed to be hired right after completed my BSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California (USC). What I do currently, I had to learn on the job. The greatest lesson learned along the way I will say is staying humble and being “teachable”. All the knowledge acquired has been through being open to learn and not being afraid to ask questions.

I try to be who I am and not who people want me to be. I can’t please all the people all the time, so I do the best I can to stay true to myself and represent my culture. Being rooted is essential to me.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?

Restaurants in Downtown Inglewood – The WOOD on Market Street

Venice Beach for sightseeing

Afrobeats Party at Elevate lounge

Royal Cuisine Restuarant (on Century Blvd) for some African food

Fashion District in DTLA for shopping

Rancho Cienega Park to hang out after morning soccer on Saturdays

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?

Anthony Ahorlu (Dad) – Inspiration to serve others.

Nickie Johnson-Ahorlu (Wife) – For all the encouragement and support in whatever I do

Kweku Amoako (Founder of Afropolitan Cities) – Mentorship and partnership to curate events on a larger scale

Calabash MAFIA (Support group) – For the support and encouragement

Website: https://calabashmafia.com/

Instagram: Emperor Vibes

Linkedin: Selassie Ahorlu

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=3427066&sk=about

Other: IG: AfropolitanLA IG: CalabashMAFIA