Dr. Tshepo Maaka

Kabelo “Cabblow” Maaka is the Founder of Cabblow Studios an award-winning animation and illustration studio based in Johannesburg. She is a visionary with a warm and infectious personality with 8 years of experience working as an Animation Director, 2D Animator, Illustrator, Podcaster & Animation lecturer in the animation industry. Kabelo made her debut as a director with her short film “3 Teaspoons of Sugar” in November 2019. She has since lead 12 more short films, various corporate projects and art directed 3 children’s books, including one for Penguin Random House Publishers, released in August 2022 called Amara goes to the Olympics. Kabelo is a visionary with a warm and infectious personality. She is the creator of Rorisang & The Gurlz the teen animated series fusing Kpop & AfroPop currently in development. The series was chosen at Stories x Women Annecy 2022, MipJunior 2022 & ITFS APD 2023. “Rorisang & The Gurlz” online webcomic has over 1200 readers on Korean platform Webtoon Canvas and an 8,71 rating out of 10 with 62k views on Rorisang’s TikTok & 30k views Instagram. Follow @rorisaaang for more teen coming-of-age shenanigans. Kabelo is a winner of the Mail & Guardian 200 Young South African Awards 2021 under the Film & Media category and a winner at the 2023 Future is Female Awards at Advertising Week Africa. Kabelo is the creator & host of The Business of Animation Podcast using her experience in the niche of Medical Animation to inspire budding animation entrepreneurs to take the step next in building sustainable creative businesses. Kabelo was a mentor for the first Cabblow Studios virtual Residency programme in which 5 upcoming directors were mentored to create their very 1st short films. She speaks at conferences like Comic Con Cape Town, CARDIFF, San Diego Comic Con Online, DFM, Cape Town International Animation Festival & at various universities around South Africa. Dr Tshepo P. Maaka is a qualified medical doctor of 30 years with post-graduate training in both anaesthesia and public health management. She is a medical doctor-turned-producer of animated content where she uses animation to communicate complex medical concepts simply!Dr T partnered with her daughter, Kabelo Maaka, in forming Cabblow Studios 7 years ago and has produced, to date, 11 short films, four of which are medical short films on diabetes and mental health Among them is “3 Teaspoons of Sugar”, which has garnered over 20 official film festival selections to date internationally including Annecy international Animation Festival, Goethe Science Film Festival, CARDIFF & Cape Town International Film Festival. The film has been translated to more than 5 languages. Together Dr T and Kabelo are combining their skills in medicine/ business and animation/art to carve out a unique niche in the South African animation market. Dr T is the creator and voice of “Dr T’s Nuggets” a animated series sharing 1 minute bite-sized health tips. She has produced 21 episodes for the current season.