For more than two decades Selema Masekela (@selema) has been known as a TV host, covering the Winter X Games and the summer Olympics. As the co-founder of @mamiwatasurf and now, founder of his own lifestyle brand Alekesam, Masekela is helping to redefine what surf culture looks like. “I was always curious about what a brand would look like in the surfing space that was specifically African,” Masekela tells W for our annual Originals portfolio. “I started surfing in South Africa in the 1990s, when my father [the South African jazz icon Hugh Masekela, known for his anti-apartheid songs such as “Soweto Blues”] was able to go back after his 30 years of exile, and I very much fell in love with it.” More at the link in bio. - Photography: @tracythnguyen Styling: @savwhite Writer: @missmaryholland Grooming: @carlacsperez W VOLUME FIVE 2022, THE ORIGINALS ISSUE