Former journalist in Belgium, Senegalese Katy Léna Ndiaye orchestrated for several years Reflets Sud and Afrique plurielle, two magazines co-produced by RTBF, TV5, and OIF. She moved away from journalism to focus on longer formats offered by documentaries.
She directed Traces in 2002, meeting women from Burkina Faso, a subject that deals with murals, transmission, acculturation, and contemporary Africa. Filmed in Oualata, Mauritania, Waiting for the Men (2007) delivers slices of life and testimonies about what it means to be a woman.
Her two latest works portray Smockey Bambara (We Have Time for Ourselves), a Burkinabe rapper and co-founder of the Balai Citoyen movement, and the story of the CFA Franc, decoding a lingering controversy over the currency used in former French colonies in Africa.