She's proof that the internet can make you a star overnight, though what happens after is a longer story. Elsa Majimbo, born 29 June 2001 in Nairobi, Kenya, went viral in early 2020 with home-made comedy monologues filmed during COVID-19 lockdown, chip bag in hand and tiny 90s sunglasses on. Her clips spread fast, picked up by Comedy Central, BuzzFeed, and other major outlets, and won her fans among Hollywood names including Anderson Cooper, Naomi Campbell, Lupita Nyong'o, and Snoop Dogg.
It hasn't just been laughs and applause. In 2020 alone, Elsa won E!'s People's Choice Award for Favorite African Social Star, took home the Streamy Award for Best New Comedy Creator, was personally honored with a Creator Honor by Lilly Singh at that same ceremony, and was named GQ's Entertainer of the Year. Brand deals followed with Valentino, Fenty, and MAC, and she signed with talent agency CAA, later adding modeling representation with IMG and WME in 2022.
The "15-time chess champion" claim wasn't quite what it said
One detail that's followed Elsa since 2020 needs a correction: her Instagram bio once read "15x chess champion," and a 2021 clip for Netflix's Strong Black Lead leaned into a "Real Queen's Gambit" bit, posing her against the promotional poster for the Netflix series of the same name. It made for a great headline, and outlets from Forbes to BellaNaija ran with it at the time.
It was a joke. Per Wikipedia's sourcing, Majimbo has played in youth chess tournaments, finishing fourth at the Kenya National Youth Chess Championship U16 Girls Finals in 2017 and tying for second among five competitors at that year's Alliance High Open. She isn't FIDE-rated and has never had a professional chess career. Even Forbes' own 2020 profile flagged the claim as satire, noting Majimbo's Instagram bio paired "15x chess champion" with the equally tongue-in-cheek title "professional bragger."
From comedian to "aspirational queen"
Majimbo relocated first to Johannesburg and then, at 20, to Los Angeles, where her public image shifted hard. By 2024, she told OkayAfrica she was done being known as a comedian: "That's a phase of my life that was there, but I've left it behind. That was just to get me off the ground. We're off the ground now." The chip-eating, sunglasses-on persona gave way to high-fashion content, campaigns with Coach, and a self-titled documentary short, Elsa, released in 2023.
That reinvention came with real friction. Majimbo has spoken publicly about a falling out with Naomi Campbell, whom she'd grown close to while appearing in Campbell's Kenya-based reality series, later accusing Campbell of taking credit for her success in a since-deleted social media post. Majimbo has also said the fallout coincided with a difficult period involving alcohol. In April 2026, she pushed back on renewed "lost spark" and drug-use speculation online, telling followers her close friends could confirm she doesn't drink, and framing her quieter public presence as a natural shift after years in the spotlight rather than any kind of decline.
Forbes recognition, Kenya controversy, and a new direction
The past two years have brought both fresh accolades and real controversy. In June 2025, Majimbo was named to Forbes Africa's Top 30 Under 30 list and signed an expanded modeling deal with IMG and WME. The same year, comments she made urging dark-skinned Kenyan women to leave the country over what she called deeply ingrained colourism sparked backlash at home, part of a relationship with Nairobi she's described as complicated since the harsh online criticism she faced there as an 18-year-old in 2020.
By early 2026, Majimbo was publicly framing her career, not romance, as her priority, telling followers to "have multiple boyfriends and let your career be your soulmate" and confirming she intends to remain child-free. She's since said she's moving from being in front of the camera to behind it, describing herself as a film director inspired by her five years in Los Angeles and a stated ambition to work in Hollywood long-term.
Whether her audience follows her into that next chapter is an open question. Some Kenyan outlets have noted that her recent return to old-style, chip-eating content has been read online as nostalgia-baiting rather than a genuine return to form. Whatever comes next, Majimbo's own read on her rise has stayed consistent since 2020: "I'm a testimony. God brought me here."
