Boss, employ me, I don’t have a certificate – McBrown reflects on her rise without formal education

Ghanaian sweetheart Nana Ama McBrown may be one of the most respected faces on screen today, but her journey has been anything but conventional—and she’s not afraid to say it.

On TV3’s New Day with Berla Mundi, McBrown revealed how she had to plead for work without any academic qualifications.

“I said, ‘Boss, employ me. I don’t have a certificate.’ And it’s true. Do I have a certificate?” she asked, turning to Berla.

“You have an SS certificate, a WASI certificate,” Berla responded.

“I didn’t have an SS certificate,” McBrown corrected. “I had a JHS. I didn’t go to secondary school.”

She revealed she had started her secondary education but dropped out early due to unpaid fees. “I stopped going to the school because I was owing from first term, second term, almost going to third term. I stopped.”

The pressure at home and from society was intense. “When I went home, everybody would ask, ‘Hey, why are you not going to school?’ So I admitted myself into a school—College of Business Studies.”

Interestingly, she admitted she didn’t enroll for the academics. “I was going to the school, Bella, knowing that I would not need that certificate for anything,” McBrown admitted.

“But people were just asking, and I felt embarrassed.”

Through resilience, talent, and grit, McBrown transformed her lack of academic qualifications into a career full of milestones—proof that paper isn’t the only path to purpose.