Animation Director | Podcaster | Music Producer| Lecturer
Kabelo “Cabblow” Maaka is the Founder of Cabblow Studios an award-winning animation and illustration studio based in Johannesburg. She is the creator & Showrunner of Rorisang & The Gurlz the vibrant teen animated series for African Kpop girlies! With a humble following that has amassed more than 365 000 views across the character's social media, and a dedicated fanbase of webtoon book readers with 1.3 million GIF views on GIPHY - Rorisang & The Gurlz is shaping up to be an African animation icon!
Kabelo is a visionary with a warm and infectious personality with 10 years of experience working in the animation industry creating short films, series & children's projects for top clients like Penguin Random House Publishing, WITS Health Consortium & Multichoice on the Channel-O animated TV series Zen Zone on DSTV ch320.
Rorisang & The Gurlz is an indie animated series which went viral on TikTok in August 2025 for it's clever South African humour, original music and unique animation art style! The show fuses Kpop & AfroPop to tell the heartwarming story of music dreams, school friendships and reaching for your goals. The first episode premiered in August 2026 and was featured on SABC News Trendz Live.
STAY RORI-fied with Rorisang & The Gurlz and follow @rorisaaang for more teen coming-of-age shenanigans.
Kabelo is also 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. She has created several short films over the years and uses her experience as a creative business owner to host The Business of Animation Podcast using her experience in the niche of Medical Animation to inspire budding animation entrepreneurs through the ups and downs of the creative business; inspiring them to take the next step in building sustainable creative businesses.
Keep up with Kabelo and Cabblow Studios on socials just look up @cabblow and you'll find us!
f you’ve ever said to yourself “I’ve always dreamed of making my own music video, but I don’t know where to start and who to learn from” or maybe you’ve thought “I actually feel so depressed about AI, but I still feel a deep drive to make my own cool stuff like what I grew up watching.” And if you’ve ever wished that South Africans could make their own cool projects like the movies and tv shows we all fangirl over then this talk is just for you! Join Kabelo “Cabblow” Maaka the creator of Rorisang & The Gurlz with 10 years industry experience as she takes you through a deep dive into the creative process of making the official music video for “Rorisang’s Groove” in collaboration with the Cape Town International Animation Festival. Learn the tools and tricks professional animators use to create polished music videos. Get inspired to make your own original stories and find clever ways to get paid for it and feel encouraged by the work of real human artists in the age of AI generated imagery. GET RORI-FIED and discover all the coming-of-age shenanigans of Rorisang & The Gurlz your new favourite South African TV animation!
