Support Heritage Arts Illustrated

Heritage Arts Illustrated is a company that is dedicated to making history fun and exciting!

Our Backstory

Since she was little, Marlena Nkene, creator and owner of Heritage Arts Illustrated was an avid reader. Growing up, she was well- known for always having her nose in a book, so much so that she was regularly scolded for it by teachers, parents and friends. Reading is generally a good thing but Marlena was a book addict!

As she got older and began to learn more and more about history, (it was her favorite subject) she found that most history that was taught favored the stories of most other ethnic groups, but where were all the stories about Africa and the people that came to live all over the rest of the earth from that part of the world? Surely, they too have stories that deserve to be told. They have been here just as long as the rest of the world, if not longer.

Marlena dedicated herself to a quest of uncovering the history that was practically hidden in plain sight. She learned of many ancient African kingdoms, chiefdoms and civilizations that existed before the age of colonization and exploitation of African lands for profit. She, along with her small team, became excited!

As an illustrator, she wanted to share the extraordinary stories most people would never otherwise hear or read about. She understands that learning history can and should be an easy experience, not dull and boring. She has already created several educational activity books for children but has bigger goals on the horizon.

Our Mission

This page is dedicated to the various projects that desperately need funding to tell the marvelous stories of the African diaspora! We're sorry we can't tell you all of our wonderous secrets we have in store for the children of the world but you will not be dissapointed! On this page there are, however, a few snippets from some of our past and present works and much much more to come.


If African history is something you are passionate about like we are, PLEASE support us. Any little amount helps, but then again. . . so does a lot. 

Here is just a short breakdown of how your contributions can help us moving forward:

-Costs of Publishing
-Research
-App creation
-Animation
-Promotional Video Production
-Artist Contracts and Copyrights

and much, much more!

We are just getting warmed up and we are determined to meet our goal!

"Together We Can Make African History Common Knowledge"