Senghor was born in Dakar in 1971 and grew up between Nigeria, Ghana, and Benin.[1] Her father was a diplomat from the Casamance region. She studied film and English literature at Charles de Gaulle University – Lille III, and almost did not complete her degree because she was very involved in the artistic environment in Paris. Senghor first attended the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou in 1992, as she had become a cinefile by that point.