Whatever your stage be of service

i’ve been on many stages

in the course of my life i’ve been on

small stages

i’ve been on big stages i was born for

the stage

you might say my dear mother beatrice

noam aziz and makalemele

a teacher by profession entered me

in my very first beauty pageant at the

age of 15.

miss helio a shoe shop and i won

i want a pair of shoes my mother goes on

to enter me into the misawada

competition in 1990

and i win some miss away to competition

as miss awatu

i qualified to enter miss black south

africa now let me tell you this

pre-1994 black people we were not

allowed to enter miss south africa

so i wouldn’t misplace south africa

i come from a great generation

where parents believed in the power

of their children’s dreams

fast forward 1994

my mother yet again enters me

into the south africa competition

now i win miss south africa

i reflect on winning with south africa

at critical time in our history

1994 first democratic elections

new dawn a new era a new hope a new hour

a new government led by their first

black president

nelson holy sacha mandela

i then reflected on the zeitgeist

of me winning in 1994

and i understood the responsibility

that i had to make it count

so i could inspire a new generation what

a black girl child can achieve

i get the greatest privilege to be

invited to the union buildings

the seat of power in south africa by the

president

himself i had the privilege to travel

with him

to proceed him and introduce him before

he took to the stage

to deliver his keynote addresses his

magnanimity was not only in his stature

it was in his aura

he impacted my life in so many ways his

humility i saw what humility looks like

and often when you would thank madiba

and say

dada thank you thank you

for fighting for liberation he would

often say darling

it was a collective effort you might say

i was born for the stage or

was i it’s a question i have often

pondered

it’s a question i often ask myself

1994 november

i go and to enter this world

south africa comes second at the miss

world competition

i came second at the miss world

competition

we as a country came second

at the miss world competition i’m on

stage

the crown allows me to travel the world

i become the first black

television presenter of the preeminent

lifestyle show top billing traveled the

world

seven continents i interviewed the

world’s greats

oprah winfrey michael jackson

will smith wesley snipes darto huma

siguella

mamawi nemati gizella mandela i

interviewed

all south african presidents i

interviewed

luther vandross my all-time favorite

i was so gutted when he passed

i actually wanted to go to his funeral i

started my first business

at the age of 20 zolobili productions

with a partner

it created hundreds of jobs

i went on to start another business

retail spectacular failure

paid serious school fees

i joined my sister johanna in a travel

management company travel with flair

we employed hundreds of people over the

years

and then i decided how about we try

property so i strike studied a property

development company now the hundreds of

jobs were created

15 years ago i started a mining company

together with a partner

and in that company first five years

were hugely challenging

taken for a ride by international

partners

and that journey

i paid serious school fees

i thought about quitting

but then i said to myself but you do not

have a choice

or an option to quit

you have a responsibility to use the

platform use the stage

for the greater good and so

we trust along and

today that company mines

and exports called to international

markets creating

hundreds of jobs

now i i love telling stories

and then i started yet another business

a content hub creating business connect

channel

and in that business hundreds of people

are employed we tell stories

these businesses over the last 26 years

have made an indelible mark in creating

jobs

and hopefully making a difference

because i’ve decided to show up on stage

and use that platform this platform for

the greater good

i have learned to be a serial

entrepreneur in my mother’s home

my father being the bus driver my mother

being a teacher

were very very entrepreneurial they

started a construction company in the

hood

well lived in four roomed houses not

four bedrooms

four room my siblings and i had one

bedroom

bunk beds that we used to share we have

a younger brother muja lefa

and then my parents had their bedroom so

when you made a bit of money you would

then

extend your home adding additional rooms

and big windows now the big windows were

a big deal

because you know what the apartment

system put us in little windows and i

think perhaps it was

to make sure that we don’t see our

potential and do not see the world

what it is and what we can achieve so

you break down those windows and you put

you put in

big windows and then if you made a

little bit more money

you would then put two rooms in a garage

at the back and then rent those out

for additional income for the household

so my parents did that for many many

homes in their

in the neighborhood and then if we’re

not

working and selling ice cream at soccer

stadiums

selling sandwiches my siblings are not

helping to supplement

the family income you were in the church

choir the youth club

you name it my mother got us involved in

all sorts of extracurricular activities

and it was because

she firmly believed that an idol mind is

a dangerous thing

we were busy at home i started to work

with money from an early age at the age

of six

and it’s robert kiyosaki who says teach

your children to work with money from an

early age

and so the serial entrepreneur

was born in my mother’s house i do not

know

how not to work i’ve never been employed

i’ve always been self-employed

i have stood on many stages in the

course of my life

i’ve stood on small stages i’ve stood in

big stages

you might say i was born for the stage

where was i it’s a question

i have pondered it’s a question i will

often ask myself

but living on stage comes at a price

you live under scrutiny in a glass bowl

where whatever you do makes headlines

so your struggles

are on front page news your challenges

are written about it often seems that

does this believe that public figures

do not hurt do not feel pain they do not

cry

they have no emotions

2008 december

i was pregnant with twins at 20 weeks a

boy and a girl

i have often struggled with fertility

i started to have contract contractions

and my husband took me to hospital

as i admitted and

put on drips to try and mature my baby’s

lungs

and

my heart rate was dropping rapidly i was

losing consciousness

and the doctor said to my husband romeo

quite a handsome guy

a decision has to be made very quickly

because i was losing consciousness and

therefore

i said to my husband listen i’ve lived

so let the babies be born

and i know you’re a good man you look

after them

and he said that is not even an option

he signed a consent form

and i was given an option

whether i would want to have a c-section

or labor i chose the ladder

we were put in the labor room

and because my babies were not pushing

i took hours

and when they were born the nurse said

to me

would you like to see them

but they’re only 500 grams so

there would be a size of a block of

butter

and i said maybe not

it’s a decision

i regret it

i could not put closure

i battled

i have had a total of seven miscarriages

i went to depression for ten years

you get discharged from hospital

and every post

in the streets headlines

pasadena loses a baby

suzanne has health scare you read

you read about yourself at the darkest

hour in your life

grace visited me

i have three beautiful children

uncle cinati gabriel

ushaga crositsila emmanuel

and buenarena jasmine but then

i also have what i term

children of my heart

through the basasana mentorship academy

where over the last 26 years i have

mentored

many young men and women it’s about

lighting someone else’s candle so that

they too can light another candle

and then that candle lights another

candle

and then we become this

beautiful universe of light

i understand my calling and my higher

purpose

and i try to show up for it every single

day i have a responsibility

to ignite hope

to inspire a new generation of leaders

to bring

others along to make it count

that i was once here

it is steve jobs who says that trust

and know where you are going and only

when you are there

then you will connect the dots so you

have to trust

that the dots will connect in the future

i have a multiple fracture in 2016

i have 11 pins on my right ankle and two

long plates

bedridden on a wheelchair

and when i was admitted in hospital

i was also in hospital and when she

heard that i’m

in hospital she called for me

and the nurse and a friend of mine

patience they wheeled me

into her room and when she saw me in a

wheelchair

she said but you cannot be in this chair

there’s much work to be done you have to

get up you and other young women

have a responsibility to make a

difference in the country

there’s no time to sit down and sit

around

she charged me

and i took to heart that charge

and i show up for it every single day

today is a full circle moment

on stage the tedx stage

and it is by no means an end but a bold

continuation

of the work that needs to be done

i have work to do you have work to do

i do not walk alone

i come alone but i stand

as ten thousand i invoke the spirit

of unomaze i invoke the spirit

of uprafil i invoke the spirit of

umatiba

invoked the spirit of umami pneumatic

isella mandela

i invoked the spirit of the men and

women

who’ve impacted my life some departed

some present i invoke

the spirit of my ancestors

i invoke the spirit

of my departed children

i have stood on many stages in the

course of my life

i’ve been on small stages and have been

on big stages

you might say i was born for the stage

or was i

it’s a question i have pondered

it’s a question i’ve often asked myself

whatever it is i have decided

to show up for it i have decided to

raise my hands

martin luther once said not everyone can

be famous

but everyone can be great because

greatness is determined

by service

what is your stage

thank you