E! VIP is back for a brand-new season to grant exclusive insight into the lives and careers of the most notable and high-profile celebrities from across Africa. Viewers can uncover the stories of stars from South Africa, Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria, including Sarkodie, Jo-anne Reyneke, Daniel Churchill, Boity Thulo, Yvonne Nelson, Gert-Johan Coetzee, Nasty C, Kate Kamau, Yemi Alade, Mihlali and Fireboy.
The episode featuring Mihlali airs this Sunday, 13 March 2023 at 20:00 CAT on E! Africa (DStv channel 124), available on Universal + immediately after.
Below, the beauty entrepreneur sits down for an exclusive interview with Glamour SA where she she opens up about her inspirations, career journey, and what we can expect from the show.
What can audiences look forward to in your E VIP episode?
They can look forward to just in depth knowledge of me in general.
With your journey to the point where you are now, was there a turning point where you felt that things were starting to change in your life?
Yes. I don't think there was a specific point, but I think gradually as I grow into the space, and the bigger I get, there is constantly that awakening of damn, people really know me, or maybe I’m bigger than I think I am. So yes, especially when you see how invested people are in your life, that when you realise, oh wow, this is real.
Was there a moment where that started happening, like the first time you got recognised or anything like that?
I don’t recall a specific time, but I think it’s always shocking when I go out in public, just running errands or whatever, and just realising how many people do recognise me, or being stopped for a picture, that that’s always like a reminder because it doesn’t feel that big when you sitting behind the screen because you can’t physically see those who support you. So when you are going to public spaces where you can meet them, that is we I realise that, Oh wow, there are actually people who follow, support and love my content.
Is there one thing that you are particularly proud of in your career that you have achieved?
I think my biggest achievement or my proudest moment was being on the Forbes 30 under 30 list. That was quite an amazing achievement. To be recognised by a platform like Forbes, wasn’t only great for myself, but I felt it was such a lovely achievement and milestone for content creators overall, especially in South Africa. Just to know that we are being recognised for our craft. It also just gives more credibility and respect and I think it’s something that can have a positive impact on the work of other people as well.
What did you want to be when you were growing up? Were you always interested in makeup or were there other things that you’re thinking that you might go into?
Growing up I wanted to be a beautician, so I think I've always had that love for beauty inside me. But that was shut down very quickly by family members who didn’t believe in anyone being able to make a name for themselves within the beauty space. So then I moved on and I wanted to be a dentist because I’ve always been interested in teeth. And then from being a dentist and now that I’m much older, I was like okay, the only way that I can be in the beauty space without doing beauty myself, is to work for a beauty powerhouse such as Loreal, and get a job in corporate while pursuing my content creation dreams, and a dream to one day have my own products on the side. So yeah I shifted between a couple of things as I grew older.
What is it about makeup that inspires you, and I guess in the same question, how do you think that your content inspires others?
I think what inspires me about makeup is just the fact that it’s a form of art. For me, it’s a form of expression, and just seeing a look coming together is always very very exciting, and just like how there’s no limits. I think because I’m a Sagittarius I don’t like routine and I get bored very quickly, so even with just creating beauty looks, there’s no manual and you don’t have to go step-by-step if you decide that I want to change this or that about it, and that is always very exciting. How people are inspired by my work, I guess it’s because it has always been traditional careers that are deemed to be the most suitable if you want to be successful. You know you either need to become a doctor or an accountant. So I think a lot of young people who do follow me are inspired by the fact that I made a success out of something that wasn’t necessarily respected or worthy to be deemed as a career. So yeah it’s nice to see that especially now with all the opportunities that we have, it’s not just about going to study medicine or whatever, it is also about you can follow your own passion and use the talent that God gave you to make a name for yourself.
Interesting that you talk about a real career, do you think that the stigma of you when you were growing up you felt from some of your family members, do you think that stigma around having a real career is still true for young people today who are watching your content and thinking I want to do that?
100%! It’s still an issue that we deal with, because I’ve seen like obviously when you are winning and doing well, people will be like ‘congratulations’, ‘so inspiring’, but then also now if you do trend for something negative, people very quickly quickly turn around and sort of degrade what you do, like ooh what else did you guys expect from YouTuber, so I think there’s still a lot of people undermine what we do, and you know what I can’t even blame them, it honestly come from a place of, lack of knowledge and I think self-hate. There’s a saying that one of the top regrets from elderly people when they pass away is that they have not followed their dreams. So I’d also be very very annoyed at someone who is making money out of something that doesn't make sense to me. When I felt like I had to choose a path that I was passionate about. So yeah, a lot of people are very bitter and a lot of people don’t understand what it is we do, and don’t understand the business side of it. All they see is the glamorous stuff that we post on Instagram. So they always narrow it down to, oh she just gets stressed and takes a pretty picture, and how is that a real job. So it’s honestly just a lack of knowledge.
Don’t know if you can tell us, but can fans expect from you in the future?
I can’t say, but there are quite a few things I’m working on, basically in the beauty and fashion space. I’m trying to establish my own brands and focus more moving into the direction of creating jobs and leaving behind something that will live beyond me. Totally something that will also then create a path or some sort of income for my kids as well. I’m going much more into the business space, I won't neglect the content creation space because obviously to support my businesses, I will need my platforms to drive traffic to them, so I’ll still be here in my digital era but otherwise I’m gonna look a lot more into business.
Which other E VIP episode are you most looking forward to watching?
I would say I’m looking forward to Boity Thulo and Nasty C. I haven't heard anything from Nasty C in a while in terms of interviews, he has been very focused on his music, so I’m interested to see what kind of conversations you guys get into with them.
