With a career that began at a young age and as a woman who is no stranger to being in the limelight, Minnie Dlamini tells FORBES AFRICA that she believes in turning her challenges into opportunities. It’s a lesson that she only truly learned, now, in her 30s.



“I don’t think I would have been able to handle everything that I’ve handled – good and bad – all the opportunities, the resources that have been afforded to me, the resources that I’ve gone out and gotten myself, had I been younger,” Dlamini says.



“[I] needed to go through life, to be older, and to be this 34-year-old woman so that I can fully embrace everything that’s coming my way.” Having hosted a multitude of events and award shows such as the South African Music Awards (SAMAs); the South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAs); Miss World South Africa and the Africa Magic Viewer’s Choice Awards (AMVCAs), and presented at the cov- eted BET Awards in Los Angeles in the U.S., Dlamini burst onto the scene in 2010 while covering the Youth Day and World Cup celebration shows.



It was not long after that she found herself immersed in the world of sports broadcasting.



“One of the things I wanted to do was to create an environment where watching sports with your male counterparts, be it with your father or significant other, was normal and just redefining how people consume sports in a mainstream entertainment way,” she says.



Her success in the entertainment industry motivated her to start her own production company, Beautiful Day Productions, which pro- duced a pilot series called Becoming Mrs. Jones, a competition reality show called Spirit Of Mzansi, two Showmax movies; Goodbye Gogo and No Love Lost, as well as a viewer-generated content show for Channel O called Own The O.



However, as a woman, being in the public eye has not always been smooth sailing. She notes the comments made about her when she an- nounced her divorce from her husband in 2022.



“The world is not kind to a woman who’s getting divorced, which I think is an incredibly painful narrative. I thought [that] was something completely outdated, but I had no idea that, in this day and age, I’d be ostracized for getting divorced, and that was incredibly painful,” she says.



Dlamini did not let it stop her, as she again turned her lemons into lemonade by taking part in Roast of Minnie Dlamini on Showmax.



“I used that opportunity and we had the Roast; got paid lots of money,” she explains with a smile.



“…but more than anything, I got to use it as an opportunity to laugh at myself, and as a great brand exercise. If we take the finances away, it was an incredible brand exercise for me; it was an incredible career move that was risky, but the risk definitely paid off.”

Tag: Minnie Dlamini

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

Over 30 Under 50: ‘I Don’t Think I Could Have Handled Everything I’ve Faced – Good And Bad – Had I Been Younger.’/ South African Actor Minnie Dlamini