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I was born in Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha), South Africa. I’m an outgoing person who is both introverted and extroverted depending who I’m with. I enjoy meeting and interacting with new people because I believe this is how you learn and grow as a person. I’m forever looking for new adventures or challenges. I’m a go-getter, never afraid to fail because we learn more from our failures and build character from them. I believe one is never too old to learn something new things. “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” doesn’t apply in my life. I enjoy the outdoors especially hiking, which has exposed me to some of the most beautiful hiking trails in South Africa. I also love taking game drives and explore our nature especially the animals in their natural habitats. I haven’t had the opportunity to travel beyond the borders of my country. Hopefully one day I’ll travel the world, meet different people and get to experience diverse cultures and cuisines. I had dreams of becoming a medical doctor but due to financial difficulties I settled for a National Diploma in Biomedical Technology. At least I got to work in the medical environment with doctors and other medical personnel for about 5 years. I realised that working in a laboratory was not suitable for my personality because I love people, I enjoy interacting with different people. I enrolled for a Diploma in Marketing and that led me to the pharmaceutical industry where I combined both my medical background and the marketing qualification. I worked in Sales and Marketing departments. I also had the opportunity to turn my passion for fashion into a business adventure and started my online clothing store which was a very exciting and challenging adventure. I learned a lot about importing and e-commerce. When motherhood happened and I took a break to become a stay home mom. I got involved in fitness and nutrition business. I realised that the entrepreneurship bug has got me and needed to empower myself to avoid mistakes I made in my previous business adventures, that is when I decided to register for a BCom degree in entrepreneurship via Unisa, which what I’m currently busy with. I am also teaching English as a foreign language online on freelance basis. I plan to also learn one or two foreign languages as I plan to travel the world in the not-so-distant future. I’m excited about the future and learning more in this university of life.
“Fall down seven times, stand up eight.” A Japanese proverb close to my heart. It has helped me persevere in so many situations in life and those situations have molded me into the woman I am today. Here’s a brief introduction to who I am. I am a new mommy to an adorable baby boy. A jack of all trades. I’m an artist at heart, fitness enthusiast, avid reader, and quite academic. I was born on the 9th of August in the year 1996 in Elim, a small village in the Limpopo Province. I grew up in Johannesburg and later moved to Pretoria in 2006 when I was in Grade 4, where I completed the rest of my school career. I have always been a very dedicated student. I finished school as a top student in my Matric year (2014) in Hoerskool Silverton. Ideally, I thought that I would finish university on record time, but it seems I had a few lessons to pick up along the way. I began my studies at the University of Pretoria but sadly dropped out due to academic and financial exclusion and so I continued the rest of my year as a freelance tutor to make some money and figure out my next move. During this time I found that I work quite well with young kids and have enjoyed tutoring ever since. I returned to the said university again and hit the financial exclusion wall yet again, so I went ahead and tried out a learnership in the automotive industry, for a year, where I earned a stipend. This encouraged me to go back to school and try part-time (Yes, I do not give up easily!) Presently, I am currently pursuing my degree in Mechanical Engineering through the University of South Africa (UNISA). I have always been one to participate in almost every extra-mural activity since my primary school years, I played softball, hockey, and cricket. I took part in cross-country and district athletics to name a few. My love for sports made me gravitate towards what I currently do part-time, I train on a regular basis, and I am a wellness coach and a distributor for a prominent nutrition brand. A large part of what I do involves helping people correct their nutrition and learn more about the benefits of healthy eating so that they can lead a healthier lifestyle and feel great while they are at it. I have been involved in various projects that involved giving back to those in need. I have been involved with an initiative called Feed a Homeless Homie, where we made food for the homeless and distributed it at least one weekend a month, I also helped a friend of mine with a pads drive for less fortunate girls, I also give clothes to homeless shelters for women and children whenever I can and I worked with an NGO known as Keep That Gold Shining (KTG) where we tutored young kids in high schools in the townships. I am a philanthropist at heart and believe that even the smallest contribution goes a long way. As mentioned, I am also an artist, mostly self-taught. I do painting on commission as well as pencil sketching. I do not have a specific style as yet, but most of my work features women from different walks of life. I would like to collaborate with more artists in the future and have exhibitions. I try to read at least one book a month. My favorite writers have always been James Patterson and Dan Brown however I recently branched out to other genres besides suspense and thrillers. Some of my latest reads are: • Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki • Atomic Habits by James Clear • The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho • Half of a yellow sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie • No Longer At Ease by Chinua Achebe I can speak at least 6 of the 11 official languages, I am fairly tech-savvy. I am a quick learner, always willing to pick up a new skill. Life has thrown several curveballs at me and I never backed down. I strongly believe in working hard and not giving up on anything I do. My name means ‘Be Strong’, that is who I am!
I’m Toni-Leigh, born and bred in the Mother City of Cape Town. My fiancé and I, are parents to a lively 2-year-old girl who arrived 5 years after losing our 3-year-old son to a rare genetic disease. I love learning new things. Growing up, I was a voracious reader, reading anything and everything (even the classifieds and property ads) and with the advancement of technology over the years, I can have information at the tip of my fingers, so I’m always eager to learn new things and I’m a fast learner. I’ve always had an interest in Information Technology and was the go-to person in my office before my colleagues would go to the IT office, and now I’m looking into further studies so that I can develop my knowledge and skills. In 2005, I graduated from Varsity College with a Diploma in Travel and Tourism, with aspirations of travelling worldwide in my profession. Things didn’t quite work out that way, having worked in retail and a company assisting young people to live and work in the UK. In the last decade or so, I’ve been in the tourism industry behind the scenes, working for an online holiday accommodation booking agency and more recently a company that does tours and safaris in Southern Africa. I also do freelance work remotely, such as, captioning for a speech-to-text service and social media evaluation. I am an introvert but enjoy working with and being in the company of others, while also enjoying being on my own. In the past I used to view being an introvert as a weakness because those higher up in the ranks of the companies I worked for were extroverted but in recent times I realised how much of a strength it is being an introvert as I also have a strong sense of empathy, which I believe is key in Customer Service and building interpersonal relationships with colleagues and clients. I’m passionate about customer service and going the extra mile and l love that feeling of knowing that I’ve made a difference in someone’s day, whether big or small. People tend to describe me as hardworking, punctual, efficient, dependable and trustworthy. Covid-19 affected the tourism industry drastically, however, I still want to travel anywhere I can, just soaking up the different cultures and experiences. The last year has been both challenging and rewarding and it has made me see things in a different light and so it has been somewhat of a new beginning for me. I am motivated now more than ever to seek out new passions and adventures and to get out of my comfort zone.
Vuyisile, a South African, a social and environmental consultant, a trainer and a social facilitator. I have been interested in all ventures that connect me with people from an early age; as a student in primary, secondary, high school and universities. As I am growing old I want to be involved in ventures that will enable me to plough/give back to others. I have been involved in several communities, governmental and non-governmental programmes for some years. These programmes vary in their focus, ranging from social, political, stakeholder engagement, environmental management, coastal management, animal welfare and religious activities. I played different roles in all these ventures from being a Coordinator, a Manager, a Researcher, a Facilitator, Trainer, a Director and many more. These activities involved lots of travelling both nationally, regionally and internationally. These travels exposed me to lots of different people, languages and cultures. Since then, travelling has become my passion.
Let's get to know Wandisile Mboxela was born in Cape Town, I’m the last born of four siblings parents background from the beautiful province of the Eastern Cape in Alice, My background was very poor parents had to move to Cape Town where all four siblings born. All my primary education, higher education done here in Cape Town, while was at school developed love for Sport, now I’m applying that love for sport to the young kids in my community keep them out of trouble, we grow up with a lot of trouble in my community now trying to chase that away, to build bright future to the young people by involving them in sport education activities, sport and education goes together if you want to build better future for others. Coming from where I came from, hard work pays, I was offered a Learnership qualification which introduced me to corporate world quite extensively. Good written and verbal communication skills in at least two of three official languages of the Western Cape, problem-solving and conflict management with good planning and organizational skills, ability to handle information as confidential and good interpersonal skills, to contribute and become part of a successful organization that motivate its employees to utilize their skill and talent effectively and efficiently, the knowledge and skills which I acquired over that period of time equipped me for future positions. I am a hard-working individual, and eager to learn, I was recently employed due to Covid-19 company layoff some staff. I was employed as Accounts Controller at Tourvest Travel Service and this involves extensive client interaction. Deliver an effective admin support service to staff and clients, communicate with suppliers regarding outstanding, verbally, via mail and telephonically. I have highly knowledge of Tourism and Hospitality which I achieved through Theta, Tourism Hospitality and Sport Education Training Authority. Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change, and I’m looking forward to be part and the future of ZaGenie. Thank you…
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