YOVINI MOODLEY
What’s your top tip for doing a deal? It’s a bit like playing chess: try to always anticipate the other party’s moves. A good deal results in both parties feeling they have won.
What are you reading at the moment? by Michelle Obama and by Robin Sharma. What was your first job?
I was an assistant accountant at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital in London. I was on a working holiday visa and had taken the first job I got. I ended up working there for a whole year, while travelling and seeing the world.
What’s the worst airport you’ve been in?
Dubai International under construction — I had to run from one terminal to the other while in transit.
How do you deal with stress? What are your top tips for handling stress? Meditation is my biggest coping tool. I start my day with meditation, followed by prayer and journalling. This gives me a sense of calm and greater perspective, and it prevents me from getting caught up in a situation. My top tips are to make time to connect with yourself through the day — take time for lunch, leave your desk and take a walk outside, find beauty in the little things and try to reframe your situation to find the lesson or opportunity embedded within it. Is there such a thing as enough money and, if so, how much is it? If you are operating from a mindset of scarcity, there will never be “enough money”. I see money as an enabler to help me make a difference.
Which talent would you most like to have?
Dancing — I love it, but it feels as if I’ve been gifted with two left legs.
Becoming The 5am Club
Tell us about a hidden gem in SA that not many people know about. Britannia Hotel in Durban — it has the best bunny chows (the prawn bunny is especially tasty).
What do you regard as the lowest depths of misery? Assuming a victim mentality — you end up giving all your power away.
Who is your favourite hero of fiction? It has to be Wonder Woman.
What is your biggest regret?
Not being able to learn my cultural languages when I was young. It is a part of my culture that I cannot pass on to my children.
What’s the most interesting thing about you that people don’t know?
I am a qualified Reiki practitioner and I make little needle felted dolls, which I sell at the organic market.
Which phrase or word do you most overuse?
“Trust the universe.”