#ATYPICALINTERVIEW: SAMEER NAIK
REALITY TV star and wellness coach Samke Mhlongo is perhaps best known for SABC1’S The Queens of Mzansi reality show.
She is also the author of the novel Ringfence and the founder of TNC Wealth Partners.
She was previously the voice behind the financial wellness features on Metro FM and Talk Radio 702, and has made guest appearances on local and international media outlets including CNBC Africa, Channels TV (Nigeria) and K24 TV (Kenya).
Her business accolades include being among the UN Mipad Top 100 Most Influential Persons of African Descent, Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top 50 Black African Women Entrepreneurs to Watch 2018, and Brand SA’S “Play Your Part” Ambassador.
Your favourite book growing up as a child was...?
The Parrot Shah. It’s part of a collection of books that my exstepfather gifted me for Christmas and is about a young Persian king who has the power to turn himself into anything.
You are able to collaborate on a book with any author in the world. Who do you choose?
Kevin Kwan, author of Crazy Rich Asians. I love the way he changed the way in which the world sees Asians and what he did for them as people. I want to collaborate with him to do that for African people. The literary world is missing the modern upwardly mobile, culturally astutely worldly African.
What is the biggest misconception people have of you ?
That I am intrinsically confident. I am not. I have huge case of impostor syndrome that I am working on. I have a great deal of anxiety before I get on to the stage to deliver a talk and before I post on social media and I have an unhealthy relationship with failure. I am overly critical of myself.
Your favourite item of clothing in your closet currently is...?
My white faux fur coat that I bought at a pop-up store in the middle of Sandton City Mall. I hope it will stick around to be a family heirloom that I can give to my grandchildren.
What one thing caught your attention on social media this week?
The fact that celebrity blogger and cyberbully Musa Khawula’s Twitter account was suspended. I do believe that he has crossed the line a number of times in terms of abusing people’s right to privacy and dignity. I think Twitter’s decision is a good one.
Your go-to cheat meal is...?
Give me fries, wedges, waffle chips, I don’t care, as long as it’s potatoes that have met heated oil.
How would you like to be remembered?
As someone who enabled people to take back power and use it for a positive impact on the world.
The key to success is...?
The ability to overcome your unhealthy coping mechanisms rooted in your childhood trauma. A lot of us stand in our own way. A lot of us are influenced by the voices we hear in our heads that are a response to what happened to us in our childhood when we felt helpless.
You have just won the Lotto with R50 million. What’s the first thing you buy?
A house in Buckhead, Atlanta in the US. A classic Atlanta home, red face brick, black shutters and doors and roof. Sprawling lawns … It’s my dream.
You are able to star in any reality TV show in the world. Which one?
Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, of course! It’s probably the only TV series I watch unprovoked. Why?
Those ladies represent a world I always wanted to live in and I was a huge Clueless addict back in the late ’90s when it was a series on M-net.