A PRODUCT OF TRIAL AND ERROR
Popular from her days as a young black ballerina scooping leading roles, LORNA MASEKO has since transitioned into an entrepreneur and TV presenter. She talks us through this change, laughs off the misconception that she’s a snob and shares her future plan
There seems to be a rule that women can be one thing and not the other. Typical examples include things like, you can’t lose your mind at the mere sound of gqom, and in the same breath claim to be a Christian. Or that you can’t be a power-suited corporate high-flyer on weekdays, and rock bum shorts on weekends. You can literally be anything that you want — this is the lesson I picked up thirty minutes into my interview with Lorna Malebo Maseko.
The ballerina turned entrepreneur and TV presenter makes little eye contact during our interview, a gesture that alerts me to her guarded nature. She later admits that it’s her way of protecting herself because she’s naturally sensitive. Prior to saying something hilarious or typically ghetto, she pulls animated faces — accompanied by a variation in her accent — something I assume to mean she’s laidback. I’m quite certain that I speak on behalf of almost the entire country when I say that season 2 of the reality TV series Being Bonang revealed a side of Lorna’s personality that has been a welcome surprise to say the least.
NOT AN ACT
A misconception that has long been doing the rounds is that Lorna is a stuck-up snob — a rumour she believes was sparked by the fact that she didn’t play much on the streets of Alexandra as a child, and mostly hung out with her Caucasian ballet friends. “The only friends I had from Alex were those that I did ballet with. I was blessed to have been exposed to ballet and numerous other great opportunities when I was nine, and we were trained to dance like professsionals from the get-go. My spare time was spent rehearsing, so I never had a chance to pretend I was a butterfly because our ballet master was so hard on us,” she explains, almost feeling sorry for those who are wrong about her. She adds that the only area of her life where she can be faulted is with anything food related. “I’m very picky with food, but chilled about everything else. I love eating at Michelin Star restaurants, but I cook really hearty and rustic food,” she says about a contrast even she herself doesn’t seem to understand.
Back to her initial point: “Energy speaks louder than me saying hello to you, and it’s not something you can fake. I’m very down to earth and just want to spread positive energy at all times. I want people to work with me and go, ‘She’s actually a breath of fresh air’,” she says.
At face value, Lorna is definitely not the kind of girl you’d expect to find in a safety jacket, hard hat and boots but as the newly-appointed director of a company called Thermo Radiators, she’s taken on quite smoothly to this unglamorous side of her career. The company manufactures radiators, oil coolers and heat exchangers, she explains succintly. “Through my company Fabulous Productions, I used to organise events for my mining clients. And just from being in that environment, I knew it was a space I wouldn’t mind dabbling in. I met these two mining execs during a Top Billing shoot, and told them about my history with servicing mining companies and how I’d always been fascinated with getting involved with the dirty side of things. After a few conversations, they brought me on board as a consultant first, then promoted me to director this year. People don’t know these things about me because I don’t flash it out to everyone,” she says. When not clad in safety boots, Lorna tunes into her media expertise to help run Embassy – a majority women-owned advertising agency. She’s one of the partners, and is responsible for heading up the agency’s client services team.
“I love that I get to do fun stuff through
Top Billing, and my cooking show The Hostess while also accommodating mining and advertising because they force me to stretch my thinking. I want to be remembered as that girl from Alex who only had a matric but went on to achieve the unimaginable,” she says. LORNA THE FOODIE
Lorna makes light of how she registered for a BCom in Business Management with Unisa for two years but failed to complete it. “I was always at the front of the registration queue but never quite made it to the last exam. It’s weird because now I feel like I could complete an MBA because it’s interactive,” she says. Other than the fact that she’s always loved cooking, feasting and hosting, Lorna has no cool story to help put her passion for food into context. Taking part in the celebrity edition of MasterChef
SA, she says, was what really cemented this relationship.
“I went to chef school straight afterwards, but only lasted two months because I realised that I’m a trial and error kind of girl. I swear by the ‘I’ll figure it out as I go along’ mentality. I love those stories of people who build themselves up from nothing because, in a way, that’s also my own story. So when The Hostess came along, it was the perfect opportunity for me to position myself. I’ve dabbled in many businesses that were epic fails, but I’m now channelling my life into the things that I really enjoy,” she explains.
One such failed business venture was The Bread Basket, a restaurant that Lorna bought in 2017 but now admits was a bad business decision. She’d rather not delve into the details, but is grateful that her close friend and fellow TV presenter Bonang Matheba supported her through that thorny chapter. An entrepreneur at heart, Lorna isn’t easily deterred by failure, a very important trait to have in order to survive the tumultuous nature of business. Looking back, though, she cites her inability to ask others for help as one of her weaknesses. “I always try and figure things out on my own. I’ll listen to Christian music and cry dirty in my car. But I’m learning that there is nothing wrong with being vulnerable in certain instances. In fact, I think people need to cry more,” she says.
BALLERINA GIRL Much as she’ll always be indebted to ballet for instilling in her lifelong values and habits such as discipline, resilience and good posture, she has no intentions of ever returning to it. She’s already ruled out teaching, saying she doesn’t have the patience for it, but is open to being involved in fundraising initiatives to help advance South African ballet. Lorna decided to turn her back on this art form at age 22. “I thought to myself, ‘I could either have ugly toes my whole life or go find what other interesting things are out there in the world’,” she explains. In addition to the skills she lauds ballet for, Lorna also cites perfection as another elusive destination they were taught to strive for through dance. All those skills combined have paved way for a Lorna who isn’t easily discouraged in the face of failure. “It’s weird because the very idea of perfection is non-existent. In ballet, we’d perfect the same move a thousand times until we got it right. Getting up and trying again now lives deep within me,” she says. THE WORLD, HER OYSTER
Lorna recently listened to a podcast by Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk. In it, he mentions that there could be a little village on planet Mars in the near future. This crazy piece of information, she says, made her realise how anything is possible. Some people have gone as far as asking Lorna why she sells radiators when she’s supposed to be a glamorous TV presenter. “I’ve also had moments where I’ve asked myself this question but the former pushes my brain out of its comfort zone,” she explains. She also adds that she’s going through a phase where she feels that she’s lagging behind in achieving her goals. For someone who’s already signed a cookbook deal — scheduled for release in 2019 — there’s a very high chance that this statement could be coming from the perfectionist in her. “When I think back to how much I put in to get to the top of the ballet chain, then what I’m doing now is definitely not enough to get me to the next level of my career. My business ventures need to make me millions, and not in rands!,” she says, before breaking into another one of her silly giggles.
With all this juggling, what holds our new favourite girl together? “Definitely my relationship with God,” she enthuses and explains that she’s a product of God’s grace. “I need to trust God a little bit more because He really is faithful.” Lorna’s story is true testament to the assertion that we can be any and everything we set our minds to. She agrees, and responds in a faux southern accent: “So, whether I done danced in the club the night before, then went to church a few hours later and a board meeting the next day, I’m there for a specific and higher purpose,” she explains.
Debunking misconceptions aside, the takeaway lesson for all of us is that perceptions, especially when false, can rob us of the opportunity to know someone in their entirety. So, here’s to first encountering people, then making judgements last! TRAVEL TIDBITS Trips that changed my life… An amalgamation of all the trips I went on during my ballet days made me realise that the world is a much bigger place than I thought. Most importantly, I learnt that I too could have a taste of that world. Now I know that it’s possible to dually live elsewhere in the world — it’s not as far-fetched as I thought.
Best things about travelling... I always have an Aha! Moment after all my trips. Clichéd as it sounds, but it really does open up your mind. A few months ago, I went to a beautiful quaint dorpie in the south of France called SaintCassien. They have no Uber, so I had to take the bus to the vineyards where I was planning to take lots of snaps in my outfit because I looked damn cute that day. People don’t realise what a gem South Africa is — our wine farms are beautiful and well-run.
Trips that I’m yet to take… Greece, explore the south of France, the US and UK some more. Marrakech and Japan are also on my bucketlist. Post-travel blues… Those are real! I usually sleep the entire day upon arrival. Also, by the time I get back, my team already has a long list of urgent things I need to do.