Cover Story – Dineo Ranaka On The Art Of Reinvention
No one does reinvention and bouncing back better than Metro FM on-air personality and entrepreneur, Dineo Ranaka. This Youth Month, we revel in her never-say-die spirit and string of wise words!
Thank you to the Fresh Breakfast team for laying the entertainment red carpet for us. We will continue on that path for the next three hours…” Dineo Ranaka’s words blare out of my car speakers as I listen to Metro FM’s mid-morning show, The Bridge, on the Monday when we’re meant to, finally, meet for our interview. My mind immediately tries to decipher how she came to be so gifted with words — so, I make a mental note to ask her this question later. Ten minutes after this thought, a WhatsApp voice note from the 35-year-old radio and club DJ sends my excitement levels crushing down. She is, yet again, asking that we postpone our interview because — following a weekend packed to the brim with her DJing gigs — she’d like to catch up on some sleep after work. Silently freaking out about the looming deadline, I get her to commit to meeting the next day.
Dineo insisted that we conduct the interview in the comfort of her home, and when I show up at her house the next day, I find her sprawled on a chunky black couch, feasting on Netflix. “Bathong, not even President Cyril Ramaphosa has a schedule as tight and unpredictable as yours,” I tease her after our embrace.
“Eish, I’m busy trying to make money to feed my kids,” she retorts, before we break into brief banter about black girl hairline struggles and remedies. Ever felt your heart turn warm and fuzzy at the start of a conversation with someone? Right there and then, I know for sure that the interview’s definitely going to be worth all the postponements.
MISCONCEPTIONS
Why bring a journalist into your private space, I blurt out. “I am such a homebody, and I wouldn’t have been comfortable talking and competing with the noise levels at a restaurant. How you found me when you walked in, is where you’ll find me when I’m not working,” she answers, in that assured ‘I’ve read every selfhelp book out there’ demeanour that has become synonymous with brand Dineo. Given that she’s talkative, with dance moves that can give Chomee a run for her money, one would assume that she’s an extrovert. That’s not the case, she says.
“One of the things the guys I’ve dated found bizarrely interesting about me was that I’m a homebody. Equally so, it’s one of the things they also found boring. They had come into my life expecting fireworks, then all of a sudden, it was like watching paint dry,” she explains nonchalantly.
“In all honesty, I’m boring! I think most event organisers have blacklisted me because I’d RSVP with the intention of attending an event, and not show up. Unless I’m working, events are generally not a space I enjoy. Most people always say, ‘Dineo o rata go ba deep’. I can’t help myself — that’s just how I am. I don’t take things at face value, and I really do not enjoy small talk. I simply cannot maintain the social side of my career.”
As an onlooker, you can laugh at my attempts to keep trying, but only I understand my journey.
While on the subject of relationships, of late, Dineo’s been mum about that area of her life. She attributes this newfound stance on sex. How, I wonder? “Sex made me realise the insignificance of publicising who I go to bed with at night. What value does it add to the lives of the people I’m sharing this information with? Discussing one’s partner in public is too vulnerable a subject, and this type of vulnerability is usually prone to attacks. I’ve grown to respect and protect my love life,” she says, before wrapping up this topic with, “I’ve also learnt that I’m not strong enough to suffer the backlash of a failed relationship. I’d rather mourn in private.”
Dineo’s been the subject of many uncomfortable headlines, which she chooses not to delve into nor relive because, as she puts it, “I’m done glorifying painful things.” If she had PR-spun some of the negative publicity, á la Kris Jenner making lemonade out of Kim Kardashian’s sex tape scandal, Dineo believes her career would probably carry more weight. But she couldn’t be happier with how things are because there’s less maintenance to be done on the social side of her career, which leaves her with ample time for her entrepreneurial pursuits. “For as long as I keep trying and commit to bouncing back, there is no media publication that has the power to write off my career,” she says resolutely.
HUSTLER’S LANE
The queen of reinvention, Dineo owes her hustler mentality to having had a front row seat to her parents’ entrepreneurial ventures. “I’ve seen my parents succeed and fail at a lot of things,” she shares. As a teenager, Dineo worked everywhere where her mother was employed — from selling Avroy Shlain make-up door-to-door, to braiding her mom’s colleagues’ hair for R150 a head. “Heyi ke ya braida nna mosadi! I’m the worst client at a hair salon because I know exactly what I want,” she says animatedly. Fresh out of high school, Dineo worked as a receptionist and while there, felt she was wasting away. She left and finally decided to earn a living through her gifts.
She was the first media personality, back in 2013, to have her own reality TV show, Dineo’s Diary. “Nna ke brave man, ke rata go zama. Life ya bora when we don’t try,” she enthuses. Along with her production company Brains At Work Media, which produces The Ranakas, she’s planning to take her cooking project — aptly named the Untrained Chef — to the next level. She also plans to revive her clothing label, Luv DR. “I’ll be stepping things up a bit but can’t afford to put timelines on them right now. My spirit is also telling me not to divulge too much about my business plans,” she says. She continues: “As an onlooker, you can laugh at my attempts to keep trying, but only I understand my journey. I understand my passion points – I know the method to my madness. ”
In April this year, black Twitter went amok after watching a video of Dineo dancing behind the decks. Some complained that celebrities had it easy as overnight club DJs, while some said she wasn’t ready to play publicly. “I understand why I came under attack, because some people have been doing this for a long time but lack the platforms to sell themselves. Yet, I’m out here telling people that I learnt how to DJ in two weeks,” she says unapologetically. “I’m not going to reduce myself just to make other people feel comfortable. When I talk about my DJing journey, I do so to inspire the next fast learner,” she says sternly.
“I’m passionate about music and
would like to be equally passionate in monetising my newlyacquired skill. If I see an opportunity to make money out of something, trust me, I will do so because I’m not raising my children for free. I cannot deposit my love for them at the bank, with the hope that it’ll pay their school fees and my bond,” she says. During a hangout session last December, a tipsy Dineo jokingly told friends that she would take up DJing because she didn’t want to age. By early January this year, she had enlisted help from Cliff Central DJ O’neal Madumo. She also turned to Floyd La Luna, whom she went on to practice with for seven hours daily, every day. By the third week, Floyd accompanied her to Rosebank to purchase her DJing equipment. “I haven’t stopped practicing since. Floyd would take videos of me and I’d go back home and critique myself. I started booking gigs in February, and so far, I’ve had more than 30 bookings, mostly for hip-hop. The second phase of my DJing career is establishing a very intimate relationship with the music,” she explains.
MOTHERING WITH INTENT
Dineo is having an absolute blast raising her two cubs — it’s palpable from how endearingly she speaks about them. “Kgosi is nine going on 30, and Kopano is six going on 55,” she quips, adding that her children are her biggest cheerleaders. “If they like my mix, they usually respond with a song, complete with dance moves, that goes, ‘Printing paper mommy!’. When I’m not mixing well, they will blatantly tell me, ‘You’re not allowed to get paid for that one!’” she gushes. “Motherhood, for me, is friendship. My children are growing while I still have the energy to play with them and the discipline not to be careless in their presence.”
Describing her own relationship with her mother, Dineo loves that Mama Nonceba accepts her for who she is. She finds that most people have unfair expectations of her. Her eyes well up as she dissects this point. And to hide these uninvited emotions, she lowers the front of her cap. “There is a certain mould, or type of woman that society puts up with, and I’m expected to be that. I have seen this in romantic and industry relationships. Because of my refusal to conform, I’ve been at the receiving end of the worst kind of rejection,” she recounts.
SELF FIRST
Dineo sounds like those children who spend the bulk of their time with grown-ups — and as a result, are ripe beyond their age. Or, someone that reads and reflects a lot. She’s the latter, she points out quickly. “I read everything — from my children’s school newsletters to the Bible, which I read as a user manual to human nature,” she substantiates.
So, what keeps this self-confessed loner and juggler mom sane? “I enjoy time out with friends, but I’ll always choose solitude first,” she shares. “There is no church or pastor that can energise me the way my home does. Home is where I can be stripped to my bare, basic minimum. People are going through so much of their own spiritual journeys that they don’t want you bleeding out on them. The only place where I can bleed out — where God is of true presence — is my home,” she concludes.