Oprah graduate’s great new life
Thando is living the dream after graduating from Oprah’s academy. Here she talks about her bond with the queen of talk
TO MILLIONS of people Oprah Winfrey is a media powerhouse, one of the richest and most famous people on the planet. But to a young woman from Benoni she’s simply “Mam’ O”, the mother figure who plucked her from obscurity and hardship and set her on course for a life she could never have dreamt of.
Thando Dlomo is a regular visitor at her “mom’s” house in Chicago where they snuggle on the couch and binge-watch series on Netflix.
“Her house is like home to me,” she says. “The Crown is our favourite show.”
She’s one of the first graduates from the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls (OWLAG) in Henley-on-Klip in Gauteng – and one of Oprah’s biggest success stories.
Thando’s rise from poverty to prosperity is both heartwarming and inspiring, and no one could be prouder of her than the 65-year-old businesswoman extraordinaire. She was there last year when Thando graduated from the University of Southern California with a master’s degree in journalism and she spoke at the 25-year-old’s graduation ceremony.
“She actually called me her daughter when she spoke at my graduation,” Thando says, chatting to YOU all the way from Los Angeles.
“It was funny, she said to me, ‘I can’t wait to out you’, because generally I prefer to keep our relationship to myself. So when that happened all my classmates were like, ‘How did we not know about you guys? Why didn’t you tell us?’ But I like to keep it low-key.”
Thando is one of the stars of a streaming show called Oprah’s Daughters on People TV, a channel run by the US magazine. She features alongside Oprah and fellow graduate Mpumi Nobiva and talks about the impact Mam’ O has had on her life. Oprah in turn praises the OWLAG girls.
In a candid moment she calls them “the daughters I didn’t have”. “I never thought the mothering instinct was for me. These girls are my greatest, deepest joy.”
Oprah, who was raised by her grandmother in poverty in Mississippi, says she wanted to build a school for girls like her. “This school is my greatest legacy.”
Thando is now making her own mark on the world of showbiz: she’s a producer on US TV network Entertainment Tonight’s new streaming channel, ET Live.
“It’s so exciting,” she says. “Being an outsider and walking into a space with people who are maybe different to you can be a bit intimidating. Often I’m also the youngest, but hey, we’re brave and we arrive in our boldness and the skin we know and love.
“And we do it for ourselves, our family and the people we represent.”
She knows none of this would be possible with her Mam’ O. “I’m forever in her debt.”
AS A child Thando watched the Oprah Winfrey Show every day with her grandmother, Janet Tshabalala, and recalls being enthralled by what a “beautiful and talented human being” she was. Little did she know that one day she’d meet her idol.
Thando was 12 when the call came that would change her life: Oprah was offering her a place at the school she was launching to help academically gifted girls from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Having been identified by the TV titan as having the “It” factor, brighteyed Thando was among the school’s first intake in 2007.
“Oprah called me and said, ‘You made it!’,” she recalls.
Thando was raised primarily by her grandmother, a domestic worker, in a modest home in Northmead, Benoni. Oprah came to the house in 2006 while filming the documentary Building a Dream ahead of the opening of her school.
“I remember how she walked into my room, which was literally the size of my single bed, and said, ‘This is a boat – it’s so small!’”
She vividly recalls her first weeks at Oprah’s brand-new academy with its gleaming, state-of-the art facilities and luxury accommodation.
“It was like going to visit your rich aunt,” she says. “But what struck me most was all the love Oprah had put into it – all the detail she’d gone into, from giving us the best linen to the best cutlery.
“She said she wanted to give us what she’d give herself. She told us, ‘Beauty is inspirational’.”
The pair grew increasingly close – especially after Thando lost her mother, Elizabeth, to Aids in 2010.
“My mom was like a best friend. She visited often. She and my father had me very young, which is why my grandmother offered to raise me. My dad [who died of meningitis in 2017] lived in another province so I had a distant relationship with him.”
Despite the heartbreak Thando persevered at school and a year later received her matric diploma from Mam’ O herself.
Did she ever feel torn between the two worlds she inhabited?
“Naturally when you’re going between the township and Oprah’s school there’s some adjustment you need to do.
“But over time I learnt to appreciate the different and beautiful things each world had to offer and I let go of any guilt.”
THANDO is still close to her grandmother and tries to see her as often as her busy life allows. She flew home to celebrate her birthday in December and in a poignant tribute on Instagram called her gogo “the artery of my being” and “the ultimate form of love God has ever shown me”. “I’m another year grateful to walk the same earth as this gem – my best friend and partner in poverty,” she wrote. “We made it through together – she taught me to be gentle with others, to live in unapologetic happiness and to leave others better than I found them. “I pray she lives to walk me down the aisle of many more successes.” As for her second mom, Oprah, the biggest lesson she’s learnt is to embrace being a successful black woman and to share that message of empowerment. Thando is fiercely proud of her South African roots and passionate about spreading awareness and educating people about her country and its people. At the Black Entertainment Awards last year she was involved in a panel discussion about Nelson Mandela’s legacy. And in September she took part in talks in New York at the UN on the issue of owning and prioritising African art. “Right now my primary mission is to ‘walk the talk’. Yes, I’m still finding my feet but I’m living my purpose and I hope that inspires young girls to be bold in their dreams. “In a few years I’ll be back home and I want to open centres for women who look like me and share the good word that hope isn’t lost, and that our pain is sometimes our greatest strength – it transforms us into better people.” In the People TV documentary Oprah says she has only one agenda for girls like Thando: to succeed at whatever level they choose for themselves. “It’s educated young women like these who are the future leaders of Africa.”