#BehindtheSelfie with... Nomali Cele
1. Where do you live, work and play?
I live and cast spells in Soweto. I work two taxis away. I don't get much play but if I made money, I'd play in Durban a lot.
2. What’s your claim to fame?
Once, at work, Yvonne Chaka Chaka called me beautiful. But other than that, I write good and thoughtful sentences and put together banging outfits.
I've written about body positivity, Sjava, Beyoncé, Zodwa Wabantu and expectations, one bad reaction to the fire in Khayelitsha, and more.
As a publisher, it's interesting to me to see brands move their marketing exercises onto social when all these platforms are ephemeral.
3. Describe your career so far.
Eight years ago, I started my blog for the second time. I had attempted it two years previously, but this time around it stuck.
4. Tell us a few of your favourite things.
I play my songs on repeat, I thrift as much as I can, share jokes with my sister and listen to my friends' voice-note essays all the way through. I am obsessed with astrology memes, you should be following @notallgeminis on Instagram!
5. What do you love about your industry?
The thing I love the most about blogging is that it gives a voice to people. It's helped me create community and find other people who like the obscure or very mainstream things I like.Blogging has also helped me hone my criticism and perspectives, I trust my voice even more.
6. Describe your average workday, if such a thing exists.
I head to my day job, check-in on my own online communities when I can throughout the day (mostly Twitter and Instagram).
7. What are the tools of your trade?
Smartphone! When my first employer gave me a Blackberry at the age of 19, she changed how I was online – no more waiting for the internet cafe to open.
For me, a perspective is also something that's so important, it makes it so much harder to get swept up in trends.
8. Who is getting it right in your industry?
Honestly, all the first 10 bloggers I would name stopped publishing two, three years ago. But luckily for me, most of them have left their blogs open: #Archiving.
I look for personal perspectives, honesty and voice.I've always had a creative crush on Phendu Kuta who owns Unlabelled, which is a culture website. I am proud of Moyin Oloruntoba by proxy, and I've only recently gotten into her work. She's spent years building her YouTube channel, which functions as a pop-culture hub.
Abongwe Qokela, a model , creator and influencer, is ahead of the Instagram fashun pack by leaps.
Photographer Jody Brand, author Mohale Mashigo, artists Tony Gum and Natalie Paneng, critic and author Yomi Adegoke, editor Bongiwe Tshiqi, photographers Lebogang Tlhako and Kgomotso Neto, multi-disciplinary artists X and Lindokuhle Nkosi, MOOD Bee Diamondhead, genius Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah!
9. List a few pain points the industry can improve on.
I think because "influencer" is the in thing, agencies and creators alike think that's what everyone is trying to do.
I am a writer, I am a blogger and that's my playing field. I work on my photos and videos and other content pieces that make me stay on the radar on social media, but I'm not trying to be an influencer. I wish local blogging still had its sauce.
Also, agencies need to pay people, not just that one Instagram girl with 23% real followers. Pay people.
10. What are you working on right now?
Constantly making my way through all those email drafts I keep leaving. I'm writing blog posts, writing short stories and always soliciting submissions for my ‘zine.
11. Tell us some of the buzzwords floating around in your industry at the moment, and some of the catchphrases you utter yourself.
Diversity! Storytelling! Influencer! Microblogging!
My buzzword is, sadly, influenza.
12. Where and when do you have your best ideas?
Probably on my commute in the evening. It's when I unwind and have the day rush back to me. I've written quite a few short stories in that environment, and it remains unbeaten.
13. What’s your secret talent/party trick?
I am a repository of obscure South African pop-culture facts from the 2000s. It’s me. That thing Brenda Fassie said in a Selimathunzi interview? Yup.
14. Are you a technophobe or a technophile?
I think I am a techophile however, I am a creature of habit so it takes me forever to try the *in* apps. I am always thinking about accessible technology, which is something I try to blog about, and how it can change lives and the continent!
15. What would we find if we scrolled through your phone?
A lot of email drafts, astrology memes screenshot from Instagram, too many images and apps, of which at least one is a dating app. I know!
16. What advice would you give to newbies hoping to crack into the industry?
Be honest with yourself, decide what you want to get out of blogging and, by extension, writing as a whole.
Simple as that. Follow Cele’s blog as well as her Twitter and Instagram feeds for the latest updates.
*Interviewed by Leigh Andrews.
About Leigh Andrews
Leigh Andrews AKA the #MilkshakeQueen, is former Editor-in-Chief: Marketing & Media at Bizcommunity.com, with a passion for issues of diversity, inclusion and equality, and of course, gourmet food and drinks! She can be reached on Twitter at @Leigh_Andrews.
