Nambitha Ben-Mazwi’s star is continuously on the up and up. The actress, who is also a qualified business scientist, talks to us about her journey, the importance of thorough planning and helping young women realise their fullest potential.
You're from Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape. Tell us a little bit about growing up there as a child.
I'm a small-town girl through and through. I'm a nerd at heart. My mom would take me to the library every Saturday morning while she would do her errands and that was my favourite pastime, spending hours in the library on Saturday mornings. So, I was that golden child, overachiever, who excelled in sports and was an academic. I remember being really busy. I would get home at 7pm from all the extramural activities I'd be involved in. And a big part of that was being in theatres, I was always performing in musical productions. I was a singer and travelled around Europe on a tour with the Eastern Cape Children's Choir, we performed at Grahamstown too.
I always say whoever you are as a child, when the external environment and society pressures and all the noise start influencing you, always go back to that core question of ‘what did you want to be when you grow up?’.
You started in corporate and the after a while decided to follow your heart into acting. When and how did you decide that?
I decided to go to New York, and I never got on the plane back. I was working for a global software company at the time, and I think for me, it was noticing that okay, this is great. I was living a very comfortable life. But I would be at the office until 2am at night or go in on a Saturday at 7am. There was something that was missing, and I couldn't really pinpoint it. I wasn't feeling fulfilled.
I hadn't realised ‘oh, what's missing is you’re no longer able to feed your [creative] side and your craft through the arts’. So, it took a conversation with a friend at the time to help me realise. She gave me a call while I was at the office after office hours actually, and she was telling me how she'd be moving to Florence, Italy, and she's leaving corporate and she's going to pursue design and this and that.
And while she's breaking these news to me, she catalysed something in me by saying, “Nam, I know where your heart lies, and you're damn good at it. Go for it.” She just said it; she felt that she needed to share that with me. It was the push I needed, so I resigned. I negotiated the package. I had always wanted to have some global experience and I had communicated even with the company when I wanted to go to their New York office. I guess they say the rest is history.
The media or entertainment space can be quite cutthroat. What would you say are some of the biggest challenges in the industry, whether personal or from what you have noticed, your colleagues go through?
Sustainability and that ‘staying power’, you know. I’m busy doing a campaign with Nescafe Gold and Thembi Seete is a part of it. And I remember we were at the event, and I said to her I commend her sustainability. Because I was in school when I remember going to a Boom Shaka bash, and just seeing how she is still as sustainable and still breaking different barriers.
For me, as a business scientist, what I've noticed a lack of in fellow peers in the industry is a business acumen in treating yourself as a business, drafting a strategy and quarterly reviews and giving ourselves quarterly targets.
I was very meticulous and strategic when I came back from New York. I took a pause on presenting, I completely stopped, and I said I want to introduce myself to the local market as an actress. So that's obviously being very meticulous and very intentional and purposeful in how I've navigated my career. So, staying power, sustainability and treating yourself as a business and having business acumen as artists.
Having watched your work and your journey, you portray every role with such conviction. How do you prepare yourself for a role?
I need to be excited by a project – the character and the script, and there needs to be purpose behind it. And this is where my faith comes in. Right? So, for me what I do as an actor, it's a calling. It's a service and not a paycheck for me. You know, this is really where I get to have God give me this gift and exercise it in order to reach and catch light by telling the story truthfully as possible.
Because I take it as such a big responsibility, how I prepare is very deep. How I approach a new character is, I think, in the space of spiritually. I usually detox, I cut off alcohol, I'll train just so that I can be as mindful as possible. I research, I do a lot of research; I think that is the nerd in me.
So, the most exciting part for me is the preparation because I get to know myself. I get to have insight into someone else's life. My interest grows a whole lot more because I feel like I understand what everyone's had to go through a little bit better.
Which role would you say you’ve enjoyed the most?
I learned so much from every character I played, I fall in love with them. There are times where I even miss them. But I will tell you the most challenging character I've played, that I really enjoyed moving myself into, and people still call me her name, is Shaqueesha. I loved her. She was my biggest challenge. She was my most dangerous role because I had to find ways to tap out. And I also experienced something in me as well that I never knew I had. And for me, it's important for me to grow up to every single role to discover more aspects of myself.
Related article: Q&A with Siphokazi Jonas
You recently lost a colleague, the very talented Busi Lurayi. Could you tell us how you are coping?
The thing is, when I was working with Busi for ‘How to Ruin Christmas’ season 1, it was peak lockdown. We were all shooting in a bubble. For six weeks, production, crew and cast, we all stayed at the hotel and weren't allowed to leave. So we literally became family. You couldn't see anyone else but these people. Her passing has really hit.
For me, I think the part that triggered me is that I had lost my big sister Kuli Roberts, I'd lost my cousin within a matter of days, then Monday, I lost a family friend, and then an hour afterwards I hear of Busi. The overwhelmingness of it triggered me. It hasn’t sunk in.
Also, when it's someone close to your age, it becomes even closer to home because you know she had so much more to offer the world. It also becomes a scary thought. It's still something I'm trying to make sense of. She was an impeccable artist.
If you had the power to change anything in the world, what would it be?
I want my work, I want what I've achieved, I want my interaction, what I stand for, people to look and literally see God, and see everything that He can do and how unlimited He is. I want to be the prime example.
I want to be an exalted young woman. I want to help young women have a voice and purpose. I've been very intentional by doing it through ‘She Speaks by Lady Nam’, which is all about helping young women find their voices. It started off as a brunch and in 2018 it blew up into a movement of its own.
I needed to create a platform where I can have my followers and young girls gather so I can reach them and talk and create the space to be more vulnerable so they can also find their voice and find a purpose.
Related article: Hard work pays off: Zee Nxumalo
LEADING AND LIVING WITH A RESOUNDING PURPOSE: NAMBITHA BEN-MAZWI
Reviewed by Michelle Pienaar
on
July 21, 2022
Rating:
Reviewed by Michelle Pienaar
on
July 21, 2022
Rating:
