THREE CHEERS TO NDLOVUKAZI WINES

Kholeka Nxumalo is a young vibrant woman who has taken the bold step to venture into the highly competitive wine market. She brings her vibey and relatable personality to her range of wines. Ndlovukazi Wines consists of Shiras, House White Blend and House Red Merlot (all 2018).

Wine is known as a conversation drink meant to make the mood filled with joy and laughter. It is a drink one enjoys with friends and also when one distresses from all the worries of the world, one that everyone should have in their shelves at home. It is a welcomed drink whenever cooking and the Ndlovukazi ranges add those necessary flavours to any dish.

It's without a doubt that, when there is a gathering of friends or just relaxing at home, a bottle of Ndlovukazi Wines should be on the table. Not only is the packaging splendidly done, it leaves one with a lingering taste that will have one hooked in.

We at Calf Magazine say Cheers to Kholeka for ensuring that we keep believing that one day sopopa! 

SUCCESSFUL LOVE CONNECTIONS: HOW YOUR PARTNER CAN INFLUENCE THE SUCCESS OF YOUR CAREER

By Busisiwe Nkhwashu-Leburu

We often hear the saying: “Behind every successful man there is a strong woman” although this may seem irrelevant to millennials. On the contrary, millennials are faced with more challenges and obstacles in their careers, businesses and general mental wellbeing, therefore making it essential for them to have what is referred to as a “Conscientious Partner”.

By definition, a conscientious individual is someone who is thorough, efficient and organised. They are prudent in their planning and are able to control their impulses.

Key ways in which a Conscientious Partner can affect your career/business success:

·         They lower your stress. A pleasant home life reduces stress and means you are better able to focus while you are at work without worrying about trouble brewing at home. Entrepreneurs are often faced with daily challenges in trying to make their endeavours successful. It therefore becomes a necessity to have a partner who brings you peace, stability and mental wellbeing.

·         A Conscientious Partner is able to handle more of the day-to-day household commitments, enabling their partner to recover from a hard day at work or to put in more hours at the office. 

·         They encourage similar behaviour in the partner. They can role-model good habits and traits like diligence, reliability and consistency – skills which may be vital in contributing to one’s career success.

We all have different definitions of success, and some of us may not aspire to marriage. But we cannot deny the feeling a supportive partner brings to your life. Just having someone who believes in you and gives you confidence to take bigger risks is invaluable.

It not only makes you more successful, but also makes you happier and more appreciative of your achievements.

Success feels less if you do not have anyone to share it with. It may not be something that we absolutely need, however having a partner that you can share your hopes and dreams with can be a great bonus and motivates you to reach greater heights in your success.

SOFT GLAM BEAUTY - A PRESENTATION BY CALF MAGAZINE

#Beauty #Editorial

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Model: Nunuzana

Make-up artist: ZethuCalf

Photographer: Tshidiso SkiGraphy Lamola

CALF MAGAZINE BOOK REVIEW: AYANDA SIDLAYI’S “I WOULDN’T HAVE MADE IT”

Ayanda Sidlayi is the author of “I wouldn't have made it”, a memoir journal turned into an autobiography in 2017, that narrates the healing journey that she underwent when she was faced by depression due to a change in dynamics at her family home.

She was once a happy bubbly child who had all the warm embrace and love from both her parents. She was supported in all her aspirations as a young girl and had a promising future to look forward to, but then things changed when her father was retrenched from work. He resorted to alcoholism as a coping mechanism.

That had catastrophic effects for the family. Her father, the once smitten and dotting dad suddenly became the cursing and emotional and verbally abusive person that made the family to always be rendered into tears when he had his outbursts and embarrassing episodes in public. He had turned his wreath on his eldest child, Ayanda.

That left Ayanda not understanding the unrolling events and, her being a target, she couldn't comprehend how the loving and supportive dad had suddenly become the opposite, in fact even being an enemy. All that confusion left the young Ayanda reeling in depression. Her once bubbly persona had become a shodow of its former self, she was now withdrawn and in a dark place and always felt misunderstood. This was confusing especially for a black family where mental health issues were dismissed and usually never taken as serious, all of which left Ayanda isolated and misunderstood. She then started keeping a journal and documenting her story and her emotions.

Over time, within the ongoing chaos around her, Ayanda was able to find brief breathing spaces to escape from all of that and was able to find the time and space to write motivation to herself. That's when she noticed that she had unlocked her healing by writing down every personal experience.

It's with the power of this book that became her healing that she started sharing her journey and motivation online that eventually she was approached to turn her enlightening journal into a book so that it could be of assistance to others who might also be facing challenges and problems behind closed doors and are feeling misunderstood. This then started a a whole movement of breaking the chains on mental health, on being held captive by one's own mental state. This also puts one as having the power to take a journey through self introspection and building positive words as affirmation to one's self daily.

This is a powerful book that needs to open up discussions amongst families and friends, amongst the community and society about the crisis of mental health and how we need to take it serious. This is a book that is beautifully written as one person's personal story and how it builds up to the awakening journey. This is a book that should help spark conversations on mental health, particularly as issues to be seen fit for normal discussion. This could assist someone who didn't understand themselves or assist people to be able to identify a person that needs attention.

"I wouldn't have made it" is not just an ordinary 'motivational' book but more of a movement to helping everyone to be mentally healthy. It's a must read, and a necessary book on gifting items.

Let's start the conversation and unlock the healing.

MATSHEPO MALOKOE – DESTINED FOR THE TOP AND BEYOND

THROUGHOUT WOMEN’S MONTH and beyond, Calf Magazine continues to be inspired by Women’s struggles and successes regardless of all the hurdles they encounter on a daily basis. We celebrate Women this Women’s Month by presenting Matshepo Malokoe to the world.

Matshepo Malokoe is the owner of X Woman Spa & Beauty and has already enjoyed success. She has also helped many Women through her work, empowering them, and this is just the kind of inspiration that continues to drive us at Calf Magazine.

Calf Magazine will present the full story of Matshepo Molokoe, including her work as well as related struggles and accomplishments. You do no want to miss this. Stay tuned!

FIVE SIMPLE GUIDELINES TO BUILDING A PERSONAL BRAND

By Busisiwe
Nkhwashu-Leburu

Building a personal brand means providing value in one or multiple niches that people begin to associate your name with the idea of what it means to be successful in that industry, that is how you become a thought leader and influencer.

There are some general guidelines to building a personal brand. This is particularly effective in the digital age of social media. These simple guidelines will make you realise that you do not have to be a miracle worker to be a thought leader or an influencer; all you need is you.

1.    FIGURE OUT WHAT YOU’RE GOOD AT AND HOW YOU CAN GENERATE AN INCOME FROM IT

The first step is acknowledging what you like doing, because if you don’t like it chances are you won’t take it very seriously, and if you aren’t willing to take it seriously it won’t be a success.

Once you’ve figured that out, you need to make a commitment to being as great as you can possibly be. This has nothing to do with being competitive; it has to do with realising that whatever you like doing many other people like doing it too and they are ready to take your position.

Commit to becoming a thought leader in the thing you love doing!

2.    FIND YOUR SOCIAL PLATFORM

One mistake that most people commit is that they rush into building a website for themselves or spend a lot of time trying to come up with how they are going to brand themselves.

What matters is that you need to start owning your craft and providing value to people in a public domain. Everything starts from there.

Find a platform that suits your interest and start creating the best content you possibly can

3.    COLLABORATE

Build as many relationships as you can with other thought leaders within your niche. This will open many doors for you and help grow your social following. Find other people who create great content and collaborate.

Create content together and trade audiences. That way everyone wins, everyone grows, and you’ll create awesome connections and friends in the process.

4.    BUILD YOUR WEBSITE/EMAILING LIST

Once you have a significant following on social media, it’s time to build your website. Start with something simple. There are many cost-free platforms online. Do your research and find the one that’s best suited for you.

Your website should be the ultimate value-add to your audience. You attract their attention on social media and give them all the value in the world on your website.

A win/win here is for you to offer specialised content in exchange for their email address and contact details. This content could be a free download, a trial code to a program or app, etc; something that will provide them value and give them even more value over the long term.

5.    LAUNCH YOUR OWN PRODUCTS

The whole purpose of building a personal brand is to avoid the route of being affiliated to someone else.

The incentive for launching your own products, far more than monetary, is the credibility it gives you. Today’s business cards are books, courses and products that speak on your behalf and demonstrate your knowledge. These are intended to open doors to other thought leaders in your industry and tangential industries, so that you can continue building your social followings, collaborating and engaging with new influencers and their audiences.

LAST WORD

Building a personal brand takes a lot of hard work, drive, passion and dedication. If you’re ready to embark on that journey, these guidelines will help you get started. Don’t focus on the numbers – Twitter followers, Facebook likes, etc. Those are very poor metrics for building a meaningful brand. Rather focus on perfecting your craft and building content.

CALF MAGAZINE TRACKS MISS GATES' ENTREPRENEURSHIP JOURNEY

Seipati Masango, popularly known as Miss Gates, needs no introduction. 

She is a brand ambassador of some of the leading brands, including the following: Street Chic; My Glam Hair; and Pretty Lashes. She is a body-positivity advocate and always proudly highlights the plus size community in its absolute beauty at any given chance.

Hailing from Katlehong in Gauteng, Miss Gates always uplifts local brands through her beauty plug with her “Miss Gates Sessions”, which hosts pop-up stores in partnership with women-owned businesses.

CALF MAGAZINE sat down and had an illuminating discussion with Miss Gates recently.

THE BEGINNING OF MISS GATES' ENTREPRENEURSHIP JOURNEY

'I have always wanted to do something special and unique, something that would fulfil my soul, but never knew precisely what I should do', reveals Miss Gates as she reflects on how she ended up in this journey. Today she has her own cosmetic product, a skin care range – Organic Touch by Miss Gates. She states that for the longest time she has been treating her hair and skin using her home remedies. She then took the advice of her friends, who always complimented her, to start and develop the skin care range and then build a business out of it.

She then started working on the packaging of her product and advertised it on her social media platforms. Soon she started getting orders from places as far as Cape Town. It was then that she started realising that her product had a positive impact on the market. She then invested more in her product. She had to ensure that the product was safe and up to the required standard by having it tested for use on all skin types. The hype in sales inspired her to open a separate social media account specifically for her product, aside from her personal account.

One lesson to be learned here is that, at some point in one’s life, one just needs to take the plunge and dive in! When the time for success has come, all other things work together to ensure that success – but you must put the time and effort to make it happen. And that is the testimony of Miss Gates' skin care range.

MARKETING STRATEGY AND NICHE

Social media has given people the power to direct marketing and sales. It has eliminated the gate-keepers and ensured that everyone has an opportunity to an audience. This was the advantage Miss Gates used when marketing her skin care product and in her role as a brand ambassador. “I really loved and enjoyed the direct interaction with my clients, as well as potential clients, and optimised on that”, she adds.  She wanted her product to have a personal touch, so that when people purchased it, or got in touch with the brands that she is aligned with, they would know that they are authentic.

Miss Gates notes that often people get attracted to the person’s image and personality and then get drawn into the product or brand. Image and personality are thus both crucial in the business. She makes the point that when she had her baby, she decided to undergo body sculpturing. She walked through that journey with her followers until the end. She clarifies that she underwent the procedure in order to reveal her beautiful body with all the curves in the right places, something that was well received by her fans. A fervent advocate of self-love, she encourages and inspires people to be the best version of themselves.

Miss Gates is by no means a small player in the influencers’ streets. She has managed to use her platform to bag endorsement and brand ambassador deals. She recalls how it all started, when she won a plus-size model search. During – and after – the search, she had to do a lot of campaigning and lobbying to get her community to rally behind her. With this exercise, she was able to secure a substantial amount of following that she has managed to turn into a business and sustain.

Calf Magazine asked Miss Gates if she wants to go the mainstream retail route with her product. To this she states that as much as mainstream retail is a likely route, for entrepreneurs who are pushing their hustle from their own pocket, the journey is not an easy one. For one, the turnaround payment of sales is 90 days and that has a financial impact when you are a self-funded entrepreneur. Thus, for now the social media platform is more financially viable for her, but certainly not the limit. "My journey has just started, and there are no limits at all", she emphasises.

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Picture by: Tshidiso SkiGraphy Lamola