When Boitumelo Rametsi aka Boitumelo Spotted started her own make-up brand, B Glam SA, it was for the sole purpose of covering the spots that had developed on her face as a result of vitiligo, a condition where the skin develops light patches. Little did she know she was starting a journey towards healing, accepting herself and becoming the notable entrepreneur she is today – a model, a qualified brand strategist, “an influential person; a public figure; I’m a creative and a mom. I am in the digital media space, and it’s an amazing space to be in”.

Today, a big part of Boitumelo’s personal brand, known as Spotted Beauty, is the encouragement of self-love and acceptance. As a body-positive model, she encourages people to accept themselves in their given size, shape and shade.

Courage has played a huge role in Boitumelo’s journey; not only did she have to overcome a condition that previously brought her grief when it started spreading to her face in varsity, she also had to let go of the safety net of a regular “nine to five” in order to fully embark on her journey of entrepreneurship, turning her into a game changer. “I felt that it was not fulfilling my greatest desire or what my purpose is,” she says of her nine to five, which she quit after realising her dream needed her undivided attention. 

“Since I have my ear to the ground and I was young at the time, I felt like my voice wasn’t really taken as seriously as it ought to be,” says Boitumelo. “And, I think after a couple of years, I decided to leave because of that very reason. And in that, I had to test my own beliefs as a person, because I believe that every single human being born on earth is born with skills to live a successful life without having to work for anybody else. And what that requires is for you to spend a lot of time with yourself.”

Kermit Erasmus is at the peak of his career, having recently rejoined Orlando Pirates after a stint at Mamelodi Sundowns. But he has more than just his career as an athlete to be excited about. Erasmus is venturing into podcasting, a move he believes won’t only be a new challenge but will also be for a good cause. “At this stage in my career,” he says, “what would come after soccer would be something that I’ve started, a journey that I’m going on in the media space. We’ve launched a podcast that we’ve called Plugged.”

Kermit feels the need to show people the man behind the superstar who commands the nation’s respect. “[The podcast] is about spreading knowledge on things and experiences that I’ve been through… that people like us have been through and they can relate to, and also for people to understand that footballers are also human,” he says. “It will inspire and motivate people to pursue their careers and to take the steps into the things they want to do in their lives.”

For him, it started with self-belief. “The first ability you need is the ability to believe in yourself and then the rest will follow,” he says. “You obviously need to have the technical ability and the knowledge of how the game is played. And with that, the rest can be developed. These are the main things I had as a footballer growing up – I had the belief, I had the tenacity, and I had the hunger to want to be a footballer. It’s one thing to want to be something, but you need the desire as well.”

Kermit is proud of his come-up; he states he had to sacrifice his teenage years to forge his path. “I never really had a teenage upbringing because my life was constantly travelling, being part of the academy and not being at home or growing up with my parents. I had to basically be disciplined enough to do my own homework at the age of 12 or 13 years old, whereas before I was so used to being helped by my parents with projects and things like that.”

Justin, who has more than half a million followers and 5.6 million likes on TikTok, does what he loves for a living, and that’s dancing. “When I started posting on social media, there weren’t many white South Africans doing African dance styles,” Justin says, explaining what sets him apart from the millions of TikTok dancers and content creators. “I enjoyed dancing to amapiano, qgom and [Afrobeats], and that’s where I had an advantage, if I can put it that way. And people were really just enjoying that; I felt like I was someone to bridge that gap between cultures. So, I just continued to do so, and I felt like it was just making people happy.”

Justin has been able to monetise his work in a way he probably wouldn’t have been able to before TikTok. “I saw TikTok as a monetisable platform where I could do so, and I started posting all my videos and short clips of me just having fun dancing on TikTok and, before I knew it, there were millions of views and people were just subscribing, and started following me and keeping up. From there, I started getting collaborations with some big brands, and that’s when I started monetising,” he says.

As much as there’s a huge element of luck in becoming a viral sensation, there’s also a science behind it. As the adage goes, luck is when opportunity meets preparedness. “It’s always good to analyse what is up-and-coming, what is new, because there’s always something new to learn,” Justin explains. “As a Gen Z-er, I plan to thrive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution by just learning new things, not being caught up in a bubble and always knowing that there’s so much more to learn. Because I started off thinking that I’ve learnt everything and I know everything but, in actual fact, becoming a content creator, I had to learn how to work a camera, how to work the latest cellphone, how to edit my own content, push out my brand and just build my business.”

When she decided to pursue music full-time, she found herself in the right circles. She brings up the importance of building oneself; social media is a crucial tool for getting your name out there. Your body of work and its presentation will do the talking for you when you network.

But where exactly does one network? “Anywhere,” she says. “Gigs, in the clubs, formal events… It doesn’t matter where, as long as it’s the right people.”

You’ll have to email and DM those people at times, she says. Whatever your medium, her advice on establishing those new relationships is: “When you approach people, just be yourself, know exactly what you want from that next person, what type of relationship you want to build with that person. Just be you, be genuine.”

By being yourself, you are able to stand out from the crowd; nobody can do you better than you, remember. As for Bontle, she knows herself and what makes her unique. “My dancing and singing simultaneously,” she says. “Not many artists can do that. Also, learning how to read the crowd. I can have three gigs in a night for example, and my set, my performance set, won’t be the same because of the different types of crowds that I have to experience. So, reading the crowd and knowing which songs to perform to them, not many artists are really good at that. Some artists have a set performance and that’s it for every show. So, I know how to read the crowd and know which songs to sing for the crowd.”

Lerai is a natural on camera; she’s the right amount of animated and captivating; an overall star. She was born into creativity, especially performance. “When I was about five years old,” says the 19-year-old creative entrepreneur, social changemaker, conversation strategist, television presenter and actress, “my mother put me in modelling school. I was quite a tomboy, and so she thought I needed some ‘polishing’. Little did she know that was going to equip me with all the confidence I needed to carry on. I started doing drama when I was about 10 years old, and I really put in my 10,000 hours from then on. When I was 15 years old, I started working professionally within the entertainment industry. I actually started doing a web series.”

She may have gotten a head start, but Lerai believes anyone can get to where she is. “It’s never too late to start,” she says, emphasising that one can start at any age. “It starts with knowing yourself; your strengths and weaknesses; identifying your x-factor. You need to embrace the things that naturally make you, you,” she says. “If you are a quirky or weird person, embrace all of those things. It’s what makes up your personality and makes you charismatic.”

After identifying and deciding on your place as a creative, Lerai encourages building a portfolio. It’s a realisation that hit her at 15. “I had been doing this modelling and acting for such a long time,” she says. “But I didn’t have my body of work on my social media. So, there was this confusion among my followers, which was: ‘What is it exactly that Lerai does?’ So, from there, I was like, I need to post the stuff that I do. So, I started posting about my interests; I started going live and talking about the things that are important to me; engaging in conversations about gender-based violence, politics… I love politics – I mean I’m studying politics.”