The ones who were made with color

I'm going to ask you to create in your head a picture of the most explosive, beautiful and eye-catching painting of colors in the world. Imagine having hundreds of them placed in your body by the Creator, with each color representing a different talent that you have been blessed with.

"I think we are the most powerful human beings in the world and that we should be given every opportunity. That is what we should be teaching these young girls. To take up space. Nothing is as important as taking up space in society and cementing yourself" - Zozibini Tunzi (Miss Universe 2020)

I believe that when Zozi said this, she meant that we should zone in on developing ourselves, dare to overcome fear, explore and expand all our God-given colors of talent, paint the world colorful and put our fingers in each pie we know we deserve to have a slice of.

Let me take you through two South African women's spaces:

NOMZAMO MBATHA - 29

• Actress

• Bachelor of commerce - Accounting 

• Human rights activitist: UNHCR good will rights ambassador

• First ever South African Neutrogena ambassador

• Audi and Puma ambassador 

• TV show host 

• Movies: Coming 2 America, Tell me something, Hotel Called Memory.

• Honorary member of the Golden Key International society.

NATASHA THAHANE - 24

• New York Film Academy Alumni 

• Actress: Skeem Saam, The Queen, Lockdown

• Garnier ambassador

• Executive producer of Thahane Media

To me, each of these women are made of color, just like you and me. They are multi-talented and are doing a great job at cementing themselves in the spaces Miss Universe encouraged us to take up. Any normal human being should be proud of these people and their achievements. Again, any normal human being would use them and many more other successful people as guides in their own journey to achieving their highest potential.

Unfortunately, society is not as normal as we think it should be. 

A few weeks ago Natasha Thahane announced that she would be starring in an upcoming Netflix series titled: Blood and Water, where she will be playing a 16/17 year old high school student. Something worth congratulating right? A 24 year old actress, ambassador and executive producer just expanding herself and taking up more space, doing exactly what Miss Universe said we should.

I clicked on the tweet of announcement with the intention of liking a few posts of congratulations only to be met by:

"Ya'll on roles that aren't meant for you at all. So one of you is 16 & the other 17, you're high-school scholars while ya'll look like Teachers dressed in uniform for June 16th (cringe emoji's)... 23/24 year olds aren't meant to do this coz it's "ACTING" give deserving, teen actors a chance"

Another reply:

"They want every role for themselves. What's next? Doctors?" 

Another reply:

"We're not going to watch grown ass women act as teenagers, knowing very well actual teens may have auditioned for these roles. No thanks" 

Auditioned. Keep that word in mind. 

Another reply:

"This is just being greedy and selfish, shift and let the young ones get opportunities" 

Greedy and selfish. Keep those words in mind. 

The biggest problem I have with these tweets is that they are all coming from women, directed towards another woman. "Taking up space" is clearly only acceptable when it is done theory. It sounds good to quote and repeatedly applaud if it is still an idea. When the theory becomes practical, people are no longer said to be 'taking up space', they are now being 'selfish and greedy.'

I believe that Natasha, through her hard work, managed to out-act people who auditioned for the role. I am sure she worked hard to prove that she would be the best person for the role, hence she got it, but someone would have the nerve sit behind their cellphone screen and accuse her of being "greedy and selfish."

It's not only men doing this to women, women are also attacking each other in the same manner.

Let's not ignore the fact that inclusivity is definitely a big problem in the entertainment industry in South Africa. "We are tired of seeing the same five faces on our TV screens" and #OpenUpTheIndustry has become a big discussion point, one that I feel is escalating and has not reached its peak yet, with Menzi Ngubane and Jessica Nkosi's recently being cast into The Queen.

A few weeks ago, the Department of Education employed celebrities like Pearl Modiadie and DJ S'bu to tutor learners during lock down. People were OUTRAGED. "We have qualified teachers and you want to use unqualified celebrities to teach our kids? No way," was the argument. Eventually the department fired the celebrities after mass hysteria on Twitter. In this case, I totally agree, there are many teachers who are unemployed and qualified and we should be using them to tutor learners. 

But when it comes to the entertainment industry? Personally I believe it's a different ball game. Qualification only doesn't gain you entry. What I have observed is that entry requires a complex combination of hard work, qualifications, talent, intentional interactions with people you identify as role models and most importantly, facial recognition. In other words, your street cred, how well people know you.

Thando Thabethe, the first ever African brand ambassador for Nivea, an actress and radio & TV host said in a Tweet:

Hard work. Keep that word in mind. 

This blog post was ready for release about two weeks ago, but Rami Chuene made me take a little bit longer to release this blog, for good reasons of course. She was recently fired from the soapie The Queen after siding with Vatiswa Ndara in an open letter that exposed The Fergusons (the executive producers of The Queen). After her (according to Twitter) unfair release from the show, she began to talk about the ins and outs of the entertainment industry in her webinar called "Rami Says." I thought she was scheduled to have a webinar on age and the entertainment industry on Tuesday the 5th of May but to my disappointment, it did not happen. I'll be looking out for it though, you should too, if you are interested. Here's what she said in short though;

"It doesn't work like that . I wish I could break it down for you but I'm tired. But trust me, this cast is perfect. Just because you know how old the actors are, doesn't mean they don't fit the characters. Your wish comes from a place of not knowing & I don't blame you"

Phathutshedzo Makwarela, the award-winning co-founder of Tshedza Pictures and scriptwriter of the popular show The River then took to Twitter to voice out some of his opinions;

"I think that some people forget that acting is a career - a job for an actor to make a living. That's how an actor earns their money. There is no cut off age or a point where an actor must stop working because they are seen to be everywhere or in everything"

To give you my two cents on this and tie in the colors theme I started with, I think that it's sometimes easier for production companies to keep using the same faces (if they audition) to secure satisfactory views and ratings. What's familiar is what society will always go for. I'll be the first to admit that I would watch something with Thando's face on it and skip out on something with a new and unfamiliar face. Thando has managed to build a reputable image for herself and she is well known across South Africa therefore is the preferred choice when choosing what to watch on TV.

"A bee will always be attracted to honey." (Ntombi, 2020)

The problem here is that as much as we are asking to #OpenUpTheIndustry, the viewers, me and you, are sitting with our tomatoes waiting to throw them at new actors and actresses. "Show us what you're made of," "Prove that you're worth being on our TV screens," is the name of the game. Like I said in Friendship Dynamics series, society can never be satisfied.  Half of the times, we don't even support our friends who are trying to enter the industry, we see them more as a nuisance. When last did you share a friend's latest venture? We need to realize that we also play a pivotal part in opening up the industry.

"Something unfamiliar is very uncomfortable" 

Another problem is that we are living in a generation that loves to complain but does not want to do anything to change things. We are lazy, I am and you are. What have you done to better develop yourself and bring yourself closer to cementing yourself in the places that you want to take up space in? I'm not just talking about the entertainment industry here anymore, this is now inclusive of all fields and genres of work. We also have this terrible belief that the world owes us something and we should just sit back, wait for someone to discover us and give us our big break. Rami Chuene said: "95% of all placements are not by luck." Can you sing? Have you tried to go to Idols or The Voice SA etc.? Can you write? Have you started writing your "unrefined diamond" book?

The Parable of the Talents
14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants[a] and entrusted to them his property.15 To one he gave five talents,[b] to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money.19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.[c] You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents.29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

It seems like we would rather express our jealousy as hateful tweets than nurture and brighten the colors we were born with and actively pursue our dreams, bringing some direct competition to the people who supposedly do not want to #OpenUpTheIndustry. Personally, the #OpenUpTheIndustry debate is only relevant if and when production companies keep on rejecting fresh faces that audition prior to confirming a casting list and are clearly deserving of the roles.

"He was serious, without being self-serious" - Michelle Obama, Becoming.

This was what Michelle Obama described President Barack Obama as when she first met him. The previous paragraphs might have felt like an ambush to always be serious about life and always be productive. That's not what I'm saying. Think about your life and what you want and work towards it, be serious but don't be self-serious and drown in endless hours of grinding. Also, don't compare yourself to others, work at your own pace remembering that all popcorn kernels pop at different times and none really look the same when popped.

"There is enough space for everyone, just that some people will be better than others" -Rami Chuene

Let me take you to my days of high-school. I was "that girl;" the head girl, the prefect, the RCL, the captain of this team and that team, changing things here and changing things there. I was doing great for myself, I wanted to develop myself and put myself in positions that I knew would not only challenge me but also make me a better person after completion. That, however did not come without a cost. The more space I took up, the more people said I "wanted everything for myself." I was simply constructing a detailed image of myself and fleshing it out fully, but suddenly I was too much and too ambitious, not allowing enough people to get chances. I reached a point where I was actually scared to "take up space" because of the fear of being alienated and seen as greedy when I was merely trying to develop myself.

When I look back at those times, I realize that more than half of the people who dared to say that I wanted everything for myself did not even lift a finger to give themselves a chance. There were many opportunities for self-development but many people did not even try to grab them with their pinky finger but started to have a problem when they saw myself and a few other "that girl" people flourish as a result of them. Dark days I tell you, dark days.

"Anger is cruel and destructive, but it is nothing compared to jealousy" Proverbs 27:4

What I have learnt is that people will make you feel bad for doing great, because they secretly wish they could be doing just as great as you, not realizing that they also have some of the colors you were born with. Instead of using you as inspiration to become the best version of themselves, they would rather tear you down. I'm one of those people, I've experienced moments where I was blatantly mean to other people in my head, driven by jealousy but still not wanting to get up and do the work.

I believe that there is space for everyone because one cement block cannot form the foundation for an entire house. (Ntombi,2020)

On an Instagram live session with Cosmopolitan Magazine, Zozi was asked what three things she changed from participating in Miss SA in 2017 and not winning, to participating in 2019 and eventually becoming Miss Universe, she said: "Know yourself completely, write down all your goals and then go hard at getting those things with no shame or embarrassment and don't hold back." Apply these things to your life and start cementing yourself and taking up spaces.

Image courtesy of Pinterest

I urge you to release yourself from hidden jealousy manifesting as hatefulness and channel that energy into nurturing your God-given talents and creating the best version of yourself. Climb inside yourself and;

"Tone down that voice that is coming off as trying to 'fix the country' and pay attention to the one that is showing you the areas in your life you are dissatisfied with and need to work on" (Ntombi, 2020)

Pull out the strings of colors you have, work hard to develop them, audition yourself into the spaces you want to cement yourself in and watch all the hate you had in you dissipate.