Mzansi Life & Style was recently invited to the opening of the first Starbucks store in South Africa. Now, if you watch any American movie or TV series, this is by far the most commonly used coffee shop reference. It has taken a while to get to our shores, but like Krispy Kreme and Burger King before that, coffee addicts can finally get their paws on the real deal.
I am originally from Athlone in Cape Town, and grew up in a community where people of all faiths live, work, play and eat together. When I relocated to Johannesburg in 2003, some of that changed, and new opportunities and doors opened, but that is a blog post for another day. I was so glad to hear about the Newtown Junction Cape Malay Experience, which brings the vibrant and colourful history of the Cape to Jozi! Best of all, it is organised by my sister-in-law, and entrepreneur extraordinaire, Rayana Edwards, who is also the founder of Sari for Change.
Head on down to Newtown Junction in Johannesburg, that unique, lively, safe hub where people shop, eat, relax, linger and connect with others, on Sunday, October 4, for the first ever Cape Malay Market with a focus on the incredibly rich, vibrant history of the Cape Malay heritage.
This is the first post in my series called “Mzansi Life & Style Meets …”
As the name indicates, this series is about people I have met via friends, acquaintances, social media, traditional media and people that I have met on my journey of life thus far. These people are making big things happen, one step at a time, achieving their dreams and making it a reality. They are inspirational and aspirational, and in each blog post in this series, we learn more about what makes them tick.
Today we meet Natalie Manko Bernariusz, owner of Naturally Young Interiors.
This year’s Soweto Camp Festival is just about a month away. The event has grown in quality and entertainment since its inception in 2010. It’s hosted at Lebo’s Soweto Backpackers this Easter weekend (3 to 6 April 2015) and it’s a fun setting of music, fashion, hip hop and Soweto heritage. The festival is a vehicle for young local entrepreneurs to expose their businesses to a large, vibrant market and has a lot of whole new fun activities including three stages, so campers will be spoiled for choice in terms of music – eg. dance hall, hip hop and house music.
My first Calvin Klein exposure as a teenager was the iconic Mark Wahlberg and Kate Moss cK Jeans ads. Like many teens back in the late 80’s, I too had this ad campaign on my wall, thinking that it was the coolest thing since sliced bread!
When Calvin Klein launched their perfume called Escape, back in the early 1990’s, it quickly became my most desired perfume, but at that time, no cK products were readily available in South Africa. I had found samples of it in international magazines and it immediately went on to my wish list.
