1. What inspired you to start Sivuka Youth, and what problem were you determined to solve?
South Africa has one of the highest youth unemployment rates globally, yet many responses still focus on work readiness programmes that fail to address deeper systemic gaps. For years, I saw young people, especially from under-resourced backgrounds, being sent back into a system they weren’t equipped to navigate, lacking access, support, and critical human skills.
This sparked a question: what’s really missing? I began mentoring and training as a volunteer, gradually building programmes that focused on unlocking potential from within. As the impact grew, so did the need to fully commit. Encouraged to “just jump,” I left full-time employment to pursue this work.
Sivuka Youth was born to bridge the gap between young people’s potential and workplace expectations, focusing on human skills development. What started small has grown into a purpose-driven movement, supported by passionate facilitators and coaches, creating meaningful impact in youth development.
2. What did the early days of building the organisation really look like behind the scenes?
They were some of the most alive moments of my life. I started Sivuka while pregnant, building the business in the margins of motherhood, late nights, emails in one hand, and constant support from my husband. I quickly realised I couldn’t do it alone and became intentional about creating a business that supported both my purpose and my role as a mother.
That season revealed a deeper, more grounded motivation, one rooted in purpose rather than hustle. It guided how I spent my energy, who I leaned on, and what truly mattered. Today, that same intention carries through our team, where we focus on serving with excellence, often behind the scenes, to create meaningful impact for those we work with.
3. You built this while raising three daughters. How did you navigate that balance in reality?
It was messy and beautiful all at the same time. And I think that is the most honest thing I can say. What I understood early, perhaps because of my daughters rather than despite them, was that I was modelling something. Not just building a business. I was showing them what it looks like when a woman chooses herself, her purpose, and her family all at once. That made the late nights meaningful. That made the sacrifices purposeful.
There was a learning curve to holding both. My husband was probably the one most quietly overlooked in that season, and yet he remains my number one supporter throughout. He was a present father in the truest sense, and that presence gave me the freedom to stretch into the business when I needed to. I do not take that lightly.
In the early days, it was about using all the hours available and then resting deeply. There was no perfect system. There was intention, and there was grace when it did not go to plan. There were many moments when I had to choose. Sometimes the business needed me more, and sometimes it was the other way around. What helped was bringing my daughters into the story.
Explaining the work, helping them understand they were part of it, because they truly were. And making a promise to myself that when I was with them, I was completely present. Not half there. That was the agreement I kept returning to. Balance, for me, was never about equal time. It was about full presence wherever I was. And they taught me that. You do not always feel brave when you need to be. Sometimes you simply take the next right step.
4. What personal sacrifices did you have to make along the way?
The sacrifice that I do not think gets spoken about enough is the social one. The nature of this work requires deep presence. I coach, I facilitate, I lead, I speak. And then I come home to my family, and I cocoon. That is the rhythm that allows me to show up fully in every space I enter. But it has meant that the social life many people my age were building, the dinners, the gatherings, the casual availability for others, has largely not been part of my story.
That was a choice. A conscious one. I understand that my energy is a resource, and that where I place it determines the quality of everything I produce and everyone I serve. To build from a place of clarity and purpose, I had to protect that energy fiercely. So yes, I have missed things. I have said no to invitations and been misunderstood for it. I have chosen quiet over company more times than I can count. I learned how to make time matter with the people who understood my path, and I learned how to value time with others and be present, because it would soon be gone.
I recall the words from the book, Moms Mean Business: “Whatever you say yes to, you are saying no to something else.” What are your hard nos, and what are you giving your time to? This purpose is bigger than me and is for so many more than me. It has always felt like focused energy.
5. Entrepreneurship is often glamorised. What is the part people do not see?
The work of entrepreneurship is to continue to build and innovate, and honestly, that lights me up. But it is not always easy, and that is the part people do not see. You have to remain close to the cause. Humble in the service of what you are doing, no matter how much you grow. The work is always evolving, always asking more of you, and learning to meet that with openness rather than resistance is one of the most humbling experiences of my life. It is also where the magic lives.
That continuous unfolding is what we get to bring to the world as entrepreneurs and leaders. And then there are the nights. The nights when you are questioning everything, when payroll is around the corner, and you are the one responsible for bringing in the work. No safety net. No one above you to escalate to. Just you, your belief in the work, and the discipline to keep going.
What keeps me thriving in those moments is staying connected to the service, not the glamour. The cause is always larger than the fear. When I return to that, the path becomes clear again.
6. How has your definition of success evolved over the past eight years?
I have always wanted to live a life by design. Intentional and purposeful, in every area. And I always knew I wanted to raise my children in alignment with that. Being a mother is success to me, and I have had to (and continue to) reevaluate what success means to me at every season. Running a business that leaves a positive impact is success to me. Living a life that is authentic, fully and wholly through each season as it comes, that is success to me. And this view continues to change as I mature and as the business grows. I find that human and beautiful.
Today, success looks like a life by design. Spending my time and energy on what that season calls for. Now, it is understanding my children at the ages they are, continuing my own personal healing to be the mom they are deserving of, deepening the research in the work, and stretching out in visibility to speak this work into the world.
Success today means doing this with my integrity intact, with my family close, and with an inner world that is aligned with what I am putting into the world. I stopped chasing a destination. I am interested in becoming. That shift changed everything.
7. What role have inner work and self-awareness played in your journey?
They are not tools I reach for when things get hard. They are the foundation on which the whole thing is built. I invest in my own development continuously, through retreats, personal development work, professional coaches, therapists, and healers. I support my body in alignment and stay close to my own growth as a non-negotiable. Not as self-improvement, but as a practice of staying true.
And what I have learned is this: when I uncover my own internal challenges and work through them, the business benefits. When I face my own fears and build the capacity and strength to stretch, the business grows. When I learn how to lean on others for help and support, the business grows. Every layer of inner work I do ripples outward into what I build and how I serve. The inner work is not separate from the leadership. It is the leadership.
8. How do you prioritise your wellbeing while leading and growing a business?
I have a ritual that anchors my days. Before the world begins, I move. Gym, meditation, and breathwork, daily, before anything else is asked of me. That sequence is not optional for me. It is the foundation that the rest of the day stands on.
I work with healing practitioners to keep my energy balanced. Hydrocycling to support my nervous system. Body work, breathwork, the kind of deep support that goes beyond the surface. I have invested in professionals who hold this work alongside me, and they are genuinely gold to me.
I guard my energy. I have learned to know my yes and my no, and I protect both. And on the days when nothing looks like a ritual, self-care looks like a silenced phone, a good series, and a face mask. I want to name that too, because the pressure on women to perform wellness can itself become exhausting.
9. What habits or practices have helped you stay grounded during challenging times?
Breathwork. Retreating into silence. Deep sleep supported by binaural beats to allow my nervous system to fully restore. And some days, it is simply crying and releasing the energy I am carrying without shame. Experiencing the full range of my emotions is itself a practice. It helps me shift what I am holding on to on hard days rather than suppressing it and carrying it forward.
Caring for my body to reset before I take any action is something I take seriously. I lean on my support system and the professionals I work with. They are part of the infrastructure of this work, not a luxury on the side. Oprah once said that when you are faced with an obstacle, ask yourself what is this here to teach me? The hard days are all medicine. They are teachers to the next level of the business, and I have learned to receive them as such.
10. Can you share a moment that truly tested your resilience, and what you learned from it?
COVID asked me to change everything. Our entire business model was built on in-person presence, training rooms, facilitation floors, and coaching circles with young people in the room. Overnight, that was gone. Revenue dropped. Costs had to be cut. We had to become agile and virtual in ways I had not planned for and was not certain I was ready for.
But the external disruption was only part of the story. What COVID surfaced in me was something much older. A fear of my own visibility, and underneath that, a question about my own self-worth. To rebuild the business in that climate, I had to show up publicly in ways I had been quietly avoiding. Marketing differently, sharing the work more openly, stepping into a visibility that felt deeply uncomfortable. That work continues. It is still something I build in myself.
And in the dark of it, the inner critic got very loud. What if you are not meant to be doing this? You are supposed to have the answers, and you do not. That must mean you are not good enough for this. What moved me through was my husband. He reminded me, simply and clearly, that the thoughts in my mind were not my reality, and that he had never once questioned my path. He still does that when the critic gets loud. That kind of witness is irreplaceable.
Brene Brown’s image of the man in the arena also lives in me. The reminder that the critic is always in the stands and never on the floor. I was still there. Still showing up, still creating, still in service. Still standing. And what I learned, the lesson I carry with me now, is that pausing is productive. Pausing to let your body heal, recover, and replenish is not weakness. It is the very thing that allows the business to grow. Abundance does not come from pushing through. It comes from knowing when to stop, restore, and return.
11. What advice would you give to women building businesses in tough economic climates?
Stay close to the work that only you can do. In tough climates, the temptation is to spread, to chase every opportunity, to say yes to everything that comes. The businesses that survive and grow are the ones with a clear and non-negotiable sense of what they are here to offer and who they are here to serve.
Build your experience before you build your brand. The battle scars of building a business cannot be downloaded. They have to be earned. Working inside an organisation first gives you the insight, the network, and the scar tissue you will need when it gets hard. And it will get hard. An economy like ours does not spare anyone.
Build your community with the same intentionality you build your business. The relationships you invest in, your peers, your mentors, your support network, are not peripheral to the work. They are load-bearing. Learn the numbers. Not to become a finance expert, but because understanding the financial health of your business is an act of leadership. You cannot build freely from a place of fear about what you do not know.
Do the inner work. Not as a self-improvement project, but as a business strategy. A woman who knows herself clearly is not easily knocked off her axis. In a tough economy, that groundedness is a competitive advantage that cannot be replicated.
And lastly, do not wait until you feel ready. Readiness is built in the doing. You will become who the business needs you to be by showing up for it consistently, even in the seasons when it asks more than you feel you have to give.
12. What does showing up fully as a founder and mother mean to you today?
It feels easy. That is the truest answer I can give. Showing up fully means being authentically me, honest about my capacity, clear about what feels aligned and what does not. Knowing my no has become more important to me than ever. If a project does not feel aligned, if I know I cannot add real value to it, that no honours both the company requesting it and myself. Knowing when to let something go to a colleague who can bring more value to it than I can, that is not a limitation. That is integrity.
Being of genuine value matters to me at this stage of life. Not quantity, not spreadsheet growth alone. Quality and real impact. Knowing myself and being anchored in my own truth as this continues to unfold is what allows me to remain in service. To my family, my business, my clients, and myself. Unapologetically a woman unlearning the patterns that do not serve her, building a new way of doing business that is completely aligned to her role in this world.
Every day teaches me something. I draw on those lessons and continue to allow myself to unfold, not in compartments, not as separate versions of myself for separate rooms, but as a full infusion of all that I am. That feels truthful. That feels like showing up fully.
