People You Should Know: Lelo Boyana

If you live in South Africa and love jucy news and celeb drama, you will probably know Lelo Boyana. She is known as blogger, tv presenter and writer. I have lways loved her witty, smart style of writing so we thought we'd feature her in our column that profiles the fab life and careers of people you should know!

Name: Lelo Boyana

Occupation: HR Practitioner and part time Blogger

Tell us about TVSA: TVSA is South Africa's only television website that gives readers information on South African TV shows, TV stars and just general news around television. It started out in 2006 and has grown from a baby to the giant it is now.

What do you do at TVSA? I am actually not on TVSA anymore. I am currently working on a new Entertainment site that I'm hoping will elevate the standard of blogging in South Africa. I loved what I did with Shuga's Blogiwood on TVSA so my new project is going to be Blogiwood on steroids, with my own domain and even fresher ideas than I had before. Let’s just call it “JC” for now.
How do you feel about being on the forefront of black popular culture with your site/s? I don't think I'm there at the moment but that's certainly where I'm headed with the launch of JC. Let's talk again in a few months and I'll tell you how it feels heheh.

Who do you think is jucy? That guy called The Internet! Damn, coolest mofo in the world!

What is a misconception about you? That I'm as outspoken in person as I am online. My online persona is such an attention seeker whereas in person I'm reserved and prefer staying in the background.

If you R50 rand left what would you buy with it? I'd take my son to MacDonalds

Tell me your juciest experience as a blogger/presenter on RGB / person to know? I think the “Uyanda is suing me” story was the juiciest. It was the first time I was ever mentioned in the Sunday World, tjo! But we’ve sinced kissed and made up coz it was all just a misunderstanding anyway. But it was oh-so-jucy when it happened! Heheheh.

Who's the most famous Joburger you have programmed into your cell phone? I'm at a point where I can get any famous Joburger's number so I have quite a few but having a famous person's cellphone number doesn't mean you're friends with them so....who cares!

And in the world? Eish, no one but I’d love to have Beyonce’s number. She’s an inspiration to a lot of women who love the arts.

Who's the most annoying Joburger? Besides Walter Mokoena? I can’t think of anyone. Heheh its probably not fair to say this without having met the guy but the way he says his name alone, is enough to make me conclude he is SO annoying!

If you could live in South Africa during any era, what would it be? This is a perfect time to live in South Africa. There is so much going on, so much to do, to achieve, to see, to laugh at, gossip about. There's never a dull day la ekhaya!

What's your favourite South African movie? I don't know if I have a favourite movie. I've enjoyed Yesterday, White Wedding, Jerusalema and one of my favourite TV productions (I know you didn't ask) is SABC 1' Society. A beautiful story told by talented two gals and I'm not just saying this coz they gave me a cameo (heheheh) but everyone who's going to watch the full length series will see what I mean. Brilliant!

If you could have a dish named after you at any restaurant in the SA, what would it be and why? The dish would be called “Tjo!” Simply because I say that a lot and it's such a cute expression. U can use it to express shock or amazement and even though it's just a 3 letter word, it says so so much. Tjo!

Which South African past or present would you like to meet? I wish I had met Lebo Mathosa. I have seen her perform live but I wish I had really known her as a person coz I think she was phenomenal. I used to imitate her singing when she started out, she had such a unique voice and I know we shouldn't question God but damn, it all happened too soon.

Wow, there are so many incredible living South Africans I'd like to meet but off the top of my head: Khanyi Dhlomo. There is something about her that is so graceful, so esteemed like you can’t just say sh!t about Khanyi Dhlomo and if you do, you better be able to back it up, y'know? I would love to meet her and hang out, in a relaxed environment.


If you could be a flavour what would it be? Blueberry....mmh!

How did you get into your job? The blogging thing started with me googling Big Brother Nigeria in 2006. I came across TVSA, started blogging and before I knew it, Brown Shuga (my online persona) was a hit, next thing I was on Television & having two columns in a national paper.

What is the best part of what you do? For me there is no better satisfaction than reading comments/reactions to something you posted. Blogging is all about creating a debate and getting feedback from your readers, whether it's good or bad.

I don't wanna write blogs that make people just go “Nice blog”. Nice blog? So do you agree or disagree with what I've just said? So yeah, the best part of what I do is getting people spending their whole day on my blog and getting mini heart attacks when I haven't updated. I think that's amazing.

Who are the best celebs to hang out with? Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha Jones on my Sex And The City boxset! If I mentioned any other names I'd be lying coz I really do not like going out.
I mean, the reason I quit my City Pulse column, which was such an awesome opportunity, was because I could not handle having to go out to events every week.

When I do go to an event, I'm quietly observing from some corner until it's time to take pictures heheh.

Would you encourage anyone to do what you are doing? (Is there a certain personality type that can get into this type of work?) Definitely but only if you love it. For you to be succesful in blogging, you need to love people, you need to be a sociable type, love partying, coz that's where the gossip comes out. Be creative so that when there is nothing interesting going on out there you are still able to keep the blog interesting.

You also have to read a lot, news, other blogs, watch TV, listen to the radio, know what’s happening outside of entertainment coz you never know when that might come in handy. Surround yourself with people who will tell you when you write crap. Be nice to people coz you need them to tell you about what they hear out there. Have your own style and most importantly, have an opinion and UPDATE the blog on the REGULAR. So if you can do all the above then you can defs get into blogging.

There are lots of perks doing what you do. Please name a few?

The VIP access to fab events, freebies, the trips (local and international)! The are also other opportunities as you get to meet influential people along the way but then it all depends on what it is you are after.

Any not so fab things? There is no real money in blogging. At least not when you start out. So it's one of those things you do for love and not for money. I know this will shock a lot of people but I never got paid for blogging on TVSA but having blogged there opened so many opportunities that I would not have met had it not been for the blog so that whole experience taught me so much about life and doing what you love.

Another not so fab thing, don’t expect celebrities to like you! People don’t know how to take criticism yazi. What’s up with not greeting me back just coz I said that I do not like your radio show? That’s not an attack on you as a person, it’s just me expressing my view.

Do your TVSA readers stalk you? No, my TVSA readers were the BEST! U don’t want readers who always agree with you, that’s boring. They were challenging at times but that is awesome coz you get to learn a lot.

Some got rude and were attacking but hey, if you dish it you must be able to take it as well so as sensitive a person as I am, I had to toughen up and learn how to deal with criticism. So to answer ur question, no, I have more stalkers on Facebook than I do on TVSA.

Have you become friends off the site with any of your regulars?

I don’t know what this says about me but I’ve met 90% of my friends online hehehe and most of them started out as fans of my TVSA blog.

Name our next "People you should know” interviewee? Ebuka Obi Uchendu. He got introduced to Africans as the gorgeous alcoholic lawyer from Big Brother Nigeria. He didn’t win, I actually helped vote him out the house but he’s arguably the most successful out of the 12 housemates. He’s on Television now, MC’s and writes a very witty column for ThisDay in Naija. Yeah yeah, I’m biased coz he’s my friend but you should know him because he’s doing amazing things! (When he’s not tweeting or drinking)