The it GIRL

Multitalented entrepreneur, Mooomy Ledwaba has blown Up on YouTube with her popular podcast series, Wisdom and Wellness. With refreshing honesty, Mpoomy tackles important topics around the challenges women face in their careers and relationships. Ingrid Corbett pinned her down to find out what makes her vulnerable, how she manages to wear so many hats, and that time she trended on Twitter.

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Its hard to imagine mpoomy Ledwaba ever sitting still for more than a minute. She bubbles over with the sort of infectious energy that makes you wonder if she was once struck by lightning.

I'm relieved that we only have time for one cup of coffee, before I fire up my laptop and start peppering her with questions in the gap we are forced to find while she has her make-up applied for this month's cover shoot at a studio in Cape Town.

Hardly a hair over 5ft tall, Mpoomy is an award-winning entrepreneur who has single-handedly shaped her own success story as a business owner, social media influencer and a creator of important content as a podcaster on YouTube. She talks a mile a minute, as she recaps her childhood, growing up in Middleburg, Mpumalanga, one of five siblings in a close-knit family. 'My mom was a teacher and came from a family of educators. My dad grew up poor and worked hard to support his family,' she recalls. 'My parents celebrated our individual gifts, but treated us all as equals, encouraging us to explore whatever we chose to do in life.'

Sporty at school, Mpoomy excelled at hockey and netball, making the provincial team for the latter. 'At one point, I thought I might pursue it professionally, but I didn't have the height, she acknowledges with a smile.

A vocal member of her local church, Mpoomy joined the choir and put her hand up to volunteer as an MC for events hosted in her community. 'That's not only how I started to find my voice, but also when I first realised that what I had to say could make a difference. After matriculating in 2012, Mpoomy enrolled to study a B Comm at the University of Johannesburg. 'I knew nothing about

being creative. I was good with numbers, and I knew accountants made money,' she recounts. "I wanted to make money.' In her third year she was invited to join a CSI initiative run by Investec. 'It was my first experience in a corporate environment.