Nandi Dlepu's limitless creativity

Meet a cultural curator who is reimagining Johannesburg's creative landscape. By Bridget Hilton-Barber

- Bridget Hilton-Barber

Creative powerhouse Nandi Dlepu.

(Bridget Hilton-Barber)

Nandi Dlepu texts me early in the morning: “Honestly, you're not getting anything out of me before a cup of coffee.” And so we connect first at Skinner Café, her preferred little coffee shop in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.

It's easy to spot Dlepu with her signature voluminous hair, unapologetic in scale and presence. She is the founder of Mamakashaka & Friends, an agency and cultural studio, and a creative connector, curator and sister. But first coffee.

As the sidewalks of Braamfontein come to life and the caffeine rapidly kicks in, Dlepu tells me her family moved to Jozi from Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape when she was in high school, and how she became a city girl.

“I was always attracted to the inner city. When I was young, we used to go to a day club for teens near Small Street Mall called Le Club Rippingtons, and as a young adult I got to know places like Maboneng, Doornfontein, Yeoville, Berea and Newtown.”