'I'm Designing The Life I Want'

TV personality Lalla Hirayama chats to Leigh Hermon about her unusual upbringing, and what it’s like jostling for a spot on Hollywood’s red carpet…

- Leigh Hermon

Before Lalla, 30, began her almost 20-year-long career in the entertainment industry, she was a busy kid who lived a nomadic life. She was born in Japan, but her family later moved to Australia, before her parents settled in South Africa during her primary school years. Lalla fell in love with the limelight from an early age and became addicted to the thrill of performance. At 13, she moved back to Japan for a year and fell into teaching dance to children. She returned to Sa where she became a founding member of clinch dance crew, a hip-hop dance group. at 15, she landed her first presenting gig on eTV’s kids’ show craze. Lalla went on to present dStv’s Vuzu’s V-Entertainment from 2011 to 2017, and she joined the judging panel of eTV’s Sa’s Got Talent for two seasons. Today, Lalla finds herself jetsetting to glitzy Hollywood premières and award shows, where she interviews a-list celebs for M-Net’s Lalla Land. She lives in Joburg with her boyfriend Kent Blake Henderson.

My mom is an incredibly brave woman.

She grew up in a tiny Japanese town where women had their roles to play and men had theirs. Stifled by her hometown’s hierarchy, she headed to Tokyo at 18. She met my dad, a white South African, on a backpacking trip, and they fell in love. She uprooted her life to move to Australia and then SA – two countries where she hardly knew the language – but being the strong woman that she is, she made it work. I have always admired my mom: no matter the situation she’s always faced it head on with such courage and grace. It’s a reminder that sometimes I just need to toughen up.

My mixed heritage didn’t make my life easy at school.