"I work really hard and my motto is: nothing is impossible. If I think of something, I go for it. I love working with my hands. Growing up with my brothers, I would help whenever they were fixing cars. That is the kind of person I am," she said.
Mopai, 49, completed her matric at Saulridge High School in Atteridgeville and enrolled for a sales and marketing certificate at Damelin College. She completed the course in 1993.
The following year she enrolled for a certificate course in public relations. In 1996, she was employed by the Tshwane municipality as administration officer in the Atteridgeville customer service centre, proceeding to become a customer care officer in 2003, but quit the job two years later.
"I worked at the front desk and my heart would be torn into pieces when serving poverty-stricken people. I would give away my lunch box to people. One day I thought I had to do something about the poverty in my community. I quit and baked biscuits which I would sell door to door.