Financially savvy entrepreneur Nicolette Mashile has garnered herself fame on her sassy YouTube page The Financial Bunny. Realising the need to create accessible financial advice, the 31-year-old former teacher has added another page to her colourful resumé – becoming the author of her very own self-help book.

Mashile’s debut offering What’s Your Move? features page-by-page financial education that treks through her own personal ups and downs as a student, entrepreneur and young woman on the move, who is also challenging readers to make the necessary changes in their financial spending. Other than an outpouring from fans to publish a book, Mashile also noticed that this would be a great way to reach audiences who don’t rely on the video-sharing platform.

“People always come back to me and ask about videos where I discussed a certain topic. With the book, it’s something that is easily accessible and you can go back to the chapters that you want and you can make notes,” she says.

 Also a seasoned TV presenter as the latest co-host of SABC1’s Daily Thetha, Mashile has dabbled in many fields and experienced pitfalls. While her many mistakes and journeys could fill up her own tell-all book, Mashile is adamant that the time has not come for her to tell that story.

 “The same reason I didn’t put my face on the book is the same reason I won’t write a book about my life. What’s Your Move? is really a service to people, it just so happens that my mistakes and the lessons I’ve learnt are the best way I know how to teach,” says Mashile.

Heavily influenced by her nomadic upbringing between home and boarding school, Mashile started her YouTube channel after leaving her first job in advertising. Noticing the passion with which her mother would often instill education in her, even on dark nights by candlelight, birthed a fire in Mashile to also teach others. An extension she has done in more modernised chapters in her book that focus on the tribulations of today’s societal pressures.

 “There is a lot of instant gratification that happens because of social media and because people think that there are shortcuts to the dream lives that other people are living –  there really isn’t a shortcut,” says Mashile.

 “Some people get things for free and some people have to work, so you've got to decide what your path is when it comes to financials and your money.”