AT 27 years old, Pearl Shongwe is proof that everything is possible with dedication and faith as driving forces.
A former Miss Soweto finalist, Shongwe had been auditioning for TV work since she was 12, but only recently got her big break.
She is a field reporter for SABC Sport and has so far impressed with her talent.
According to a source at the public broadcaster, Shongwe is being groomed to take on the more serious role of news and sports presenting.
In the past two years, she has worked as a voice-over artist for SABC Sport. Her stunning voice was heard on Let's Talk Brazil and Kasi to Favelas -entertainment programmes for this year's Fifa World Cup on SABC TV. Her voice was also heard on SABC's Selimathunzi.
Shongwe's road to fame has been as challenging as her upbringing. Born in Diepkloof, Soweto, she was brought up by her grandmother until age six and then went to live in a rented back-room in Soweto with her parents. The family then moved to a shack in Evaton in the Vaal. Not long after that, the family moved to a house in Ennerdale, south of Johannesburg, when she was 11.
She says: "I have travelled my own road before I got to where I am now. It is who I am and I am proud of it."
Besides appearing on TV, Shongwe is also a businesswoman, marketer and model.
"I have always wanted to be on [popular music shows] Live AMP and MTV but I later realised that it was not for me," she says.
"It [music shows] requires certain things that are not naturally me. For example, I can't just be a super-excited person because of the camera. After learning that, I started choosing auditions and opted for things that are more like me.
That is how I ended up voicing for Sports Buzz. That is the show where [sports personalities] Carol Tshabalala and Lebo Motshoeli started."
Earlier in her career, she was an entertainment newsreader on YFM.
At one stage, Shongwe briefly owned Isis Communications, a publicity company, which dealt with campaigns involving local celebrities. But she lost interest, she says. "Working with celebs is hard. Most of them are inconsistent and unreliable.
"I decided to diversify my business. DJ Mo Flava came up with business idea and we decided to become partners. I now have a media company."
Shongwe, a business communications graduate from the Tshwane University of Technology, also studied project management at Varsity College last year .
She says she plans to study political science next year because she is already planning for life after 40. "I want to be a decision maker within sports broadcasting at that age but I also want to have an input in politics which is a passion of mine."
mashotol@sowetan.co.za
For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays
From Kasi to small screen
AT 27 years old, Pearl Shongwe is proof that everything is possible with dedication and faith as driving forces.
A former Miss Soweto finalist, Shongwe had been auditioning for TV work since she was 12, but only recently got her big break.
She is a field reporter for SABC Sport and has so far impressed with her talent.
According to a source at the public broadcaster, Shongwe is being groomed to take on the more serious role of news and sports presenting.
In the past two years, she has worked as a voice-over artist for SABC Sport. Her stunning voice was heard on Let's Talk Brazil and Kasi to Favelas -entertainment programmes for this year's Fifa World Cup on SABC TV. Her voice was also heard on SABC's Selimathunzi.
Shongwe's road to fame has been as challenging as her upbringing. Born in Diepkloof, Soweto, she was brought up by her grandmother until age six and then went to live in a rented back-room in Soweto with her parents. The family then moved to a shack in Evaton in the Vaal. Not long after that, the family moved to a house in Ennerdale, south of Johannesburg, when she was 11.
She says: "I have travelled my own road before I got to where I am now. It is who I am and I am proud of it."
Besides appearing on TV, Shongwe is also a businesswoman, marketer and model.
"I have always wanted to be on [popular music shows] Live AMP and MTV but I later realised that it was not for me," she says.
"It [music shows] requires certain things that are not naturally me. For example, I can't just be a super-excited person because of the camera. After learning that, I started choosing auditions and opted for things that are more like me.
That is how I ended up voicing for Sports Buzz. That is the show where [sports personalities] Carol Tshabalala and Lebo Motshoeli started."
Earlier in her career, she was an entertainment newsreader on YFM.
At one stage, Shongwe briefly owned Isis Communications, a publicity company, which dealt with campaigns involving local celebrities. But she lost interest, she says. "Working with celebs is hard. Most of them are inconsistent and unreliable.
"I decided to diversify my business. DJ Mo Flava came up with business idea and we decided to become partners. I now have a media company."
Shongwe, a business communications graduate from the Tshwane University of Technology, also studied project management at Varsity College last year .
She says she plans to study political science next year because she is already planning for life after 40. "I want to be a decision maker within sports broadcasting at that age but I also want to have an input in politics which is a passion of mine."
mashotol@sowetan.co.za
For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays
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