With 24 years in the entertainment industry, Hulisani Ravele, has become a household name. Her career in broadcasting is one most can only dream of. She started out as the infectious Cici on every kid’s favourite television programme, YoTV. She has gone from child star to host the heartening 947 Weekend Breakfast with Hulisani show, every Saturdays and Sunday.
Sitting on a bright red chair, donned in white, Hulisani tells us what she’s learnt on her journey to success as part of Momentum’s Success Films, broadcast on our social media platforms.
“One thing I distinctly remember [as a kid] is that I had a fascination with the TV. I thought that you could just open the back of the TV, and go inside, and you could be there [on TV],” she says remembering what fuelled her interest in television.
She says that YoTV was a ground-breaker in its own right as it was youthful and unscripted. “To be trusted as a young presenter to do live television, was unheard of. You had kids entertaining the nation for hours. It was just you being yourself, and that’s what the challenge was,” she recalls.
Fast forward to womanhood. Hulisani says that while she has always been outspoken and confident, being a young woman in the entertainment industry has had its snags. “I remember a time when there was a conversation on social media that essentially stripped me of every achievement I ever had in my career and as a woman because now a man was no longer by my side,” she said.
Societal standards and cultural barriers where woman are not seen or not considered successful unless they are married are issues many women still face today. Hulisani said after that incident on social media, she decided to start a ritual to remind herself of what’s really important in her life. “I started doing this thing for myself that said, on the first of every month, I’m going to put myself first and do something that I want to do for me, no matter what it is.”
One of the first things she did was jump out of a plane and she loved it. “It was a reminder of how, the next chapter of my life that I wanted to step into, I wanted to step into and show up for myself – fearless, courageous, and putting myself first in everything that I do.”
We asked Hulisani what unstoppable success means for her. “Its three things for me, that ground me – purpose, power and impact. Once you discover your purpose, you step into your power, and then you can just sit back and watch the impact,” she says.
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