10 Questions For: Pap Culture

Meet Bongeka Masango, Nwabisa Mda and Thembe Mahlaba. These young and inspiring ladies are taking the Mother City by storm with their well-known show ‘Pap Culture’, which focuses on addressing popular youth cultures in South Africa.

1. How would you describe what you do for a living?
Bongeka: Arduous
Nwabisa: I would probably say that I live like Hannah Montana! I get the best of both worlds. I am a Junior Strategist at a marketing agency during the week and on weekends I’m living my best life shooting Pap Culture episodes. In short - I feel fulfilled.
Thembe: Taking the plunge.

2. What is your most vivid childhood memory?
B: Falling off my bike head first into a thorn bush! The scar on my face reminds me of it all the time.
N: Probably using public transport as a little six-year-old girl. My mother would drive with me in the morning but after school I would come home by myself. Johannesburg wasn’t what it is now and that level of independence definitely made me a stronger human.
T: There are many. I don’t have just one. It’s been an interesting life.

3. If you could invite any three people, dead or alive, for dinner, who would they be and why?
B: My mother - Just so that she can see how I’m doing. My grandmother - So I can ask her a million questions. My grandpa -  I miss him.
N: Charlamagne the God (American radio presenter, TV personality, and co-host of Power 105.1’s ‘The Breakfast Club’).Issa Rae (America actress, writer and creator of popular YouTube web series The Misadventures of AWKWARD Black Girl). Kid Fury (Blogger, popular-culture commentator and co-host of the amazing podcast show, The Read). These are individuals I believe would give me so much valuable knowledge about content creating and I just love them all!
T: Bernie Mac (Comedian and actor) -  I love his work and I’ve always wanted to speak to him! Lorne Michaels (Creator of Saturday Night Live) - I want to pick his brain about a few things SNL related. Tyler, The Creator - I LOVE HIM.

4. If you ever found yourself auditioning for a music reality TV show, what song would you sing and why?
B: I would sing Queen’s ‘Under Pressure’.
N: Shucks...I have a long list, but probably Whitney Houston’s ‘Try It On My Own’.
T: Any Kanye West song. I sound better rapping than singing. Trust me - it’s better for everyone!

5. How would you complete this sentence? The South African cabinet should include a Minister of _________________
B: Online Development (because the communications minister is doing nothing about exorbitant data costs).
N: I Actually Do My Job.
T: Public Interest. It sounds crazy, but we deserve to know just about everything. I’ll even go out on a limb and say that we should be entitled to it.

6. What would you say is the biggest misconception about you?
B: That I’m quiet.
N: I can be an introvert sometimes, especially in new environments and if I don’t know anyone in that space. In as much as I’m probably the most talkative of the three of us and just in life in general, it takes me a little while to warm up and get to that place if I don’t know you.
T: That I’m confident.

7. What is your (honest) opinion of Cape Town?
B: Beautiful city to visit and vacation at. However, it is not the easiest place for a young person to ’make it’.
N: It’s an A-MA-ZING city. The end!
T: “Yhuuu Abelungu” – African Proverb. Kidding. I think that transformation and better pay is needed, but aesthetically, Cape Town is beautiful.

8. What's the greatest fear you've had to overcome to get where you are today?
B: Fear of possibly failing. I haven’t completely overcome it yet, but I’m definitely more likely to go all in and try something new even though it might bomb.
N: Probably not believing in myself enough - that crippled me the most. I can’t say I’m a fearless human ...yet, but I’m learning every day to let go more and just believe. And if I fail, I get up, dust myself off, and learn from the mistake, consider how to do it differently the next time, and just try again.
T: Thinking I was going to make it by studying a degree in commerce.

9. What's the one thing you'd like to achieve before you die?
B: True inner peace.
N: Oh my gosh, what a question! How does one even answer this?! OK, I’m going to shoot for the stars with this one. Having an amazing award-winning show curated, created and produced by myself, Thembe Mahlaba and Bongeka Masango that airs on BET worldwide (during a primetime slot) and somehow gets us on the panel of speakers at the Revolt Music Conference and seated in the presence of Charlamagne The God, DJ Envy and Angela Yee in an interview on The Breakfast Club! *Giggles and hides*
T: Quite a few things! I would like to purchase my parents a house or upgrade their current home and get them cars of their choice, have a huge ‘Thank You’ party for my family, be on Power 105.1 FM’s ‘The Breakfast Club’, be invited to the Oscars (as a nominee), have a great series writing/creating career  and have five sons. They will be amazing! If you take none of what I’ve said, I need my parents to be good and proud of me before I am buried.

10. Which well- known South African personality would you, without a doubt, be able to beat in a street fight and why?
B: A street fight? You clearly don’t know me. I can’t fight for s***!
N: Wow,this is hard for me because I feel like I’m so weak and all these personalities live at the gym and I can’t throw a punch to save my life. But maybe Nomuzi Mabena -although I feel like she would end me on the streets, haha!
T: Wow. Hard one. I actually don’t know!

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ABOUT #CapeTownMag10Q:
CapeTownMagazine.com’s 10 Questions project gets to know some of the Mother City’s most creative and inspiring people. From television personalities and musicians to politicians and entrepreneurs, we find out more about well-know and up-and-coming Capetonians. You can follow #CapeTownMag10Q on Twitter and Facebook to track recent interviews or read more here about our other awesome 10 Questions candidates. 

A FEW OF OUR OTHER 10Q CANDIDATES:

10 Questions For Cape Town-based YouTuber Dan Mace

10 Questions For Cape Town-born Singer and Artist Lakota Silva

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