“It all started way back when she was a kid, I have always known that I want to be an artist and be in the
limelight – be it singing, dancing, acting or presenting.”
Growing up in Daveyton, East-rand, Ntandose joined an art movement where she did gumboots
dancing, singing, and acting. In school, she was part of the choir and she also dabbled with the piano but
got bored of it and thought it was ‘slow’ for her liking and wanted something upbeat.
She went for her first television show audition in grade 9 and made it to the top 20, where she had the
privilege to interview South African music legend Zwai Bala (of TKZEE). She also got an opportunity to be
a guest presenter on one of the biggest Youth television shows in SA, YOTV. Up to this day, she still
knows the YOTV phone numbers by heart.
Interestingly enough, after high school she went to study Entrepreneurship at the University of Johannesburg instead of art; one would have thought she would’ve opted to study something related to her passion. But she mentioned how she got her entrepreneurial spirit from her mother who is a businesswoman.
Ntandose went on to get other presenting jobs in the media and kept on learning and polishing her skills.
In one job after she got the part, she was asked if she knew how to work the teleprompter, she
said yes despite not having worked with a teleprompter before, this is what push comes to shove means. Ntandose mentions how in her journey she got so many nays and says, ‘It’s the nature of the industry, and all the experiences build your character’. Fast-forward in 2018 Ntandose went on to win the MTV Base VJ Presenter Search and got her
big break – this is after she auditioned the previous year but only made it to the top twenty-five round. “Having faith and not giving up pays,” says the media personality.
Ghosted Talent, Ntandose – Unpacks how things are not always as they appear on the surface.
On her YouTube channel Diary Therapy Sessions, Ntandose opens up and drops bombs about her
career and how after she started working for a certain TV channel she got sidelined even though she
worked hard to prove herself. ‘It felt like I was on the bench’.
Being the artist she is and never short of drama she used an analogy to paint a picture of what she
experienced at a certain media house after she started working there as a presenter. She used the
scenario of a person working at a retail store as a packer (being her) and aspiring to climb the ladder and
be a cashier.
She talks about how people on the outside were saying she had levelled up but they didn’t know any
better. She says it’s not like she wasn’t grateful for the opportunity, she was, but she felt something
was wrong. An example would be when she once asked to be helped to drive her brand to a certain
direction but got ignored. “How is it possible that in a company with a PR department, social media
managers, and a team of professionals could not help me?” She was asking herself why she was
given the job if she wasn’t wanted there, “is it because I am a mom and I am from eKasi, asked Ntandose?”
“It’s the nature of the industry,” thought Ntandose, answering herself. When she spoke to Mbono Radio HD, she mentioned that despite all the challenges she faced, she’ll forever be grateful for the opportunities she got. Being the optimist she is, she’s working on music and has an Amapiano song and says more music is on the way. She also was graced with the opportunity to be featured on a popular South African drama The House of Zwide. It seems like “sky is the limit” for Ntandose, watch the space.
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