South Africa and the world know her as DJ Zinhle. There are very few people who are unaware of one of the first female DJs in the country.
It’s been 20 years of Ntombezinhle Jiyane, spinning the DJ decks, wowing crowds and cementing herself as a business mogul.
DJ Zinhle’s history in the South African urban culture dates back to her days on the SABC dance competition show ‘Jika Majika’ when she had the famous “chicken” hairstyle as her bestie Nomuzi “Moozlie” Mabena calls it.
When DJ Zinhle first entered the entertainment industry she was amongst the only two female DJs. It was DJ Cndo and herself.
Almost 20 years later, the industry has the likes of Uncle Waffles, Dbn Gogo, DJ Tshego, Drihanna and plenty more.
“I think it's important to evolve and to stay, keep yourself knowledgeable about what's going on in the industry, how it's and how you can then fit into the new era of entertainment,” says Zinhle, who is now a mother to Kairo and Asante.
Throughout the 20 years, she has created a solid brand that has been able to ride the waves of the different music eras from deep house to amapiano.
“I started as a deep house DJ, then there was gqom at some point, there was amapiano, there's hip-hop era, but just knowing how to find your own space in that industry has been something that's come from the hard work.
“Keeping the right team around me, especially a young team that knows what's happening, and also just consistently like rebranding myself and understanding how to evolve and stay relevant.”
The musician has been at record label Kalawa Jazmee Records, since her entry into the industry, forming close relationships with label boss Oskido, the co-founder.
“Kalawa for me was more than a record label, I think it was, they called it the University of Kalawa because I think the directors were intentional about teaching us about the industry more than just being record label directors. I think that's one thing that kept me there.
“My relationship with the studio was very good. So that also was a comfortable place where I could bounce ideas. I had a voice basically, but I'm very keen to learn and I knew that the longer I stayed at Kalawa, the more I would learn about the industry.”
With the evolution of Kalawa Jazmee becoming more of a catalogue, DJ Zinhle and her husband who is also a musician Bongani Mohosana also known as Murdah Bongz, have created Asante Music.
“Asante Music so far has been something that Murdah and I are using to release our music and I want to open it up to other women especially from my side of things to see if there's something that can contribute to that side of the industry.”
DJ Zinhle, is a multifaceted woman excelling as an award-winning DJ, devoted mother, wife, and thriving entrepreneur.
Hey Bestie @DJZinhle 20 years of bossing up #ZeeNationFest @IOL_Lifestyle @IOL pic.twitter.com/fRtFvGs6qJ
— Oluthando Keteyi (@ThisLove_K) July 11, 2024
Her brand Era By DJ Zinhle has become very popular among South African women and men. She started with watches and now retails all kinds of accessories. She has also branched into hair through her venture Hair Majesty by DJ Zinhle.
In 2021 DJ Zinhle launched her range of MCC, BLVD Signature edition Nectar rosé after acquiring equity in the Boulevard brand and was appointed CEO. She admits that Boulevard is still around but they are figuring things out in terms of a way forward with their future or whether they’re phasing it out.
A natural go-getter who loves money, DJ Zinhle has her hand in many pies.
She has a long-running partnership with Telkom and recently partnered with Avon.
“It's a big one for me because I think a lot of the ideas that I have for myself in business were inspired a lot by Avon. I have known the brand, I mean, I think since childhood.
“I've always had that dream. It was my vision board of just having a sales force like Avon and now being able to work with them so closely and tap into how they think and how they do things. It's been something incredible for me.”
The 40-year-old has always kept her fans close to her, engaging with them on various social media platforms, revealing different sides to her.
As she is one to keep her fingers on the pulse and always engage with her fans DJ Zinhle has been playing around with vlogging and adding the “Hey Bestie” touch to her videos.
“I wanted to find something authentic to me and I had a lot of conversations with creators on the platform (TikTok) about what works and they said to me; I think the best advice I got was to keep creating until you find something that just makes sense to you.
“I then landed up on bestie somehow. I can't even tell you how that happened but I don't know if it's something that's worked well for me and it's very effective for who I am.
As she gets more active with revealing more about her life on social media, one wonders how she finds the balance of not revealing too much, especially since she has her BET Africa reality show ‘DJ Zinhle: The Unexpected’ which has run for three seasons and a new season ‘DJ Zinhle: Bossin Up’ coming up.
“It's a difficult thing to balance, to be honest, but I feel like there's only so much that you can give on social media. It's quick, it's short but on the show, you can sort of unpack things, to give context to the brief clips that you were seeing on social media.
“The reality show gives you a deeper understanding and a deeper access into what happens behind the scenes.”
As she celebrates 20 years of being in the entertainment industry DJ Zinhle is allowing herself to celebrate herself, something she doesn't do very often. She is hosting a highly anticipated festival Zee Nation Fest.
“Looking at 20 years I'm just like it's an accumulation of small moments that have come to this point of 20 years. I don't know how or why God chose me to have this kind of journey but it's nothing that I would have imagined for myself even with me trying to DJ at the time.”
More than 20 years deep in the industry DJ Zinhle still has moments of doubt. Even when it came to curating the line-up for Zee Nation Fest, she had doubts about whether artists would say “yes” to her but they did.
“It's important to just open up to the idea of greatness in my life and it's something that I'm working towards every day and this 20 celebration hopefully would allow me to understand that something amazing has happened in the last 20 years.”
IOL Entertainment