Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lethabo Mokgatle. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Lethabo, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
Ever since I was young, I have always been passionate about art and the art of storytelling. I come from a family that has also embraced art as my late grandfather was both an artist (painter) and an architect and my mother, along with her siblings were ballroom dancers.
I am fortunate that my family has been very supportive of my passion for the arts. I started sketching portraits at the age of 10 years old. At first, I never saw art in my future as it started off as a hobby, but as time went on I started creating my own comic stories. It was through this that made me enjoy writing my own stories and creating art through my writing.
By the time I went to highschool I wanted to expand my skills in other forms by joining a dance academy in 2010 to become a ballet dancer and danced under the Monnyth Dance House that was located at the South African State Theater in Pretoria, South Africa. I then decided to audition at an art school called The National School of Arts based in Johannesburg, South Africa where I majored in Art and Visual Studies.
During my time in highschool, I wanted to venture out and do more extracurricular activities and thankfully I was scouted by a modeling agency that helped to groom me to becoming a teen runway model and commercial actor. Some of the commericals featured body positivity for a well nown clothing brand under Jet Fashion for their Donatella clothing line.
By the time I got to college, I relocated to a different city which was Cape Town in South Africa. My move to Cape Town was to study filmmaking so I could grasp storytelling in a different art form. I initially planned to study Animation and Cinematography, but I ended up enjoying screenwriting and directing classes. In my second year, I decided to apply for an internship as an editorial writer for a media comany called Creative Spark where I became the editiorial intern writer for Memeburn, Ventureburn and Gearburn.
By the time my internship was done I felt ready to move on to starting my very own comany to continue my passion in the film industry. I was fortunate enough to have created some amazing projects under my company that lead me to incredible partnerships and that is how I ended up moving to the United States to continue my studies and career in filmmaking.
Looking back at my journey, I am thankful that I followed my passion to grow my skills and increase my knowledge in the arts and entertainment industry. I knew from a young age that being in the Arts was where I needed to be and I followed through with confidence that I could make it.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I am a Director and Producer for short films and Feature Films. I am also a Plus-Size model and social justice advocate.
I enjoy telling stories that reach aim to help communities that are improvised and need awareness that can save them. I also aim to spread body positivity through modeling campaigns that cater to women that suffer from body issues and accepting themselves.
One of the things I am grateful for was being awarded with a Loerie Award from the Loerie Awards in Africa for coming out second place as best student film. The second Award was Best Women’s Rights Film at the International Social change Fest in 2022 for my previous short film called Sebari Milach which means Break the Blade in Amharic, and is an awareness film that touches on the horrific events of female genitalia mutilation that is still illegally practiced in Africa and the Middle East. This film will be having its first African Premiere later this year.
I am now working on two new film projects that will be released later this year as well and I am happy to announce that I will be working with an Emmy Award Winning Filmmaker and Cinematographer on these projects.
More feed for the projects will be release on my instagram platform to get an audience engagement.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
The three most important qualities that I carried throughout my journey was to be confident in what I loved to do, because not everyone will believe in me the way I do. I learned to trust myself and be open to constructive criticism that is meant to help me along the way.
The second quality I carried with me was to have a hard and strong work ethic because the more I lean on procrastination, then nothing will get done. I have a lot of projects I work on, and being able to complete them leaves me feeling fulfilled and happy to start something new.
The third quality I learned was to take things slow. I am not in competition with anyone. I need to remind myself that there is no reason to rush and I will always get the job done once I stay focused.
These qualities helped me during the days I felt burned out.
Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?
One of the books that I recently read was Atomic Habits by James Clear. My take away from this book was to learn how to create healthy habits for myself starting off by creating a routine that I can easily stick to.
This book helped me realize which unhealthy habits I need to get rid of so that I can clear the space for new habits that can keep me grounded.
It was not easy to start this self improvement journey for myself but it has helped me identify the flaws I needed to work on and to realize the woman I am trying to become.
I think everyone should grab a copy of this book, it will give you a different outlook on your life and help you set new habits that will be life changing.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://lethabomokgatle.wixsite.com/mysite
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lethabo_mkg/?hl=en
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lethabo-mokgatle-a412b610a/
- Other: My Spotify Podcast called “That African Podcast”: https://open.spotify.com/show/48ETTthlRJovDE2fp0NUT0?si=4c2f5b0e2ff84597
