My name is Nelisiwe Xulu and I am 23 years of age and I am the last child of three girls. I was born and raised in Johannesburg in the historical place called Meadowlands.
My upbringing was what instilled the love of storytelling in me. Having growing up with a mom who was overseas due to work in order for my siblings and I to live a very comfortable life In Soweto and a father who played a mother figure in the house but a very business minded man in the streets moulded me into the person I am right now.
We owned a butchery at home and oh boy let me tell you, the amount of stories and different personalities that where in my presence was something that was out of this world. People came to our butcher not only to buy meat and feed themselves but to also distress and share their stories with their friends.
The interest of storytelling slowly become something I was passionate about as I would sit and analysis my dad’s customers day in, day out.
One day at school during my matric days, different institutions came and all I saw was a institution called AFDA that I had heard about and suddenly came my lightbulb moment. I immediately knew then that storytelling was all what I wanted to do for a living. I am grateful for the path I decided to take as it brought me where I am today. A path where I will be able to one day share all my childhood memories into something that will be screened on TV across South Africa or even the globe.