GET TO KNOW: Lala – the rising Tiktok queen
Lala Hassan is fast becoming a social media sensation, taking over the Tiktok streets as she takes users on a South African experience.
The 31-year-old funny and extremely witty lady has a story to tell. Beyond the quirky jokes and extroverted personality, Lala is a wholesome young lady.
And while she might have moved to South Africa last year from the United Kingdom, her lineage runs down all the way to Zimbabwe’s Harare, where she was born and spent a considerable amount of her formative years.
“We moved to London right before my first birthday, but I was subsequently sent back to Zimbabwe to go live with my grandmother from about 3-years-old to 7-years-old,” she shares.
Moving back to Zimbabwe was to give her mother, a former model, the opportunity to settle into the country and properly establish her modeling career, with the plan to have her come back when she started high school. But the separation proved to be too hard to handle for her mother, who soon requested her immediate return.
“Not only were those formative years extremely foundational for me in Zimbabwe, but they also shaped my idea of the world. Of family and of this sense of freedom that I didn’t feel like I had in London. So fast forward 24 years later; it did not shock my mother when I decided to move to South Africa,” she adds.
But why, Mzansi, you might ask? “I had been visiting both Zimbabwe and South Africa for a while now, and because of my brother, who lives here and happens to be my bestie, SA was an obvious choice for me. Plus, the South African nightlife is undefeated,” she said, laughing.
Lala is a boy mom to a 7-year-old and was in the car insurance industry while living in London. When her job allowed them the opportunity to work from anywhere in the world, she packed her bags, never looking back.
“The move was also motivated by my own childhood memories that I wanted for my son. I found that the primary school education in private schools here is way better than where I come from, and I just wish for my son to experience the freedom that I experienced.
“Joining Tiktok was just about capturing my experiences in South Africa, and then I started gaining a following—honestly, it was never planned.’”
The video that shifted gears for her was one about her relationship with Mr. M: “Oh my gosh, that was the turning point. I started posting about our trips to Soweto and all the experiences in between, and that has drawn so many people to me.”
Her Tiktok account has allowed her to be her authentic self, she shares.
“Growing up in England, you are kind of made to feel like you have to be a certain person or have certain things to be someone. The materialistic stuff is above everything there. But here in SA and with the content I put out, I have been validated that I am enough with what I have and who I am.
“Imagine me walking down my partner’s neighborhood in Soweto with heels on; that would be so ridiculous. But here I can be a much simpler and much more relaxed version of myself, and it is just me being me.
“And in this day and age where you are required to find a niche, I have found that I am the niche. My followers will love anything that I do because of how natural and simple it is,” she said, adding that she also loves South Africa so much.
When she isn’t riding on kasi horses or taking taxi experiments, Lala spends most of her time at home dedicating herself to her son.
“I am a very present mommy, and my son is always with me, although I don’t put him on social media. I respect his privacy. So being present means encouraging whatever he is interested in at that time, like how he recently converted to Christianity. So I have to be there to encourage that journey—read the Bible with him; I have to be there to do homework and make dinner,” she shares.
She also shares how people in England are shocked at how much of an amazing time she is having in South Africa.
“The bigger plan now is to hone my content and add some direction to it. I am interested in anything and everything that is entertainment, even though I think not knowing any African language can work against me, but those are the things I am looking to get into. I think a reality show would suit me so well,” she said, laughing.