“I did not have pom poms, no tilled dress, and no Barbie pony tails,” says Pamela Mtanga as she explains how her love for fashion was sprung up from an unlikely source: her Reception Year graduation picture. “I was a daddy’s girl to a young lawyer raising a five-year-old girl, so as you can imagine I wasn’t looking particularly ‘girly’. I used to look at that picture and think, ‘One day I’ll be stylish and dress so well just to prove to this little girl that she deserved a better glam team on this day’”, she says, laughing.
Now, just over two decades later, the gorgeous and impossibly stylish 27-year-old has established herself as inarguably one of the most fashionable stars on the continent, serving up look after look at the myriad of high-profile events she hosts and wowing social media users with her captivating GRWM (Get Ready With Me) videos. It’s safe to say that justice has been served for that little girl.
Following a string of impressive collaborations with notable brands like Witchery, L’Oreal, Sprite and Adidas over the past year, Pamela bolstered her already formidable stature as a cultural force when she was recently unveiled as the face of Mr Price and Wonderbra’s new nationwide collaboration that sees the iconic underwear brand return to the market with a new line available exclusively at Mr Price. Over the past few weeks, this landmark launch has seen Pamela’s face plastered at Mr Price stores and billboards across the country.
The magnitude of this landmark partnership is not lost on her. “On the one hand is Wonderbra, an iconic underwear that understands the anatomy of a person’s body and make underwear that fits precisely,” she shares. “And on the other hand is Mr Price, a brand that sparked my love for fashion through their ‘something new everyday’ slogan, a brand I continue to fall in love with that is so in touch with the youth and knows a good collaboration when they see one! I couldn’t say no to that!”
Being the face of an underwear collection isn’t something Pamela had envisioned for herself. But when the opportunity came knocking, she embraced it. When she first saw the product, she made a point of wearing it before she shared her feedback. “I fell in love instantly,” she recalls. “As a person who is always in uncomfortable clothing all in the name of fashion, nothing beats the comfort of good underwear. Shooting was also incredible, seeing myself on storefronts has been incredible! And more billboards rolling out feels like something out of a dream and I’m loving it.”
While to many Pamela’s success as a fashion influencer, content creator, TV host and event MC may seem to have come overnight, it’s been years in the making. Her journey towards a career in entertainment started when, as a young girl, she used to envision herself as a YoTV presenter. But she never thought that she would actually pursue a career on TV. Instead, it would be a stint as a radio presenter on campus station Madibaz Radio that gave her her first taste of broadcasting. “I got so comfortable with being a voice and never seen,” she explains. “Then, when an opportunity to be on Honey TV presented itself, I said yes. After that, I knew I wanted to do more TV work and better my craft with each and every show.”
Her career as a broadcaster would receive its first major boost when she was selected to co-host the final season of Channel O’s Massive Music in 2022. While it was a short lived dream, Pamela credits the opportunity as being one of the most impactful moments of her career. Her skill and natural talent as a presenter on the show immediately gained widespread plaudits from viewers and critics alike, and it was hardly a surprise when she was nominated at last year’s Basadi in Music Awards for Music TV Presenter of the Year. She’s only continued to flourish since then. “I am now on a TV show on the Home Channel, Afrimaxx and I am so proud to be using my voice to be celebrating Africa. Appearing in billboards in Kenya was not a part of my bingo card either, yet it is all happening.”
Last week, while hosting a government-affiliated event in Cape Town ahead of the annual State of the Nation Address (SONA), Pamela was front and center of one of the most viral moments of the year thus far when she was pictured dancing to Tyla’s Grammy Award winning hit single, “Water” alongside the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa. “Just a regular day at the office,” she quips before sharing how that moment came about. “Someone asked him to dance and he laughed it off then as he was walking off stage I said, ‘Not so fast Rampheezy’. I pulled him back on stage and we queued ‘Water’. Now who can say no to Tyla’s charm even in her absence? As a host I always aim to bring happiness into a room because my purpose is to make people happy. Now I would love to take all the credit for our president making it shake, but I just gave him a push and he did the rest!”
Following a career-defining 2023, Pamela closed off the year in style when she was awarded with Woman of the Year: Digital Content Creator Game Changer at the Glamour Awards. Speaking on what that experience was like for her and how it felt to be recognised in this way, she recalls how early in her content creation journey she was obsessed with creating groundbreaking content through collaborating with talented photographers and videographers. This approach allowed her to create without having to carry the time-consuming burden of editing videos.
“Little did I know it was the beginning of a new era for social media content creation in South Africa, that’s pretty much what the award was for. The credit and recognition for me was always drilled into me by my videographer who had been shooting 95% of my content but I never took it to heart because truly, there is nothing new under the sun. But that award really reinforced and I believed it. It felt like such a surreal moment that I didn’t have to campaign for votes or anything, it is an award that had my name on it and that for me was incredible! I believe that you will not always receive credit for anything that you create, you should always create anyway. When people start to use your template, replicate or use it as inspiration, then you innovate. That is the only confirmation you receive at times.”
Today, Pamela’s fashion GRWM content is the most loved on her page partly thanks to the fact that it is one of the trends she jumped on to when it was quite new so users automatically just associate it with her. But it’s her series “Cop or Drop” which actually grew her following prior to her transition into GRWM videos. “Cop or Drop is a series I started by taking my followers to shop with me at my favourite stores and they basically choose what I add to cart. I still do it from time to time but my energy is more focused on the GRWM content as that is more exciting for my audience now. In the era of online shopping, people love to see how items fit on you so that you can save them the trouble of physically going to store.”
Last year, as her career as a multimedia personality was growing rapidly, Pamela took the bold move of launching her very own hair business, Honey Comb Hair. In the time since its launch lat June, Honey Comb Hair has become one of the most popular affordable start-up hair brands in SA. This moment was the culmination of a dream that first started when she first launched a small hair business in Grade 9. “Through observing my aunt and the people who worked at the salon at home, I literally woke up one day and asked my neighbor to let me do her hair and I started from that day onwards,” she explains. “Throughout my high school and varsity years, it would become my after school and weekend job. It was not until I graduated and started working that I had to stop because I was working at agency and I had MCing work.”
She promised herself that she would revisit the business at a later point. Years later, she started creating hair content and wearing hair for every single gig and that gradually made her a trusted voice within the hair community. “I decided to start a business and put the same amount of time and effort as I would if I was investing in me as a personality. It’s been one of the most stressful yet rewarding journeys I’ve ever gone through! I employ a team of incredible individuals and I just pour my creative abilities into the business.”
For many, having several interests can be jarring. But for Pamela, she’s found that it means living a full life, one that allows her to not box herself. “It constantly allows me to rediscover parts of who I am and who I want to be.” Apart from her new deal as the face of the Mr Price x Wonderbra collection, Pam hints at the prospect of one more collaboration which she says is ready to hit the streets very soon. And beyond that, she’ll also be exploring more opportunities in the near future. “If it feels right, authentic and true to my brand, then those are the spaces you’ll see me occupy. I am excited and not limiting myself this year. I want to explore my full potential and reach higher.”
