TV Presenter, Model and MC, Kim Jayde is all the inspiration you need to get your day up and running! Like most successful media personality, Kim’s success story comes with a story.
Coming from a conservative family background, where being an entrepreneur and pursuing the arts was not viewed as a stable source of income, her family was a little concerned about her chosen career path. She had to break away from the norm in order to pursue her dreams but she says this was all part of living her truth and pursuing her passion no matter what. Like any success story, landing these jobs in Cape Town wasn’t enough, she was determined to keep progressing so she took that final leap-packed her bags and moved to Johannesburg in order to take her career to the next level.
She tells Vutho Magazine: “I moved to Cape Town and lived in a shared house with ten other people, I took up promo jobs such as handing out flyers on high ways, waitressing and working at clubs in order to pursue my passion. Within two years my family started seeing my face on TV ads and pictures in stores and they realised that this could be a real thing for me, especially because I was becoming financially stable. Now they respect me so much for taking that risk.”
“I started posting on instagram so that my family and friends overseas could see what I was doing with my work and then I started my own blog, KimJaydeBlog; a space for unknown creatives like me where we collaborated free of charge.
“I hope that I am an example to young girls from back home that you don’t need to work a conventional nine to five or get married by a certain age because there is so much more that women have to offer. I also hope that I can be a living proof to all young Zimbabweans that you can also go out there and do whatever it is you want to achieve.”
“Living boldly by living your truth to me means that I own my Zimbabwean heritage, my family background and what I stand for as an individual.”
Over the years, Kim has successfully worked with world’s biggest names such as Charlize Theron, Naomi Campbell, Major Lazer, Ciara, Paris Hilton, Tyler Perry and Trevor Noah. Since she moved to South Africa, she has secured several major gigs, making her undoubtedly one of Zimbabwe’s ‘it girls’ at the moment. You may have seen her on your screens on MTV Base Africa as a presenter. She has also worked with brands like Revlon, Coca-Cola, Ackermans, Accessorize (London) and more.
Among the many awards she has won, Media Personality of The Year at the 2018 Zimbabwe Achievers Awards comes first as her most recent recognition. She has also been listed as one of the 40 Under 30 class of Emerging Zimbabwe Leaders by Gumiguru. She also took home her first international award for Woman in Media at the fifth annual Zimbabwe International Women’s Awards. Asides that, Jayde uses her degree in social work to contribute to the Home of Hope For Girls; something she has always been passionate about.
This article was first published on Vutha Magazine & ForbesAfrica
