Kefilwe Mabote: Influencer De Luxe: From Soweto to Milan

By Kefilwe Mabote

Kefilwe Mabote, one of South Africa’s leading fashion influencers, reveals the secrets of her success. In this candid autobiography-cum-guide to becoming an influencer, Kefilwe shares her personal journey, from humble beginnings in Soweto, all the way to the world’s fashion capital, Milan. Raised as an ordinary township girl by a single mother, Kefilwe overcame bullying and many more obstacles through sheer determination, having a goal and a life strategy second to none! Weaving together biography and serious business advice, this book is filled with practical tips and real-world tools for building your digital brand. Let Kefilwe inspire and equip you to go after your dreams!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Human & Rousseau
• Release date: Apr 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9780798180467

Kefilwe Mabote

  Kefilwe Mabote is a multi-award winning Fashion Influencer born and bred in Soweto, South Africa. Her brand is about distinguished luxury from the exclusive styling service to the digital influencing side. Her mission is to leave a global footprint through her digital and styling career.  Visit www.kefilwemabote.com or @kefilwe_mabote on Instagram.

Book preview

With Lebo Grand

Human & Rousseau

This is one of my favourite pictures. A collaboration I did with Orapeleng Modutle.

Photo by Trevor Stuurman

Foreword

In this honest and refreshing piece of prose about her journey with social media and the fascinating world of the Instagram influencer, Kefilwe Mabote seeks to inform the reader and give them real-world tools for self-improvement and the attainment of personal style.

Whether she is tackling personal issues, like being raised by a single mother in difficult surroundings or encouraging us all to strive towards our better selves, her honesty leaves us feeling empowered and validated. With finesse and sensitivity she tackles subjects like being bullied, being shamed for being a ‘pretty girl’ and being accused of having her lifestyle funded by wealthy older men. She then shares how she used the resulting rage to fuel her dreams and her whirlwind success.

As for the business of being a bona fide international brand, she demonstrates to the reader that this is a billion-dollar-a-year industry, and it needs to be treated as such. It is no secret that digital platforms continue to redefine the global landscape, and while social media has traditionally been seen as a tool of communication and engagement, the way people use it has changed drastically. Today’s consumer spends anything up to nine hours per day online, and social media is thus proving to be the most effective way for businesses and brands to reach new audiences all over the world.

This is the global sentiment that Kefilwe effortlessly delves into with her own brand of wit and humour. She is unafraid to use pop culture references and initialisms to drive the point home that young people do not subscribe to old-world rules. Millennials are unafraid to follow their passions and, because they are fearless, they will change the world one dream at a time.

The world of work has changed drastically because people under the age of thirty do not want to work for someone else. People of this generation see themselves as their own brand, capable of generating income for themselves. The rise of the serial entrepreneur, the micro entrepreneur, the portfolio entrepreneur and the lifestyle entrepreneur has been significant over the past decade in the rest of world, and Africa is following suit.

Online entrepreneurs, by using the mobile phone as a tool for personal branding and amplification, have opened up a whole new world of business which is at their disposal anytime, anywhere, via the internet. Kefilwe and the many other young people who inhabit similar spaces are poised to change the status quo, and her readers are advised to come along for the ride.

Basetsana Kumalo

Entrepreneur, Author & Philanthropist

Introduction

Do you ever wonder what it would be like to be an influencer? Maybe you’ve daydreamed about the luxurious life fashion influencers live, and have wondered to yourself what it would be like? What might it take for you to get there?

A lot of girls nowadays dream of becoming influencers. If you’re one of them, this book was primarily written for you. First of all, I want to tell you that you, my darling, are fabulous enough, beautiful enough, and capable enough. You – yes, you – can be an influencer. All you have to do is believe in yourself and acquire some knowledge about how this industry works. I am going to provide you with this knowledge in the pages that follow. If you pay attention to what I am offering you here, and do your best to implement my advice, you will be well on your way to achieving great things.

However … not to burst your bubble … I feel I have to be totally honest with you. I’ll let you into an influencer’s secret. First of all, fashion influencers don’t have it all. We have our issues, our problems, our bad hair days. We have our skin- and beauty-related concerns. But we know how to make ourselves look good, regardless. We are fully aware of the business we’re in. The reason we get paid at the end of the day is because we have managed to build huge digital communities through our ability to curate. And our looks, believe it or not, are a very big part of that curation process.

From time to time I’m still perplexed by the fact that some people don’t get what this profession of the fashion influencer entails. Many imagine that what we do is just a hobby, a pastime, that it’s too frivolous to be taken seriously or to be considered a proper profession. When I first started out as an influencer back in 2013, the term ‘influencer’ wasn’t even popular in our everyday conversations. In fact, there was a stigma – or let’s call it a misconception – attached to what I did. The vast majority of people weren’t familiar with the concept of influencer marketing. As a result, you could say they looked down on what I did. I remember a time I was labelled as shallow; some called me a gold-digger, or materialistic, simply because they saw pictures of me showcasing the designer brands I loved. Some people, to this day, struggle to see the actual value in what fashion influencers do.

Now, for those of you who still don’t get it, please allow me to educate you just for a moment. What we do as influencers is not shallow. Yes, it might seem as if what we do all day long is take pictures in fancy restaurants, on planes, in hotels, on exotic beaches etc but, believe it or not, there’s more to what we do than just taking pictures. And my hope is that by the time you finish reading this book you will have gained a better understanding about the kind of value we bring to our clients and what it really means to be an influencer.

If you don’t believe me, here is a solid fact that speaks for itself: the influencer industry is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world today. The industry grew from US$ 1.7 billion in 2016 to US$ 4.6 billion in 2018, and was expected to continue its upward trajectory in 2019 to potentially become a US$ 6.5 billion industry.

In Influencer de Luxe you will learn how to build your own brand and monetise your Instagram business account so that you, too, can start enjoying all the benefits that come with being part of this fast-growing industry.

I have structured the book in four parts, each of which weaves seamlessly into the next. The first part is autobiographical, the second is business, the third is where I let you into my home and open up about my domestic side – for those of you who think that I can’t do anything around the house (lol) – and then, lastly, I talk about one of the biggest highlights of my career.

I feel it is important to begin the book by giving you some insight into my personal journey from grassroots level, starting with my upbringing in Soweto. I want you to understand where my passion started and also the mental process behind my drive for success.

The business part is intended not only to inspire entrepreneurs out there who might be going through some tough times but also to equip those of you who want to start building your brands as influencers and monetising your feeds.

I pray and hope that this book gets you fired up and ready to live your life as a winner. As you read it, think of me as your cheerleader. I want to cheer you on as you chase after whatever dream you have until you achieve it. You can do it, black child (or any other race you may be). I believe in you. Habashwe!

A girl from Soweto

‘If you feel like there’s something out there that you’re

supposed to be doing, if you have a passion

for it, then stop wishing and just do it.’

~Wanda Sykes

Let me say from the outset: I come from very humble beginnings. I was born and grew up in a district called Moletsane, in Soweto, South Africa, under the care and supervision of my loving mom, grandparents and aunt. This was a time when it was instilled in us from a very tender age that you should regard every older person you come across as your parent too, even more so if they are your next-door neighbours. We were taught to give them the same respect as we would our biological parents. This also meant that if they wished to send you on an errand, such as to buy bread or milk at a local tuck-shop, they could do so and you could not object.

My mother gave me a Setswana name, Kefilwe, which means ‘I have been given’, for she believed I was a gift from God. She raised me with so much love. She has always been the woman who took care of everyone in the family, including her sister’s kids. Her big heart and nurturing spirit made her a pillar of strength to anyone in the family who needed help and support.

I appreciate the way I was raised. There was a lot of tough love, though, especially from my granny, but I believe this is one of the things that groomed me into the woman I am today. There was no room for being a spoiled brat in the Mabote household. I did all the household chores you can think of. I cleaned the house, washed the dishes; I even cooked. However, I also had a lot of fun growing up because I had plenty of time to play with other kids in the community. We played games such as ‘diketo’, ‘m’gusha’, ‘chicago’ (also known as ‘bathi’) and ‘mokoko’ (also known as ‘spypy’). Most of you who were born prior to

Reviews for Kefilwe Mabote

[Wendy Kgosi · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Massive disappointment. No real advice. Her secret to how she made it big remains a secret. BTW to the “author” people read this searching for advice on how to gain followers . No real advice regarding that here.

[Ntsika Uhuru · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Thank you for this book Kefilwe. I read it from cover to cover. So many lessons to learn from and implement as I endeavor into my own journey as a travel influencer.

[Hilaria · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow. Excellent book. I will have to read it again and again.