We recently connected with Bonny Motsoane and have shared our conversation below.

Bonny, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

How i came up with the idea to startup my magazine is that growing up i wanted to be in the entertainment industry and do everything from television,fashion,radio and modeling.My mother went as far as signing me up to an agency for television and modeling classes on the weekends to help push me into the right direction.

I would go months on end without receiving a call from my agency and when I finally did get a call to go to an audition they would tell me my personality is what they were looking for but my body was too big for the role if only I had been smaller in size I would have booked the role.I remember so clearly the last audition I went to a lady who was a judge for the show I was auditioning for told me how I would never get booked for gigs because my body was big and my hyper-pigmentation didn’t make my odds any better,my confidence was crushed to the point I decided to leave the agency.

I vowed to myself on that day I would startup something that would cover my love for the entertainment industry and be all-inclusive to models of all shapes,sizes,skin shades and heights.I thought to myself how many other women are being told they aren’t good enough maybe not by a judge at some audition but by society,family and friends and I decided I would change the narrative, that all the women society had deemed as “not good enough” would one day open my magazine and see reflections of themselves through other women who had been bullied for looking different but never stopped fighting for their place in the world a magazine that reminds women that we are beautiful,we are worthy,we are brave,we are smart and that self-love and self-acceptance all begins with you.And a couple of years later Glitz Magazine was born.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I am Bonny Motsoane Glitz Magazine Managing Director

I run a fashion magazine and a non-profit which helps young girls deal with issues such as teenage pregnancy,school,goal setting,dreams,mental health awareness and issues surrounding drug and alcohol abuse.

Glitz is a diverse Magazine which is all-inclusive to women of all skin shades,heights,body types and sizes.We are about encouraging women that our imperfections make us perfect and that self-love all begins with ourselves in a society where women are bullied for looking different, in a world where the media has portrayed a picture of what “The perfect woman” should look like we find ourselves trapped into thinking we are not beautiful or good enough therefore I created a platform that would help women build up their confidence,love and appreciate the body and skin they are in and realize just how amazing they are.

I am grateful for the unending love and support my mother,sister,models and make-up artist have given me from day one,without them I wouldn’t have been able to overcome some of the biggest challenges I have come across and I am proud of myself and my team for making it thus far in an industry which requires connections to survive.A lot of folks assume owing a business is easy, that once you open up you start making millions of dollars and living the dream ,but in reality it takes a lot of hard work,sleepless nights,a team that understands the vision and keeps working towards it even on days they feel unmotivated and a lot of failures to an extent one doubts if they should even continue because it feels like they are losing more than they are winning.

I love what I do more than I love money and that is the driving force that helps keep me consistent,hungry for more,patient and content with how everything plays itself out.

As a business owner I often beat myself up for not achieving some of my goals at a time-frame I expected I would have,but I never allow myself to feel like a failure I just tell myself everything will fall into place at the time it should am just going to keep working hard and the universe will do the rest.I see everything that happens both good and bad as a sign of the universe pushing me into the right direction or protecting me from a situation I have no business dealing with.

I have learned not to be too hard on myself for the mistakes I make and also trusting my intuition,if my gut tells me a deal sounds too good to be true then it probably is.I cannot express enough the times my intuition has saved me from doing business with folks who just wanted to suck my business dry.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

For the longest time I had always considered myself to be a perfectionist,if things were not going to happen my way there weren’t going to happen at all ,I was the kind of person who used phrases such as “I like my ducks in a row” until I realized that by saying I was a perfectionist I never got anything done because I would be stuck in my head worried about the things that could go wrong which I had no control over,the idea of anything going wrong would be so overwhelming that not getting anything done felt safe and comfortable because it meant I had nothing to worry about.

As months went by I realized that the fear of things not going my way had crippled me to the extent that doing day-to-day business tasks such as meeting up with clients,replying to emails and answering phone calls would give me anxiety attacks.

The “I am a perfectionist” mentality gave birth to fear and I was stuck, that is when I knew I had to unlearn being a perfectionist and started taking things as they came even the bad. I had to let go of trying to have control over everything and by making that decision things started looking up for my business.

I had to learn that being in business meant I am putting out fires and improvising half the time because things will not happen as planned all the time wheater it is planning a fashion event and the ramp has not arrived five minutes before the show begins to a dress being ripped as a model puts it on for a photo shoot are situations I have no control over but whatever challenges I come across the show must go on and I have got to come prepared for the unexpected and think on my feet to make the best out of every situation.

Learning to forgive myself for lessons I know now that I had no knowledge of when I started my business,after all am only human I will make mistakes and some decisions I make other people will not see fit but I will make them for my business best interest.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I am never afraid to step into a room full of executives from big companies and sell my dream,sometimes they will try to shake me up or intimidate me to see how serious I am or even take chance to if I back down.

I am known to be a confident and fearless woman who when she steps into a room her presence is felt, a woman who does not second-guess herself even in a room full of pessimists and that has contributed in building up my reputation because potential and current clients know I do not play around in matters pertaining to my business and will not settle for less than what I deserve.

Taking myself serious and not second-guessing my decisions has played a huge role in building up my reputation.I believe when one is sure of what they do and know what they bring to the table no one intimidates them also my big rule of thumb is I never make business deals out of desperation because that is how folks find themselves in contracts they can not get out of.I never let a potential client pressure me into making a decision on the spot and if that client can not accept that my legal team and I need a day or two to carefully go through the contract then I have no problem dismissing them.

It does not matter how small your business is stand your ground and set clear boundaries with potential investors or clients so you are not taken advantage of.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @therealglitzmagazineworldwide
• Facebook: The Real Glitz Magazine Worldwide
• Other: Email: glitzmagazineww@gmail.com