Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Deborah Samukele Khumalo – Dludla. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Deborah Samukele , appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with talking about how you serve the underserved, because in our view this is one of the most important things the small business community does for society – by serving those who the giant corporations ignore, small business helps create a more inclusive and just world for all of us.

Coming from a rural background, I come from an underserved community, the rural community, with high illiteracy, poverty and people with disability , but we are also a community with hope, beautiful with culture and beautiful community stories especially women stories of resilience. It is without a doubt that i have never left my roots with my people that i believe when we grow, we should grow with our people who raised us. In African Context, a child is raised by a village not by parents alone, and when a child is successful, the village will be successful and prosperous. My mission to produce stories from our rural communities, its an advocacy method to share their struggles and success stories with the world. As an international multi-award winning film producer and music writer, my activism for women advocacy is embedded in the imagination of myself as a creative. I also have a passion to empower with disability, i get joy to see myself contributing positively to the less previledged and underserved.

Deborah Samukele , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I see myself f as a trailblazer in the the creative industry. I have achieved a lot besides being a creative. I am a writer, Film Producer and Director, an Musical Artist , a vocalist and music composer ( Deborah McKay) on all Digital Platforms as I create music for films. I am also a Gender Practitioner (specialized in Gender at Masters Level : Gender Based Violence), and Human and Civil Rights Activist. I have been among the leaders to lead a Dr Martin Luther King Annual March in Atlanta Georgia in 2017 and in South Africa initiated the Men’s Month commemoration in 2006 and contributed in a number of papers and progressive documents in the country on Gender. I am an academic with a Phd in Political Studies.

I am so proud to have been able to create a brand of Black Women who excel in everything without being pitied because of skin colour but because of capability. I write and create stories about stories of their strength and resilience to advocacy to women empowerment on the creative and visual level. I also have passion for children , people with disabilities and marginalized communities who are usually not seen to have space in the film and audio-visual industry. As women, especially black women go through a lot everyday, and these stories can help build our growing generation. Currently the international multi-winning award films are “The Child with a Child on her back” Short Film and “Zipped” a Feature Film among many films i have created.

I have a dream to work with international film-makers to collaborate on work in Africa and possible funders on projects they may be hoping to achieve especially in South Africa. I have a dream to work with Tyler Perry on one of my works, work and meet Oprah Winfrey as she is doing some work in South Africa and Jennifer Husdon and 50 Cent . They inspire me to push everyday, that all is possible. Should they need to do some community work, film or music in Africa or South Africa I am the girl for them.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

As a Professional Practitioner and Civil Servant, there was a time i went through depression after loosing my mother and suffering workplace bullying, within that cloud I had miscarriage and lost my child. Within that space nothing seemed to make sense. I started singing and writing about my pain and realized it was therapic. I always had been a story-teller and started attending small courses on film making, until a chance was presented to participate in the 48hrfilmmakingchallenge which i won as a NewComer. I never looked back, i have since won 16 times in 4 years with the latest two recent wins in Los Angeles in the United States of America , Greece and India. At work i applied for a permission to do this as a side work and got an approval , it has since scaled up exposing me to work with international artists in and around the work.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Being an artist or an creative is very rewarding. This is one sector where you use your voice or silent voices to be heard through your creativity. This is one industry where beauty, pain and laugher is written is the nostrils of your pen, the visuals and the rhythm of your soul to your audience, where people connect through your visual and sound magic to relate their inner pain and happiness, dreams and goals in the dreams we create to reality. This is one industry which may not always be giving money or profit as you engage but it is very rewarding when you see the lives you have impacted directly and indirectly through your work.

Contact Info:

• Facebook: samke MamDkt Khumalo-Dludla
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qBOqBBuZu4
• Other: https://youtu.be/fmSqbNdUEw8?si=PGcin8MFLkDVlyvn

Image Credits

nkuluworld