We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ellain Qhawelihle Ncube a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ellain Qhawelihle , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you share a story about the kindest thing someone has done for you and why it mattered so much or was so meaningful to you?

I trust and Believe the kindest thing anyone has ever done for me is to trust and believe in me, my talents and abilities even when I myself had feelings of doubt lingering within me.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Ellain Qhawelihle Ncube and I am 23 years of Age. I started Art when I was In Secondary school where I was part of the school choir.
I had so much passion for music but when I started my A Levels at Nketa high School I fell in-love with modelling and Acting.
I started modelling in 2018 under the fingers modelling academy and graduated in 2019 after winning the Miss Curvy varsity’s Zimbabwe pageant..
Ever since then I won miss summer stride’s first princess 2020 Won Miss Supra-eminence second princess 2022.. And I was selected to represent Zimbabwe in Nigeria for Miss Eloquent Africa 2021 but was unable to proceed due to lack of funds.

Upon starting my career in acting in high school I won quiet a number of excellence awards such as outstanding supporting female Actress Isiphiwo Sami , outstanding supporting actress Nash drama competition 2018, outstanding senior actress Nketa high school. All this excelling in acting then earned me a scholarship at the Zimbabwe theatre academy in 2018 right after finishing Upper six.

Through my Training at the Zimbabwe theatre academy I was able to perform at the Bulawayo Arts festival and my biggest achievement was becoming a lead actress for the Econet @25 advert, which gave me an opportunity to work with one of the beat filming companies in Zimbabwe Obscura.

In 2021 I then got a dance scholarship at Afrikera Arts trust to study dance.
I truly never thought I would be able to become a a dancer, but Afrikera gave me an opportunity To explore the dancer in me. Through Afrikera I was able to perform at Zicca Festival in 2022 and had the privilege of working the Ceo and founder of the Tavaziva dance Company in the United Kingdom Mr Bawren Tavaziva.
Also got ti perform at the starlight festival, Afrikera indeed opened quiet a number of opportunities.

After Afrikera I got to be nurtured by my Brothers Sean Mambwere, Terrence Kapesa , Tich Hero(salt and light) and Martin Chabuka. They helped me improve my dance skill, technique and opened so many opportunities for me to expose my talents to the world. Some of these include performing at the National arts merit awards in 2023, performing at The afro T10 cricket tournament , perfomed at Saint floews Album y in 2023, did Project See me 2023.
I have also worked with different artists such as Ammara Brown, Tamy Moyo, Enzo Ishall, Novi keys, Anita jaxson, Master H, Kae Chaps, Charismako etc.
Fast forward I am a Nama Nominee 2024 for outstanding female Dancer in Zimbabwe.

Truly my journey in the art’s industry has been filled with Gods Grace working overtime in my life.

I trust what sets me apart from everyone is 1. Will power, 2. My Vision 3. My ability to trust the process of Growth, and divine timing, 4. Having the ability to Trust God is in Control of every path I take..

I am most proud of all my achievements at the age of 23. I have worked very hard to get to where I am today and I want everyone following my journey to know that hard work pays, trust the process and always be willing to go an extra mile for your goals. Its never an easy journey but trust in your self.

I want my fans to know I always go hard on my goals because I know I am capable of achieving so much greatness and I am grateful to everyone for supporting me, for supporting my journey and guiding me. I truly appreciate it.

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

I had to unlearn the idea that you can make it on your own. From point A of my life as a creative I have been blessed with so many different people coming in to my life to be a part of my growth and for a long time. I believed I could do everything by myself if I set my mind to it but truth is we all need a little help and its until I learnt from ‘Simon Sinek who declares: ~“ no one knows everything but together we know a whole lot.” That now I am confidently able to reach out to people whenever I need assistance. We all need each regardless if who knows what, everyone knows something that can help someone.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I think most non creative’s struggle to understand that Art is not child’s play. So many times artist have to deal deal with a lot of peoples opinions and still be able to maintain mental stability.
Artists need to always work overtime to produce content/material worthy recognition and I feel Like instead of people’s always finding negatives in artists work, attacking them they should appreciate them more for the effort they put into creating content that audiences can find joy in watching or find hope in watching.
Especially Here in Zimbabwe so many times artists are undermined , disrespected, abused, attacked, bullied and yet still they find means to function and continue chasing their passion.
#lets support our artist and spread kindness.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Cocoa_is_a_star
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• Twitter: Cocoa_is_a_star
• Youtube: EllainQhawelihle Ncube