Say hello, to the future. Honors graduate, business owner and period paradigm shifter, Zizipho Ntobongwana is redefining twenty-something ambitions. Having started her first company while still studying, we can only imagine how this bombshell is going to change the world as we know it. Sheba Feminine, her organic-cotton feminine hygiene brand, is not only environmentally and body conscious but dedicated to creating products inclusive of all menstruators. She's also super nice! It's with total awe OSKE Asks...  

 

NAME: Zizipho Ntobongwana
DAY JOB: Entrepreneur
SOCIALS: @zizi_ntobongwana & @sheba_feminine 

 

WHAT’S THE CLOSEST THING TO REAL MAGIC
Seeing a full moon on a night with clear skies. I can’t explain it, but nights like that feel like they transcend this realm and go into another one. It’s #MoonMagic.

 

DESCRIBE YOUR GIRLBOSS MOMENT.
My GIRLBOSS MOMENT must have been when I realized that people valued my opinion and would pay for my consultations. When people are willing to pay for your time, and to pick your brain, it legitimises your intellect, creativity and talent. When that realization came I bossed the hell up.

HOW DID YOU LEARN WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A WOMAN?
The irony of this question is that I learnt what it is to be a woman was realizing that womanhood can be anything you want it to be. It is therefore the inclusivity of all people that consider themselves women. I am a woman because I realize that womanhood is not bound by ability, race, a uterus or vagina. It is not bound by sex (pun intended ☺), class, religion or any other exclusive measure.

 

WHO TAUGHT YOU WHAT LOVE IS? 
My siblings. Without them I would never have come to the realization that love exceeded the understanding that I had.

WHAT IS INTIMACY?
I’m a person that absolutely loves my own space. I could be alone for days at a time and be completely content, in fact happy. So to me intimacy is sharing my space. If I invite you to my home and into my space this to me is intimacy. I am inviting you into me. I am allowing you to see and experience me as authentically as possible. 

 

WHAT DID YOUR MOTHER TEACH YOU?
My mother has this saying she would always relay to us as kids - I think it’s a scripture. She would say, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. This is now one of the lessons I live my life by. I treat people the way I would love them to treat me.

 

TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR BODY THAT YOU WISH YOU’D ALWAYS KNOWN?
I wish I had known that together we are equipped with everything we would need from birth. I wish I had known that she (my body) is equipped to show/give and receive love. That she could break trauma bonds and generational curses. I wish I had always known that she could heal herself and heal others. I wish I had always known that she is art, that for all her vulnerability, she also has strength.

 

ULTIMATE MAKE-OUT PLAYLIST
Title: Agua meets Fuego

WHO SHOULD EVERYONE BE FOLLOWING RIGHT NOW?          

 

Thank you Zizipho for sharing your beautifully articulated thoughts and feelings with the OSKE community. If you like your feminine hygiene products biodegradable and made from 100% organic cotton (who doesn't?), then head on over to Sheba Feminine and be sure to stock up on the very best you deserve.

 

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