Lana Crowster, 33

Lana Crowster, 33

The biggest surprise of Lana Crowster’s 20-year plus career as a musician is quite simply that she has a career in an industry that is not often welcoming to women. In 2018 the songwriter, vocalist, educator, band leader and record label owner founded The Lady Day Big...
Lindo Nkambule, 24

Lindo Nkambule, 24

The Broad Institute is a world-renowned biomedical research hub and is home to one of South Africa’s most prodigious youngsters in computational biology. Lindo Nkambule has been tasked with leading the development of novel software for analysing large genomic...
Lerato Mpye, 34

Lerato Mpye, 34

The hard-won PhD in molecular medicine before her 29th birthday and her daughter’s recent graduation from grade R – these are the moments that Mpye cites as the proudest of her life. But it is more than maternal pride: having others flourish academically seems to rank...
Mpho Mohaswa, 32

Mpho Mohaswa, 32

To maintain the authenticity of traditional ginger beer, chemical engineer Mpho Mohaswa founded Precious and Pearl Brands – a business that manufactures gemere (a non-alcoholic ginger beer concentrate) under the brand name Ghemere. Mohaswa’s business is rooted in...
Tshegofatso Mhlongo, 28

Tshegofatso Mhlongo, 28

Tshegofatso Mhlongo – or Eli Zaelo, as she’s known on stage – is a multilingual singer who performs in English, Mandarin and isiZulu. Her vocal talent has taken her around the world to study at Trinity College London, as well as in the vocal performance department at...