Elana Afrika-Bredenkamp on consistent reinvention as a broadcaster and helping others [VIDEO]

There are few people on the South African media landscape who have a recognisable face and voice as Elana Afrika-Bredenkamp.

She has seemingly had a seamless transition from traditional media such as radio and television, where she cut her teeth, to modern media platforms like podcasting.

“Podcasting and conversations have become our traditional media. So for me, it’s a shift in time but I’m not afraid of trends,” Afrika-Bredenkamp told The Citizen.

Afrika-Bredenkamp is a recipient of the 2022 Presidential PRISM Award for Radio Presenter of the Year and her podcast.

In 2016, she launched her podcast, Parent & Baby Brunch, which is one of the biggest parenting podcasts in the country with 200,000 unique streams to date. The platform regularly ranks on Apple and Spotify’s podcast charts.

She started Parent & Baby Brunch out of need.

“It was the lack of knowledge that led me to Parent & Baby Brunch. Not enough books can prepare you for what our mothers have done with us,” she averred.

“At the time [of launching] we called it a support for mothers and it was an event and we had 250 guests and then I really had a desire to capture these conversations and this audience,” she said.

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Balance in broadcasting

She harks back to a conversation she had with someone, who said to her that radio is dying and that podcasting was usurping radio’s stronghold.

“I said I don’t feel anything [about the shift] because I’m not afraid of trends. I just think we need to grow it. Was it seamless?  I’m a creative, so I guess it felt right.”

In addition to being a broadcaster on ‘traditional media’ and ‘new-age media’ Afrika-Bredenkamp spends stupendous amounts of her time on stage, doing what she describes as “live media” as a master of ceremonies.

“I’m on stage a lot. I spend about 30 hours on stage a month, which is a considerable amount of time and a lot of standing. But all of it is a way of telling a story.”

She finds this versatility and ease in dabbling in other media thrilling. “I’ve always enjoyed having access to more than one thing if it feeds my creativity, the same with making music.”

“I can tell you it’s been very exciting. But I never started radio because it was seamless. I started broadcasting because I like people and I felt I could make music, and enjoy conversations and from there it became something that could change people’s lives.”

On her Instagram bio, Afrika-Bredenkamp describes herself as a conversation starter and says this stems from her desire to help others.  

“It was never meant to look seamless, it was supposed to move with the times and help people.”

She also recently launched another podcast series Boardroom Besties whose conversations revolve around successful women.

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Connection with Jacaranda FM listeners

Afrika-Bredenkamp has been at Jacaranda FM for an accumulated two decades, albeit intermittently, and the bond she has with her listeners is something she holds dear.

She recently returned to her midmorning show, Workzone with Elana Afrika-Bredenkamp, after being booked off sick for two weeks.

“I returned today and instead of sulking and making the show about my life, I connect with my listeners by making it about them because essentially that’s what the show is about, the Workzone is about other people.”

ALSO READ: Elana Afrika-Bredenkamp takes her presenting talents to KykNet

Winery

Including playing golf, one of Afrika-Bredenkamp’s hobbies is winemaking. She has lived between Johannesburg and Cape Town throughout her 23 years in the industry.

“After my 11th year, I went back to Cape Town and I had two things in mind. I wanted to play good golf and I wanted to do a wine-tasting course, that’s how it started,” she shared.

After falling in love with a wine farm, she grew the desire to have her own range of wine.

“In that time I did do my wine-tasting course but I fell in love with the wine-making process.”

Through her wine-making pastime and establishing her boutique win, there grew a sense of giving back so she decided to donate R40,000 from the proceeds of her wine to student tuition at the South African Sommeliers Association (SASA).

The contribution stems from the proceeds of sales of her Shiraz wine range, produced in collaboration with De Grendel Wine Estate, along with a charitable donation from KWV.

“Because somewhere out there there’s a young kid who I know will look at wine differently; instead of growing up in a home where your parents are abusing it, you’ll respect the trade and become a Sommelier.”

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