Moonchild Sanelly talks motherhood and her new reality show

South African musician and dancer Sanelisiwe Tswisa, professionally known as Moonchild Sanelly, has her own exclusive MTV Africa reality series titled Moonchild Sanelly Woza.

The show will give fans an intimate look into the personal life of the creative genius that is Moonchild, the relationships she has with her loved ones, being a single mother in the entertainment industry and her business interests.

Amidst her busy schedule, we found some time to ask her a few questions about her new show:

I feel excited and privileged because I have a platform where I can just be myself. I also have a platform to make people understand the root of who I am, because then they won’t misunderstand where my freedom comes from as they have in the past.

I feel like I was definitely born for this. For my mom to take me out of Port Elizabeth was her knowing that I couldn’t be limited.

Growing up I was always younger than my classmates. My mother knew I was smart, so she was never worried about school or my grades. She occupied most of my time outside of the environment we lived in and with rehearsals. She always told me to never follow, no matter what. She would scold me more for seeing me walk behind a group of friends, than for coming home late when the street lights were on. I remember stealing my mom’s sheets to make clothes for myself and others who wanted to look like me. My mom started hiding her sheets and started buying me fabric. I was fortunate enough to have a mother who realized my habits and encouraged me to go do what I love, not just as a hobby, but as a career.

I have real assistance. I have special people in my life. My mom’s spirit is working harder than she could have if she was physically still here. She couldn’t have introduced me to all the special people in my life, but in spirit she gets all the right people in my space. I am blessed to have people who don’t understand their own children, but understand me somehow. Blood is not necessarily family. The people who are there for you at any level that you’re at in your life are the ones who are your best.  I feel like I keep meeting my mom’s spirit through different people.

I never realized how much of my time would be spent with the reality TV crew. I am constantly forced to reflect, do a lot of introspection and I’ve never had to do it this much.

Honestly speaking, I don’t know. Without thinking about it, it’s something I just said. And now it makes sense, because I represent everything society rejects and I show them that success comes on your own terms. So let’s keep booming, Boobeams.

My biggest challenge has been opening up to the world. The emotional stuff is not seen by anyone. Even my therapist has to dig deep for me to open up. I don’t usually cry. I was a photographer at my mother’s funeral, so the emotional stuff has been hard to express on camera.

What advice can you give to Boobeams wanting to make a name for themselves as musicians?

The world may not understand you, but if you understand yourself then teach them. It’s better to wake up as yourself every morning so that if you get rejected it’s for who you are and not for what they wanted, than for you to get accepted for what they think you are and having to keep up with that and maintain that. When you know you’re loved for who you are, stay who you are. Keep mastering what you think you’re great at because everything is possible, nothing is impossible in the world.