South African TV host and internet personality Nozibele ‘Nozi’ Qamngana is someone who found the courage to be quite vocal and educational about her journey of being diagnosed with HIV.
While we have progressed with times and normalised many stigmatised conversations, the one sensitive topic still remains – opening up and sharing our diagnoses and illnesses.
Nozi, however, decided to stand out and use her unique story to motivate people, despite her diagnosis. She managed to take charge of her life and live her purpose.
With her bubbly personality and passionate mindset of educating the nation regarding HIV, she remains a role model to many as she continues to break the chains and stigmas of people diagnosed with this virus.
The star steered the Yes, I have HIV TV show that aired on Honey, channel 173. The show takes us through Nozi offering to “fight the sickness of silence and fear” as she assists people to open up to their loved ones regarding their status.
With nearly a year of being the host of the show, Nozi took to Instagram to share a few of her experiences.
“Around this time last year, we had just premiered the 1st season of #YesIHaveHIV. Leading up to the premiere, I was anxious. Weeks before, we had been trending on Twitter [now known as X]. Our poster was shared to invite others to share their thoughts on the show. As you can imagine, it invited a lot of criticism.”
The internet personality shared that despite that, she had learned to grow thick skin and taught herself to keep moving through all the backlash she received.
However, she shared that upon receiving these comments, it affected her.
“I’m not about to lie and tell you these things don’t affect me. Whenever there’s a certain narrative about me, it does get it me. I’m also human. But what I’ve come to master is my response. And that is to keep quiet and keep moving. I’ve come to understand that there’s nothing you can say to someone that is intentional about misunderstanding you. Absolutely, NOTHING. So, save yourself and move on,” she shared.
Nozi continued and said, “Now that we were getting the backlash, what do we do? Do we cancel it? Do I remove myself from production? Maybe allow someone who’s more experience that can handle the pressure? I decided to stay on. See, I was there when the concept was presented to me. I knew the vision behind the show. I interrogated the producers and saw that these people were speaking my heart. I was also very clear on what I was bringing in my own right. Week after week, with every guest, I knew I had the responsibility to tell these people’s stories. And that I was going to do.”
Nozi shared that the lesson she has taken away from all this and the advice she can pass on to others is that “there’s one thing we will do, and that is to TALK. We will not only talk but we will make NOISE. So, if you’re not sure about who you are, you will lose yourself in the process. Don’t do that ❤️.”
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