A remarkable and brilliant media high-flier

Kgomotso Molelekeng
Correspondent | Tuesday May 14, 2013 00:00

This gorgeous lady is at the peak of her success and what makes her 'magic' entrancing is her enviable poise and natural grace. Even the greatest critics cannot help but admit that this is undoubtedly what she was born to do. In an industry that's worryingly fickle and overflowing with one-hit wonders, Tlhasana has managed to stamp her presence and has proved to have staying power.  She has now become a benchmark and a role model for many young people - and she isn't even 30 yet!

Born and breed in Gaborone twenty-nine years ago, Tlhasana grew up in Broadhurst where she lived with her family.  She is the second born in a family of four children.  She did all her schooling in the city until she went to pursue her tertiary education at Monash University in South Africa where she  studied Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Media studies.  Growing up Tlhasana always wanted to be a doctor.  'I think throughout primary school that's what I wanted to be. In retrospect, I realise it was because everyone else wanted to be a doctor. In junior secondary school I discovered drama and fell in love with it. I then decided I wanted to be an actress. I believed that performing arts was my destiny and that I could also make a great television host. This drove me to choose media when I went to study at tertiary level,' she explains.  Talkative is how some people would describe Tlhasana, she tells Showbiz.  She believes her amiable character has paved way for her radio career.

'Talking is what I do on radio and TV and I have really had to learn to restrain myself from going on forever on air because I love talking! However, people shouldn't think I am a total success because I am still a work-in-progress,' she says.  She tells Showbiz that she has always loved listening to the radio but had never imagined herself as a presenter. Tlhasana went for auditions where she impressed the panel of interviewers and she later started working at RB2 as an assistant broadcasting officer. 'I got attached to shows like the Aftermath with Emax, and I was trained by a lot of other presenters who were there at that time like Bonni, Fifi, Pac Man, Thato and Evelyn and the more I got to know about radio, the more I fell in love with it. It really started to feel like home! I eventually got my own slot, from midnight to 3am, and that's where I started to spread my wings. After making a million mistakes, I slowly but surely became comfortable and got out of my shell and just became me,' she reminisces.  She currently hosts a show called Urban Flavas which airs weekdays between 9am and 12noon.  Urban Flavas is a mid-morning show that eases listeners into their day.  It's a show that plays feel good music, the latest chart topping hits as well as favourite old school tunes. 

The show also tackles real-life issues, and these vary from current affairs to day-to-day social issues, Tlhasana says. The talented young lady also is a co-presenter of the Btv Breakfast Show and also a prime time news reader on both Radio Botswana and Btv. She tells Showbiz that she has always auditioned for various shows on TV since she started working in 2006, and did not get called until she auditioned for the breakfast show and Btv news in 2011. After the auditions she was hired as one of the breakfast show presenters. What sets her apart from other presenters, she feels is her awesome character.  'There really is no other Tlhasana out there and just being myself sets me apart. I'm a loud, emotional and talkative person. I have allowed that to come through in my work and I honestly believe I can't go wrong with just being me. I think that's why we are called radio personalities, it really is about one portraying their true self to the audience,' she says.

2012 was a good year for her as she got married to another TV and radio personality Thobo Tlhasana. She says that being a married woman feels amazing. 'My husband is a great man, who is considerate of the fact that I am my own person and I have my own dreams and aspirations. He does all he can to help me progress. I think it's very important to not lose yourself in your partner's world just because you are married so that's something that my husband and I work on every day,' she points out.

Her proudest moments are all the live Parliament broadcasts she has done, from the Budget Speech and State of the Nation Address and all the events or ceremonies she has hosted including the prestigious BNSC awards which she believes are the most spectacular live broadcasts in the country. At the recent BOMU awards she received an award for best electronic broadcast journalist. Tlhasana advices young stars to venture into media as its an amazing career, but just like any other discipline one has to work hard. 'Contrary to what some people think, one does not just walk into a studio and talk or just play music. You need to put in effort to sound good just like one needs to work hard at excelling in any other career,' she says.