Starting out as a beauty YouTuber in 2016, Mihlali Ndamase steadily made her way to the top. She is currently sitting pretty with over 25 million views on her channel, and almost 2 million followers on Instagram. The trajectory of Ndamase’s online career has become a beacon for those in her country and across the continent. Together with a group of Black creatives and developers, Ndamase launched Malakyt, a site that allows a range of beauticians to create online portfolios that showcase their services, rates, and location. 

Considering the social climate that the global pandemic has created, and how heavily the beauty industry relies on word of mouth, the site has made a timely entry to help propel the careers of South African beauticians. AMAKA caught up with Ndamase to talk more about her experiences in the beauty industry, and how she is using her experience to create opportunities for others.

My passion from a young age led me into the industry. I was that kid that used to steal my mom’s lipsticks. Going into high school, I discovered the beauty community on YouTube. I knew from then it was something that I wanted to be a part of. However, I didn’t know how to monetise the space at the time. So, I thought maybe I would first go into corporate, and then one day start my own beauty line, and then branch off into that. But when I started my YouTube channel in 2016, I realised that there is actually a lot of money to be made online, and I felt that even if I don’t stay in the content creation space, there are other places to make money in beauty. So that’s really what led me into the beauty industry, it’s the opportunities. 

What has your experience been so far?

My experience has been great so far. I feel like I’ve had a very lovely career, I have been very fortunate, plus I have a great team. But it wasn’t great from the beginning, it was very difficult starting out because as a creative, if you don’t have some sort of representative, people can exploit you. Also, it being a new industry in South Africa when I was starting out, it wasn’t respected. So those were some of the challenges I faced, but the good outweighs the bad. 

What inspired Malakyt?

Malakyt was an idea that I had a long time ago. It was definitely part of my to-do list, but I didn’t pursue it for the longest time because I knew that it was something I would only do when I found the right business partners. The way it worked out was quite funny, because the girl that introduced me to my business partners was someone I went to highschool with. Malakyt was inspired by the intention to create business opportunities for people, as well as being innovative in the beauty space. Also, the pandemic took business from a lot of people in the beauty space, so what better way for people to make money, and gain the income they’ve lost. People can create an online portfolio to showcase their work, and get people to book them for house calls, and if they don’t do house calls, they can specify their location. So yeah, it is just all to create business opportunities. Even though I had the idea way before the pandemic, the pandemic definitely motivated me to work towards it quicker. 

Who is Malakyt for? 

I wanted to empower anyone in the beauty space, because some people are very talented but they don’t have the advantage of having a large audience online, so they struggle to get clients, growth, and exposure. So I figured Malakyt is a fair platform for anyone to showcase their work, not like on social media where only some people get recognised because of who they are. 

Malakyt launched in October 2021, how has the site been doing so far? 

It is doing exceptionally well. In the first week of launching, we hit over 200 000 searches, and we have continued to grow. We have set new goals for the year, like to expand the categories the platform offers. We hope to get a sponsor too, and introduce changes that result in growth and expansion. I can’t give everything away, but there are a lot of plans for the near future. 

What advice do you have for anyone starting out in the beauty industry? 

I would say people must be open to putting themselves out there, especially online. Don’t be scared of creating an online platform because that’s where a lot of consumers go for advice, or to see products or service offerings. So put yourself out there, create a portfolio, take social media seriously, make use of platforms like Malakyt, and don’t put yourself under pressure to succeed in a short time frame. It takes a lot of time, discipline, and determination. You also have to be consistent. There is also a market for everyone. Don’t be discouraged by the fast paced growing industry, there are definitely opportunities out there.

Ndamase’s career has propelled her to achieve her goals and leave behind a legacy through her foundation, Siyasizana. She also desires to branch into more businesses in order to empower and support people in the beauty industry.