Ranaka started the restaurant The Untrained Chef in 2017, which she started working on on Instagram.
Broadcaster Dineo Ranaka has highlighted the bias against women in the South African radio industry and slammed its harmful nature.
“Radio is very much a boys' club. If you aren't born male, it's hard to even get executives to take you seriously. It's hard to get advertisers to take you seriously,” Ranaka said in an interview. newsroom africa Saturday morning.
“I was abused at the hands of a female executive…that hurt me the most…and I thought, 'I'm not going to do this, I'm going to leave it like this,'” she said of the earlier incident. work.
Her last radio job was with Kaya FM, but she left last year after revealing she had been diagnosed with severe chronic depression. She co-hosted the station's breakfast show with Sol Fenduka.
The breakfast slot was then taken over by Sizwe Dhlomo, who was covering for Ranaka.
Also read: Dineo Ranaka celebrates Kaya FM sacking
Penny Levien also spoke about the pay disparity between black female broadcasters and their colleagues of different races.
unhealthy radio space
Ranaka said she has not taken a permanent break from her work as a broadcaster.
“I'm not going to step away from the media. I've been on a spiritual hiatus, I'm very spiritually inclined,” she declared.
Ranaka said this is not the first time she has been in the spotlight and active on social media.
“I'm not controlled by modern social norms or anything like that. When God wants to speak to me, I'm in the corner and I can listen without feeling pressured to post and stay relevant.” . God keeps me relevant,” Ranaka said.
“[I’ve] Yes, I took a break from broadcasting radio, but across the television medium, those are the talents God has given me to serve. You can't rest it. You'll lose your mind. ”
“I'll do it [radio] Because I'm good at it and I'm talented at it. But am I healthy in it? I am definitely not,” the former Metro FM jock declared.
“I don't think there's a space in radio to accommodate a vessel like Dineo Ranaka. You can't try to force me to change myself. You can't force me or shape me to fit in. I can not do it.”
“Botswana named a hurricane after me,” she joked, referring to Tropical Storm Dineo, one of the deadliest tropical cyclones on record in the southwestern Indian Ocean and Southern Hemisphere.
It had a major impact on some of its neighboring countries, including Mozambique and Botswana.
“I don't mean this in an arrogant way, but I think it's important for people to have a strong sense of self. I know.”
“Instead of a platform trying to mold me or force me into what they think I deserve, radio does that for me,” said the former YFM DJ, who has a YouTube channel. DRC (Dineo Content Republic)has over 30,000 subscribers.
Also read: Change radio station: Your favorite radio station is here
food for the soul
Ranaka described herself as a healer and said she finds satisfaction in being healed through food.
“Being in the kitchen is something I love,” she said.
Her eatery, The Untrained Chef, was founded on Instagram in 2017, where she posted content about herself cooking and feeding her loved ones, but the idea of pushing the limits and starting a business was sparked by her. She said she came up with the idea recently.
“For the first time since late last year and this year, God said to me, 'My child, this is where you will be happy and fulfilled.'”
Ranaka said changes in her diet helped her heal from depression.
“Thanks to the untrained chef, I can sell self-love on the plate, the taste of God on the plate, and conscious living and eating on the plate.”
She says patrons come to Untrained Chef for “comfort food without the guilt.”
“I take the seven colors and turn them into the seven chakras. I eat to align my spiritual discs and align myself as a human being,” she asserted.
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