Sharon Marongere : Embracing African Haircare (2)

PART 2.  LISTEN TO PART 1 FIRST

A pioneer in beauty, Sharon couldn't find 100% natural products that were up to her impeccable standards of efficacy, quality, and purity. So she started Mauyu Haircare to make them - for herself, and for women like her who refuse to sacrifice health for beauty using natural and organic ingredients (some of which are sourced from her home country Zimbabwe). She says "I love doing this. I feel very happy creating a product that not only makes your hair beautiful and healthy but also helps to have a positive impact on the community around us. That is extremely rewarding!"

Mauyu Haircare

Website: www.mauyu.co.uk

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mauyu_haircare/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Mauyu_Haircare

Special offer: first purchase discount of 10% with Mauyu10

Resources mentioned:
Identity Crisis by Shingie Fundira*
Amazon* : https://amzn.to/3w62KCC
The Universe Has Your Back by Gabrielle Bernstein*
Amazon* : https://amzn.to/36dV3Q7

*The following is an affiliate link. If you decide to make a purchase using it, I may receive a commission that helps support the show. Thank you in advance. :)

• Actions to take 

Episode Transcript available

Follow @zimexcellencepodcast (IG) & @vongaiofficial (IG/Twitter)

Interested in being featured or want to leave us a message? Email us at

 zimexcellencepodcast@gmail.com

Enjoyed this episode?
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/vongaiofficial

Support post-production
https://auphonic.com/donate_credits?user=zimexcellence

If you’re interested in how learning how I launched ZimExcellence then you’re in luck. Sign up for my podcast workshop and learn how it’s easier and more affordable than ever to start a podcast. Also, get a copy of my podcast resource guide which covers industry terminology, and suggested tech setup in addition to countless online resources to support your podcast journey. Just head to vongai.com/podcastcreation. 

Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched! 
Start for FREE

Transcript

Vongai: I remember, when I watched Good Hair, I felt so seen, like Chris Rock's documentary. Yeah. And I think it was like Gabrielle Union in the along and a bunch of other actresses and they're just talking about their experiences with hair. That was like, oh, wow, it's not just a me thing. I felt, I guess a bit more connected to Black people. Because, again, growing up, I was like, the only one or when I was surrounded by, by Black people, I was treated differently or I was bullied. I was never seen, like, you know, I was. This is going on it’s own tangent, but like I was called a lot of names. You know, you hear those awful names like and some people make jokes like they're delicious, but like Oreo and Black inside out and, and I was called London pony and just all these awful terrible things that I I found myself unconsciously distancing from Black people and distancing from Zimbabwean people just because I just, I didn't feel like it was okay to be me. So this hair journey, again, was like, this spiritual experience, but then also, because I just been hospitalized, learning how some of the chemicals may have been affecting my endocrine system and my hormones. So it was also this journey of like, okay, I never want to be in hospital ever again. [chuckles] I want to get as better as I can. How can I do that? And then it was like, wait, there's this? Wait, what? There are people growing their hair? Wait I could have long healthy hair, and it would be good for my health. Wait, what? My hair is secretly curly. Wait what? [chuckles] And so I've been natural. 10 years now, actually. Oh, wow. Yeah. So it started with getting rid of the chemicals. And then when I went to acting school, I again, I created this belief system for myself that like, oh, people in Hollywood won't want me unless my hair is straight and perfect. So then my new addiction became heat. So I’d just be like straightening my hair all the time. And even though it was growing, it was falling out all the time, because it was just being like the heat was stripping it of moisture. And then I had a manager meeting with this one lady who was like, do you know what you should just let your hair grow out like my other client who has this big Afro and let's see, because because I present as young, but I sound mature. And when my hair was straight, it was giving me a very 60s Look, which is really fun. [chuckles] Which is really fun. But it doesn't make sense to for casting. Right? And so she's just like, maybe you should just, you know, think of growing it out in to an afro. And that was like my biggest fear was like, oh, what if I'm not castable I won't book and won't have a job. And I literally did that for a year my hair grew even longer than it's ever been. And I'm like, start booking a bit more. And yeah, ever and then ended up in the pandemic and my hair has grown even longer from what me doing nothing to my hair. Like not stressing because I'm not going out to auditions in person and, and being finicky with it and trying to make it perfect. And this idea of like what Hollywood wants, when that doesn't exist. I feel and I feel like I've been rambling for a bit, but I feel like Lupita showed us you know, F-it, because she won an Academy Award for having short hair. And being a dark skinned beauty. You know, these were all lies. We're all beautiful. We are all beautiful in our own ways hair or no hair. 

Sharon: Yeah. And I and I love I love what you're saying about this because it's that taking ownership of what your story is and what it should be. Yeah. And you know, even you know, just going back to what you said like how was it you know, kind of moving and being in this whole different, you know, country. I think the biggest challenge for me back then was, I got to a place where everything was so different, I didn't know who I was within it. And then at the point that I did go back, even though I feel like I'm home, there's also the way that people react to you and see you, which then makes you feel like, Oh, well, this isn't quite who I am, either, because I've also not quite fitting in. So how do you then craft that identity for yourself? And, you know, like, how do you make it all make sense for you, and, and similar as well to what you're saying around the pressures of like, okay, Hollywood, and, and, you know, you have to be this particular way to fit in the ideals of what beauty is, or what's considered beauty. I've not got experience on that side, but I've been very much in the corporate side of, you know, business for the last 10 years or so, maybe even slightly longer. And I also found that, that was a struggle I had, it was never, I could just come out in my Afro or my, you know, whatever, to, to work or to meeting so I was going from, you know, weave to weave and, you know, extensions, and instead of things, and I mean, those things also have a place, you know, I think they're good if you're protective styling if you're doing it, but I think I put myself in a position where I couldn't even own my own hair. Yeah. You know, because I felt Oh, no, actually, it's gonna be seen as unprofessional, you know, and it's going to be seen as there. So I don't even give myself that opportunity. I do love you know, I do love a good extension and the good like, you know, different look, you know. 

Vongai: I do love a good bundle. 

Sharon: Yeah exactly like, let's do it. Like, especially when it comes to like experimenting with color and stuff like that, I don't want to damage my hair, so that's the best way to do it. But I found actually, that I had something else internally to address within me, which was, but could you go without, you know, and, and that's something where, you know, once I started, you know, even building, you know, this brand, and I'm like, Okay, I'm trying to do this, I 'm trying to make my natural hair very healthy, and, you know, sort of embrace it in some ways. So as part of that, it shoul d really not be a problem to then be able to just walk out with my natural hair as well, I can go between the two. And I can, you know, almost kind of craft that identity for myself as the way I want it to be, why does it have to be one or the other. And so, that's also one thing I found quite liberating right now in that I do go into my corporate meetings with my hair as it is, or in an afropuff or in, you know, whatever it is, I'm feeling that day, you know, I've even done my African thread.

Vongai: Yessss. I support this. 

Sharon: You know, and I’m like, oh, wow, I did that. And, you know, what I found voice interesting is, no one has really kind of stopped to say, oh, why do you look like this. So it's also I think, in some parts, like, something that was imposed on us over time, but we've taken it on so much that we give ourselves that pressure even more, whereas, you know, people just see you as, you know, business as usual, as long as you're getting the work done, and, and, you know, kind of contributing in the ways that you should be no one is going to sit and say, Oh, I don't think this is working. Well, you know, I would hope so. But I think Yeah, in a way, it's quite good to also then get that that perspective, and that side of things.

Vongai: It's so interesting. So it's 2021. And, you know, decades ago, I wouldn't even be able to tell you how far I go. But it feels like it was just yesterday, you couldn't even step in the door with the way that we're wearing our hair now. And now, we're living in a time where in the U.S, they have the Crown Act, where like, you know, I know that the state of California it's illegal for you to discriminate against the way someone wears their hair. And in the City of New York, they made it like illegal for anyone to discriminate workplace and all of that stuff. It was just like a couple years ago, where you would hear stories that like so and so was like, playing for, I don't know, karate or wrestling or something. And their coach made them cut their locks before their game. And like the person that like won the game for them, but there was just so much pain in that child's eyes or like girls who were being suspended because of what their braids or because of what their cornrows were like, and you're just like, how do you? How do you not see or understand what that does to a person's self esteem and their self image or even closer to home, I remember, at school here, there was like this rule that you could only start wearing braids when you were in Form 2, which is, I guess, the second year of middle school, high school, I don't know, these things. Everything is everything. But it was like this whole thing where it became a privilege to have braids and extensions. And so then it was like people could identify you by saying, Oh, this person isn't in this year, because they wear their hair a certain way. It's just mind blowing.

Sharon: And I think that's why it's quite good to see there are certain places where we need to still you know, move further forward. Because those, I think they are still places where, you know, people are restricted in those ways. But I feel like the rebellion and the beauty of the rebellion that has come from this is everyone else saying, well, this is what I'm gonna do, and really kind of own and embrace that, because now I see, you know, whenever I go on, and I don't know, whether it's maybe like social media taking hold, and us not necessarily being exposed to just one type of media, because now I see, like, I've never seen so many, you know, beautiful women wearing locks on my screen, you know, pop up every now and again, you know, and you know, people wearing these styles, like, there's so many different things that are going on there. And I can even go into like a little rabbit hole, like, you know, just like looking through whenever I'm seeing stuff, and it's stuff that I never was exposed to before. So I wonder whether it was there and it was siloed away from me. And now I can just because that's what I'm intrigued by, I start to see all these things and see the beauty and all these different creative styles. Whereas before, if I was only ever tuning into whatever, you know, I don't know, BBC was showing, yeah, cuz I didn't really have that, like, you know, that awareness of that, oh, you could do this, you could do that. I mean, half the time. I, I now see, like, you know, someone on Instagram with a particular style, I'm like, wow, I can try that with my hair. Oh, I can do this. And it's just like, an infinite world of possibilities. Now, where is it just wasn't like that before. So I think we will move further forward, but it's just taking time. But the good thing is, we have that exposure now. Because I'm certainly not going to be looking at something that's not achievable for me. [laughs] I’m just going to look for everything that, you know, that I feel like is taking me you know, to a different level in that way. 

Vongai: You know, you bring up that point about like, you know, where are these other hairstyles kind of hidden away from you or siloed away from you. It's so interesting that I feel like growing up, there were certain stories or belief systems or stigmas attached to the way that certain people would decide to wear their hair. So for example, with locks, or the fact that people would call them dreadlocks when there's nothing dreadful about them or like if you wore dreadlocks that meant you smoked weed and you listened to reggae and you were lazy and you know. Just awful belief systems that aren't true, but then you have someone fabulous like Ava DuVernay, who's making all these powerful social justice movements, rocking her locks. And and unlike even natural hair, I know in our community, people would call that rasta, like all you're doing rasta now, like, what did what did that mean? There was this idea that like, if you’re natural means you don't wash your hair, and it's like, that's not like who told us these lies who fed us these lies. But on that point, what I want to ask you is when the rest of your family found out your extended family learnt that you'd started this business and you're selling hair products, what was their take?

Sharon: It was actually quite supportive. I'm very lucky. I think in that respect, I've got two older sisters and one younger brother, my brother is very talented in that he does like little graphics and, you know, technical things that he does. So you would be better setting up tech stuff here. [laughter] But yeah, so I mean, he's like. Okay, what do you need graphics? He's actually designed the logo, you know, he's designed a lot of the things that I'm using for the brand right now. So he's supportive in that way. My sister was pretty much my guinea pig, essentially. So everything I was trying  and to some extent, actually everything that I still try at the moment, because we are looking at other products and trying to, you know, see where else we're gonna go with this. She is the person that is, you know, okay,  for a year before anything's out. She's the one who's like experimenting and trusting me. My sister is there for me, right? And I always say this is payback, right? Because she learned to do hair on my head. I was her doll growing up. Now, it's just like, slightly flipped. So, so yeah, so I mean, immediately, I mean, my family are very supportive. And also even, you know, cousins, friends, and, you know, people around around me have been very, very positive. And sometimes, you know, kind of sending you links, you should try this, or have you seen this or if they see an article or, you know, someone they feel like, Oh, you should collaborate with them, you know, I get inundated with all of that. So, it's, it's a good, it's a good place to be where you feel like people really believe you and want to see you going forward. So and I think that's even more motivating, because that's essentially why we're doing this right is it's more, you know, you want to grow, you want to create something, and it's nice to know that people are helping, and I guess, also, you know, where I think people have been very good is just telling other people, word of mouth and trying to kind of help and support in that way. And I think that I'm incredibly lucky to have because it can, it can be challenging, you know, you know, sometimes, when you're trying to do some of these things, it feels like you've got these really tough, lofty goals. And, yeah, how do you then achieve them? You know, and also, you know, I've got my husband as well, he's he's incredibly supportive, but he's also kind of, you know, part part of the team. And when I say, part I mean, big part. 

Vongai: COO 

Sharon: Exactly you know. Maybe this is really kind of the the village part of it, where it's like, it takes that that village

Vongai: Yes it takes a village. It sounds like you've got a really great community, they're holding you up and helping you out and that’s wonderful. So for anyone listening who's interested in starting a company, because that can be super exciting and overwhelming. When it comes to starting the bank account, doing the tax taxes and filling the forms, and doing the research and all of that stuff. What resources would you recommend to someone who's not quite sure where to start? It could be like organizations courses, books, websites, podcasts, YouTube University.

Sharon: Okay, so you know what we live, I think in a world where the barriers of entry to business are lower than ever before. And one thing I found is, your best resource to be fair is literally the internet. And it's a very good place to start. Because you can get so much research, you can get so many ideas, before you've even got too far, I think you can get a lot in terms of that. There are a number of business tools and things that help you plan that you can get into. But I always think at the end of the day, think about what it is that you're trying to achieve. And when you need to do it by because actually, you can get inundated, there's actually more than enough for what you need. I don't need I guess, maybe a super, I don't know a financial planner, or you know, certain things because that can be too complex for where I am at the point that I am in my business. But I might need maybe a good camera, so I can take good pictures of the product. And also maybe like something that can help me edit and plan social media or something, because that's my main point of marketing, right? So it's really kind of about being very clear on what are your goals and what you're trying to achieve? And then how do you achieve that specific goal. So if someone wants to get in touch and says, Look, I've got this particular idea, this is the stage that I'm at, I don't know, I'm looking for suppliers or manufacturers of certain things that I can give you tips that are more relevant to that. But also you might be then thinking, actually, I do have a product, I have all of this, but I'm not sure who to be targeting. So now you need to do that research into Okay, who is the market for your product. And you can do that also in a number of different ways. So the good thing I always say and which is why I say the internet is more there is so much out there. And just really be clear about what you're trying to do because the rabbit holes, there are many of them to go in. And the thing is, it's not about the idea, it's about the execution. Have your idea, make sure it's a very strong idea and it's very differentiated, but you could have a million ideas. It's just how do you actually grow and stick this one idea and build it into something bigger and then you know, kind of use that as your springboard for greater things.

Vongai: Wonderful, though it is time for our lightning round. First question, what is your zodiac sign? 

Sharon: Oh, I'm a Libra. 

Vongai: Okay, what is the last book that you read? 

Sharon: I see I keep a lot of books in rotation. So I’m trying to think which one. Okay, so I'm still reading the one by Chimamanda Adichie, Half of A Yellow sun. So I'm still reading that one I'm halfway through. So yeah, that's, that's one of the ones I've been going through. And I also like a lot of I read a lot of like Gabby Bernstein books. 

Vongai: I LOVE Gabby Bernstein. I have The Universe Has Your Back on audiobook, and I also have.  What else do I have? I think I have like three of her books. I have them on Kindle and audiobook. 

Sharon: Really? I have Judgment Detox and SuperAttractor. 

Vongai: I have all three of those actually. Because Universe Has Your Back came out and then Judgment Detox, and then Super Attractor. Yeah, the one that I got my mom is one of her earlier books, which is May Contain Miracles. 

Sharon: Yes, yes.

Vongai: I love Gabby. Whenever I'm sad. I'm like, let me listen to Gabby. Let me do a meditation. Let me journal. Let me do a mantra. Is this coming from a place of love or fear?

Sharon: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, she's, she's brilliant. Isn't she like, so? I like the Universe Has Your Back is a book that I've read, I've recommended to almost everyone I know. And, and also, like, I almost feel like I have a very personal story with the book where, you know, like, I don't know, whether it was a case of it was just the right timing, but perspective, everything shifted for me with a lot of different things. And it just started to open up, you know, like, I felt like doors were opening up in some ways. And, and so I mean, yeah, it's a it's a brilliant book.

Vongai: It means that something must have shifted internally for them to shift externally.

Sharon: Absolutely. And also, I've picked up a new book, you see a lot of books in rotation. I just go within that. But I've also picked up a new book with which the author actually is a brilliant friend of mine called Shingie Fundira. And she's just written a book called Identity Crisis. 

Vongai: Um, I feel like she wrote this book about my life was rude. I must read this book.

Sharon: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. So yeah, so that's also the one I’m just at the beginning of so I have like, you know, I just I just pick different things. I'm like, What am I in the mood for today? Am I think really motivational? Or do I want to sort of feel like I'm escaping into something or I feel like I want to, I love reading a biography as well, because I'm very curious about people and how they got to where they are and how they think how they do things. So, you know, I love those types of books as well. And then, you know, sometimes I just want to escape into a whole different world. So it's just yeah, whatever is going at the time.

Vongai: Yeah, I balanced between like, like spiritual books, actor-y books, like self development books. And then also, there's this author who writes romance novels, but all of her protagonists are Black women, and I like love it. So like, they'll be like interracial love stories, or like, Black love stories. Her name is Jasmine Guillory. But the book I actually was going to ask if you've read if not, I'm recommending this and to anyone listening is the Big Leap by Gay Hendricks. Okay, Big Leap. I have not read it, but I will. It is so good that I I've been trying to get myself to reread it again. Just so that it seeps in. deeper.

Sharon: Absolutely. I'm getting that I'm getting that today. 

Vongai: I love that. So on to my other love, which is Film and TV. What was the last show that you watched on a streamer or binged on a streamer?

Sharon: I have to have a think about that. I binge on a lot of things. I'm trying to think why am I even basing on the Godfather? 

Vongai: Oh, classic film. 

Sharon: Well, not the film, The Godfather of Harlem. With Forest Whitaker. 

Vongai: Oh I love that. Yeah. A good friend, Erica Hart. She casts that which is really dope. Yeah, I don't know if she listens to the podcast, but I'm gonna shout her out anyway. She's a Black casting director and we love our Black casting directors.

Sharon: No brilliant job I love I love it. I think again, it's that whole, you're telling the story, but also there's that element of like real life characters and, and how they did something. I love books and films that show all the different dimensions there is to a person. Yeah, because there's all these people that we see as he was, you know, Malcolm X, for example, in this, and he's a hero, but he also is quite afflicted in so many different ways. And you get to see those different sides to a person you know, you see this, he like, I love those types of stories, because we just have so much to us. And it's not one narrative that you know, we put out there so, so yeah, so I'm always always here for it. So I binge on that one, and I need to binge on season two, but I just, I'll start on that next week.

Vongai: No worries. I just finished bingeing Never Have I Ever which is great.

Sharon: Ooh I binged on that too. 

Vongai: It was just so good. And, like the way that Mindy kailyn explores just the immigrant experience, even though she's calling on her own community is just so relatable that I'm like, Yeah, I could translate this to Zimbabwean family easily.

Sharon: Omg when the grandma comes  into the mix. 

Vongai: So great. Before that, I finished up Loki on Disney plus, and then like, a whole like hole in my heart where I'm like, What do I do with my life? I finished Loki I need another Marvel show like yesterday.

Sharon: I need to watch Loki actually. I started that but I will do when I'm back in London.

Vongai: Well, speaking of Do you have like a favorite Avenger? Are you into those films? The Marvel films?

Sharon: You know what I really? I do love Black Panther. Yes. Yeah. So it has to be but I love I think they're very good at like putting a lot of the you know the characters. I love a lot of them actually. I

love Thor. Yeah, maybe Thor would be my favorite. I think Black Panther I’m more like, you know, it's just more emotional. 

Vongai: Wakanda Forever ! The emotional aspect of it like people are shocked when I don't say Black Panther. I'm like, it's great. Wonderful. Rest in Peace Chadwick. We love you forever. But like, I'm a Captain America girl. Even before it was Chris Evans. I was a Captain America girl. 

Sharon: Yeah exactly no, that's true. 

Vongai: Chris Evans just made him even better.

Sharon: So I mean, on that basis, if we take like, you know, no bias aside. I think it’s Thor.

Vongai: Okay, do you have a favorite Zimbabwean musician? 

Sharon: I think one that always, I guess resonates because at the time, I think I had a trip over there. Actually, there were a couple. So when we were there. Freeman was just coming out. So this is before he got really big. And he had a mixtape out. And we took a road trip to Nyanga, it was like around our wedding time. And so we like had friends that had traveled who'd never been to Zimbabwe, like, you know, some of them were like French-Greek, you know, like, it was amazing. It was just one of those. So they decided to come with us on a road trip to Nyanga and we bought these mixtapes, and then we played them on the way there. And so I think there's just that mix of listening to the songs. And you know, the memories around you know, having this trip with our friends. And I find it really funny because my French friend, every now and again will message me and say, Oh, hey, I'm listening to to Freeman or you know, she’ll be like, Oh, hey, I'm listening to Winky D. Things like that. Winky D I think is also very good as well. But I mean, there's so many books Yeah, those are more nostalgic for me because they were like new memories that I managed to create. You know, in Zim which I really treasure

Vongai: Are you from Nyanga by the way? 

Sharon: No, I'm from Wedza

Vongai: I don't know where that is. I will find out that always learning always on this podcast. 

Sharon: Yeah, that's what it is. You know what's really funny though, so I'm from Wedza, which is I guess I can't really pinpoint exactly where it is. But it's like maybe about a four-hour drive away from Harare. So towards like the north eastern side. I've never been to my family homestead because there was never anyone there like my grandparents were all in the city and I never went there. So I've never actually been to to Wedza, but my mum's homestead which is Buhera which is a little bit further so maybe five-hours drive. Yeah, was a place where I was there, every single holiday and I grew up, you know, kind of going there all the time with my cousins and stuff. So it's it's very interesting, I would say I'm from Wedza but I have no idea. And then the place I’ve been to is somewhere completely different, but even again, like, you know, kind of tying back to the whole story of like the Baobab and my fascination with it, whenever we got off, you know, off the main road, onto the dirt road. And so driving through to get to my grandparents place, we would then count the number of Baobab trees that we can see. And we would try and spot and you know, every now and again, you'd be cheating, be like ‘I saw one!’, you know, trying to get a count over your siblings and stuff. But I guess that's always been the fascination because, I mean, the trees themselves are so majestic. And you know, there's so much mystery around this even when you go back into the history of it and you start looking at it. In the wartime, the barks were so big for the trees that people used to carve them out and live in them and hide in them. 

Vongai: Wow

Sharon: And there are few trees, even in Zimbabwe now, which they've converted into restaurants because  the bark is so wide. And yeah, so they're really fascinating things. They call it the tree of life.

Vongai: I mean, Beyoncé mentioned it in Black Parade. 

Sharon: Okay, 

Vongai: yeah, you've heard that song right, Black Parade?

Sharon: No, I didn't. I didn't see I didn't even know that mentioned. I'm gonna look for it. 

Vongai: Oh, yeah, the lyrics go [recites lyrics] I'm going back to the south. I'm going back back back back.Where my roots aren’t watered down. Growin’ growin’ like a baobab tree. It’s literally at the beginning of the song. And I was like she said, Baobab tree?! She said Baobab tree! 

Sharon: Right. That's because they live forever. So yeah, absolutely. Oh, that's amazing.

Vongai: Okay, favorite Zimbabwean childhood snack?

Sharon: Between Things and Snacker Jacks. 

Vongai:  Don't think I know what snackerjacks are. 

Sharon: Yeah, well, I don't know. Maybe snackerjacks are in the UK. But they have a different name. 

Vongai: ZapNax? 

Sharon: Yeah maybe they might be that or what are they? Cracker Jacks, maybe?

Vongai: I don't know. I'm now thinking Cracker Barrel, which is a cheese in America. It's okay. Someone will figure this out for us.

Sharon: Yeah, I’ve probably said it wrong. But anyway. Yeah, it's there. And also, you know, what I loved I loved Milko this like white chocolate. Like the Milko Crunch. 

Vongai: YESS. Yes, yes, yes. I see it in my mind. I see it in my mind. 

Sharon: Yeah, so that I used to always, whenever my parents went shopping, it's like, please bring me that otherwise, you know. [laughter] Otherwise 

Vongai: I’m not talking to you ever again. [laughs] Okay, are you ready for the most controversial question of them all? 

Sharon: Let's do it. 

Vongai: Mazoe Orange vs Mazoe green.

Sharon: Oh, it has to be Cream Soda. Hands down. Hands down! 

Vongai: You and Nyasha Matanda. You guys really are some friends? 

Sharon: Yeah, no, absolutely. Yeah. Nyasha knows what's up? 

Vongai: Oh, gosh. Okay, power statement time. Okay. I am ZimExcellence, because, blank.

Sharon: So I am Zim excellence, because I love who I am today. And Zimbabwe has been a very crucial part of who that person is.

Vongai: How powerful. If you could nominate someone for the award of Zim excellence? Who would it be?

Sharon: I will nominate my friend who's just written her book. Shingie Fundira, the author of identity crisis, it's her first book, but she is someone who I found to always be very inspirational and supportive. And I congratulate her on this part of the journey. I know that there's more to come. So yes, I would nominate her for making strides. 

Vongai: Shingie Fundira, you have officially been nominated for the award of ZimExcellence by your dear friend, Sharon Marongere. And if you could nominate someone to come on the show. who would it be? Would it be Shingie? 

Sharon: Yeah, let's nominate her. She's current. She's doing stuff. So let's do that. 

Vongai: There we go. This was absolutely wonderful. We could talk for days about all the issues that need to be talked about. But as we wrap up, I would love it if you could share a message with our listeners as well as letting them know where they can continue to follow your journey on the socials.

Sharon: Absolutely, yeah. So thank you guys. I really really appreciate you taking the time to listen and and to support as well. So my brand is Mauyu hair serum, and you can find us at www.mauyu.co.uk And you can also find us on Instagram as Mauyu_haircare and you can also find us on Facebook  now at Mauyu_haircare as well. 

Vongai: And your final word or message.

Sharon: In our own way, we have the power to own the narrative. I find myself very inspired by a lot of people in today's world. Vongai you are one of them. I absolutely love what you're doing to shed a light on, you know, different people that are doing amazing things in this world on a daily basis. And it's what I would say we all need to do.

Vongai: Well, thank you so much, Sharon. Thank you, thank you for being with us and sharing your warm spirit and your insight and just your wonderful time and your presence. For all of our listeners who tuned in thank you, all the resources mentioned on this episode will be in the show notes, including a wonderful discount that Sharon is giving all of us for our first purchase of Mauyu Hair Serum. So you can just use a Mauyu10. It's also going to be in the show notes on your first purchase of a product on their website. Bye y’all

Outro : Mazvita. Tatenda. Siyabonga. Thank you so much for tuning in to this week’s episode of ZimExcellence.  If you found value from this episode please share it with a friend and go ahead and subscribe, rate and review.
If you send me a screenshot of your review I’ll make sure to give you a shoutout on future episodes. Feel free to tag us on Instagram. @zimexcellencepodcast
And if you identify as Zimbabwean I want to hear your story so go ahead and email zimexcellencepodcast@gmail.com. Til then have the best week and stay ZimExcellent!