Mo Matli, a creative filmmaker from Bloemfontein, has been added to the Mandela 100 icon list. Among other achievements, she has recently created the 2021 Mother’s Day Advert for KFC.
Matli said she believes her love for filmmaking comes from the fact that she did not use her voice that much when she was a child. And now, for her, it’s about giving a voice to the voiceless through her photography and films.
She describes what she does as “impacting lives, one visual at a time”. Mo enjoys the ability of bringing ideas to life through filmmaking. What inspired her to capture the KFC advert the way she did, was her desire to make every mother feel appreciated. She added that being part of the Mandela 100 icon list feels awesome, because she now knows she has the qualities of being a great and impactful leader.
“All my achievements are a big deal to me. To me, they affirm that I am displaying the wonderful work God is doing in my life. They also mean that I am positioning myself to be at the forefront of showing people that we can achieve anything we set our minds to,” Mo explained.
The creative young woman does not believe in having competitors. “There is only one me in the world and I remain authentic to being me in all I do,” she told Bloemfontein Courant. She treats all her work equally – no job is too big or too small for her. She does what is expected of her, and she always tries to exceed her own expectations. Her mother is her inspiration because to Mo, she has a heart of gold. “Something else about my mother to admire is that people around her feel blessed when in her presence,” she added.
Mo confided that she does not believe in bad decisions because they come with lessons that equip her with better decision making for the future. She takes pride in always being genuine in whatever space she finds herself in, while staying true to who she is and the values she was raised by.
Corn Koteli
