Laurian talks exclusively to ZAlebs about her job and reveals why ambition is the new sexy!

What do you enjoy most about your profession?

What I really enjoy about youth television is the opportunity to inspire and motivate people. To interact with young people almost every single day is absolutely amazing for me. I really do love it!

Let us in on your NPO project Dream Factory?

Dream Factory is basically a little project that I came up with my friend Lusanda. We started it last year and basically what we do is we go out to schools and encourage young people. We do this through dramatic performances as well as song and dance to get the pupils to actually interact with us.  Last year we did about 25 schools all over the Western Cape and we’re looking to take the project nationwide that will consist of webisodes. We’ve already started shooting whenever we’re visiting schools and we’ve interviewed the likes of Zahara, Khaya Mthetwa, even the opening of Parliament!

Do you have any dating rules?

Wow! Funny enough it has changed recently but I think ambition is the new sexy, for me. You have to be an ambitious guy - gone are the days when one could just rely on their looks.  Being handsome is a plus but being ambitious is extremely sexy and attractive.

What was your fondest memory when growing up in Cape Town?

I definitely love the natural environment of the city, just being able to go to the beach whenever I want, climbing mountains and absorbing the beauty of it all.

Time to get a little creative now; if ZAlebs had to give you an elephant to place in your home where would you hide it?

Under the staircase my darling! (Laughs)

Who’s your currant celebrity crush?

Yoh, yoh, yoh! I think it definitely has to be D’banj (The CoCo Master). He’s just one sexy man.

Laurian Nortje is a presenter on Hectic Nine 9 – a daily live youth magazine show broadcast on SABC 2.