Anele Mdoda is a renowned South African Disk Jockey, a presenter who has scored her way into hosting the Oscar red carpet interviews. Growing up, she wanted to be at the top of her game and she has since worked her way to earning that spot.
She draws inspiration from her close friend, who is today one of the world's biggest stars in television, Trevor Noah the host of the Daily Show in the United States.
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Here's Anele's life story and she to fame.
Anele Mdoda Age
Anele Mdoda was born on the 19th of May in 1984. She is 35 yearsold.
Anele Mdoda Family
Anele Mdoda was born in Mthatha, Eastern Cape in South Africa. She was raised by both her parents and sadly lost her mother in 2009. She was raised alongside her elder sister, Thembisa Mdoda.
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Anele Mdoda Education
Anele did her primary and secondary education in the Eastern Cape, where she was raised. She furthered her studies at the University of Pretoria where she enrolled for a Degree in Politics and International Relations.
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Anele Mdoda Boyfriend
Anele was blessed with a son in her previous relationship with Thandie. Her son, Alakhe -Ilizwe was born on 10th August 2015. The couple broke up early 2016.
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Anele’s always been very private about her love life, but she’s given the fans a glimpse into her happiness with Thoba Mkangisa.
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The couple are a modern blended family, with Anele’s son and Thoba’s two daughters from previous relationships.
Anele Mdoda Career
Anele developed the interest and the idea of radio at a young age, but she decided while in university that she'd learn how to be a Deejay. In 2004 while she was in university Anele met Grant Nash, who is now 5FM's programme manager.
The duo worked on their crafts and ended up finding their on-air chemistry which eventually led to a long-term working relationship.
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After graduating, Anele was hired by Highveld FM (94.7 FM). Anele took a leap of faith and suggested a co-host to her new employer, and Nash was hired as a co-host of the show. They worked on daily shows for the whole year of 2007.
The duo then moved to 5FM in 2008. During an interview, Alex Jay who is a South African radio legend rated Anele Mdoda as, “the hottest thing on local radio”. Anele was approached in 2009 to co-host the SABC 2 reality show, SA’s Got Talent with Rob van Vuuren until 2010.
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She continued with being a Disk Jockey for 5FM and her name continued to grow as 5FM was now gaining more airplay figures. In 2012, Anele was among the judges of Miss South Africa beauty pageant. Later that year, Anele released her first book, ‘It Feels Wrong To Laugh, But’.
Anele was then announced as part of the judging panel for Mzansi Magic’s reality competition, Clash of Choirs South Africa which aired in 2013. Transitioning from radio to television. She hosted the M-Net documentary-reality series, Dream School SA which aired in 2013.
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Finding her foot in the television industry, Anele started co-presenting a talk show, Tongue in Cheek which aired in 2013. Three years later, Anele got a gig to host the daytime talk show, Real Talk.
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In 2018, Anele landed a job with The Voice SA. She was delighted about the opportunity as she grew up being a fan of the program. She had this to say, “Since 1992, when my parents bought our first decoder, I’ve been dreaming of seeing myself on my favourite television channel. Best of all, talent shows, especially those that give South Africans a time to shine, are my thing!”
Anele has been awarded the Best radio personality award twice by the Best Of Joburg Awards. The presenter is working on becoming one of the biggest disk jockeys not only in the country, but in the continent.
As a philanthropist, Anele is a firm believer of giving back to society. In 2013, Twisaver Luxury partnered with TuGo Toys - who are one of the ranges in the Cotlands Active Learning Toy Libraries. Their partnership is dedicated at raising awareness on education with the Cotlands and their Toy Libraries.
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The two brands found Anele to be the perfect face for their initiative as she was already working with charities in Mthatha, her home town. She worked alongside Sam Cowen and the duo have pledged to help raise awareness for an inspiring educational initiative
According to Sam Cowen, the initiative is something which is needed in the country to better the educational, societal and psychological skills of children from a tender age.
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“The educational needs of children in South Africa are hugely undermined! It’s an issue that needs some serious attention and by involving ourselves in various charity campaigns and initiatives of this nature we can all help to make a difference to children who need it the most,” she said.
Anele is a firm believer of education and she has worked on this project to help develop the lacking skills in disadvantaged societies. According to the media mogul, through this initiative - it was shocking to her when she learnt of figures regarding disadvantaged children without early developmental learning equipment.
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“I was shocked to find out that over 83% of children in South Africa below the age of six do not have access to any form of structured early childhood learning as the majority come from disadvantaged communities. As an aunt or parent, you know that education is the key to children’s success in the future.", said Anele.
"The initiative with Twinsaver Luxury and TuGo Toys has made it so easy for the general public to get involved and make a difference, as the Cotlands Active Learning Toy Libraries have become an important community and social resource,” she added.
Both Anele and Sam were at Cotlands in one of their Active Learning Toy Libraries on the 5th of July in 2013, where they were motivating and spreading awareness to children about the importance of education that comes with the usage of the TuGo toys.
As she continues with humanitarian work, Anele has taken it upon herself to fight school sanitation by building ablution facilities in schools that do not provide any for underprivileged children.
Anele Mdoda Controversy
Anele Mdoda was trolled on Twitter following her milestone of hosting the red carpet at the Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in California, 2019. Anele had to defend herself after she was dragged for her attempt at getting the celebrities' attention.
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A video went viral where Anele was heard screaming for the Grey's Anatomy star, Sandra Oh, she said, "Sandra...girl I love your dress. I'm from South Africa, can we talk? Can we talk Sandra, all the way from South”
There was another clip from the red carpet which was shared where Anele was heard shouting for Quentin Tarantino and Brad Pitt. In her defence, Anele highlighted the realities presenters go through when they're on the red carpet.
She was again dragged on twitter by the former presenter of Real Goboza, Phat Joe. He questioned her credibility of being on the judging panel of Miss South Africa. His tweet spewed and received mixed reactions and he was criticised by several twitter users.
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In her response to Phat Joe, she said, "Also Phat Joe I have judged Miss SA for 4 years now and picked a damn Miss World. My beauty has nothing to do with whether I can see beauty or not. Do me a favour and don't say nonsense to my face the next time you scrape an invite to something relevant."
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The media mogul was dragged by Amerian Twitter in 2019 for the remark she made about Kelly Rowland. She responded to a tweet by Sizwe Dhlomo when he spoke about Kelly Rowland's beauty, Anele responded to the tweet comparing two images of Kelly, with and without make-up on, which led to her receiving hurtful and shaming remarks from several American Twitter users.
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Anele has handled different kinds of criticism from different people. One thing she never stops is working twice as hard to achieve her wildest dreams and securing a better future for her child.
