Mdantsane-born Yonga Balfour, 30, wears her humble beginnings as her badge of honour, as she recently stepped into the role of editor-in-chief for the 69-year-old Bona lifestyle magazine.
Now based in Johannesburg, the Walter Sisulu University journalism alumna, and print and digital media specialist is the last-born of three girls raised by a single mother.
She describes her childhood as a “copy and paste for many households”.
Most families, she said, were led by single mothers working government jobs, pushing their children into former model C or private schools with hope rather than means.
“It shaped me in a sense that I wanted more than what we had, not just in my home, but what we had as a whole neighbourhood.
“I wanted more than a government job, there’s nothing wrong with them, but they seemed to follow a routine, and I knew that wasn’t for me.
“Indirectly, the experiences of those around me shaped me into knowing who I will be,” she said.
Her mother, a teacher who balanced work, studies and a catering side hustle, set the tone.
“She’d always say, ‘I’m sending you to school to get as much as you can from those institutions and be whatever you want to be, unfortunately I can’t transfer education’.”
Balfour’s career began at Mikateko Media in 2016, first as an intern and later as an editorial assistant and production co-ordinator before rising to editor of The Afropolitan in 2021.
She later served as senior digital content coordinator at Don’t Look Down, before joining Bona.
Her first big move came in 2017, when she left Mdantsane for Cape Town, eager to build her career and live independently for the first time.
But the city, she said, was too gentle for her ambitions.
“It was great, but the environment was too slow for what I wanted, it felt like an advanced East London, and I could see myself becoming comfortable, which wasn’t ideal for development.”
When Mikateko Media opened an office in Johannesburg, she volunteered.
“I took the chance,” she said
The print industry’s collapse during the Covid-19 lockdowns brought real fear.
The Afropolitan didn’t survive, and Balfour felt the blow personally.
“That was heavy, as it felt as though I failed, even though it was out of my hands.
“I was also scared about the possibility of having to go back home and live under my mother’s rules after having established my adult life for so long.”
What steadied her, she believes, was resilience and faith.
“You know how, the week before payday, cupboards would go dry?
“My mother would say, ‘God will provide’.
“I used to get so mad, because we would be starving at the time.”
She said the moment she stopped mourning the loss of The Afropolitan “opportunities flooded in”.
Many of those milestones arrived without her mother there to witness them.
“It’s not a single moment, it’s all my achievement; from working on The Real Housewives, becoming an editor, having my child and experiencing them without umama physically here.
“Those three stand out the most.”
Motherhood, she adds, has been her hardest reckoning.
“Being a mother without a mother of my own … I cry when it’s hard. I don’t hold back.
“I know if she were here, some weight would be lifted.”
And though her path has moved far from the familiar routines of home, the lesson that guided her from the start remains unchanged.
As she puts it, “I always knew there was more, I wasn’t sure what it was, but I was going to get to it.”
Daily Dispatch