Lena Nozizwe is pretty to the core

Back in the ’70’s, The Chilites had a hit song called “Homely Girl”. The lyrics go something like this:

‘It must have broken your poor little heart,

When the boys used to say,

You look better in the dark.

Homely Girl,

You were so lonely,

But you’re a beautiful woman.’

The Chilites might have been singing about Lena Nozizwe. She was shy, skinny, bookish, rejected by all but her mother. She wasn’t even allowed to pass out programmes in church because she was too ugly, people said.

Now Lena Nozizwe is famous and accomplished. A former television journalist, she is winner of countless journalism awards. She is a writer, teacher, public speaker, documentary producer, actress, globe trotter. She is beautiful on the inside and out. Standing at 5ft, 10 in tall, she sparkles.

“I had an internal makeover. A divine, extreme makeover,” Nozizwe tells women gathered at Northern Caribbean University recently for the West Indies Union Conference Women’s Ministries Convention. She was the keynote speaker. Her message, taken from her book Starring in Your Own Life, was “Let it shine.”

Nozizwe was born in Malawi as Nozizwe Siwundhla. A prophetic name. Nozizwe means “a wanderer, traveller of many countries” and Siwundhla means “bad crop of corn”, perhaps a metaphor for her future troubles.

“My star almost never even got a chance to shine,” she tells her audience. “I almost died at birth. My umbilical cord was tied twice around my neck. I survived that. I always considered that the first miracle of my life. My second miracle was that my family had the opportunity to come to the United States of America.”

Nozizwe’s mother, the writer Alice Princess, grew up orphaned with her two brothers in Africa. “My mother was a Godly woman who instructed me and helped me,” she says. “She never expressed scepticism about my success although she felt it. I found out about this, years later. If she had expressed doubts to me that would have hurt me.”

“I had challenges growing up as you can see,” Nozizwe says.

She produces a photograph of her young self to illustrate the point.

“What helped me a lot was reading and my faith in God and just believing that I could do whatever I wanted to do. Being plain and ugly. people called me ugly to my face. As I grew up, I didn’t go out and in the US some kids end up shooting up schools because they are not accepted.”

That wouldn’t be Nozizwe’s destiny. “I chose to follow my dreams. Growing up that way was probably the best preparation for life and rejection that I could have ever had,” she says.

Afterwards, I asked her about this.

“It takes a while for it to all come together. I’m not the sort of individual that makes it the first time,” she says of her persistence and ultimate achievements. “It (rejection) made me not so dependent on what people thought.

I really see it as being something pivotal in following my dreams and becoming a journalist. To have this action adventure life and go around the world.

My places to shine have been through the places I go to as a journalist.” Nozizwe shared one of her most touching experiences with the convention. “A couple of years ago, I put together a project to go back to Africa. I heard about severe starving in Central East Africa.

The first day in Zimbabwe I heard a term I never heard before – ‘child-headed households’. Because of AIDS, a lot of children have become the most responsible person in a family in that they are supporting their younger siblings and their grandparents. So next to me is a little girl. She is in charge of a child-headed household. I followed her back to her village.

There was no food in her home. On the way, in she bought some food and I helped her with some food as well. That was the only food that about eight people who lived in that hut were able to eat.

“So we are going around, taking pictures, doing stories, trying to bring more awareness about this, but the truth is I don’t think that I was the one who was going all around in my neighbourhood. I had to go to that neighbourhood and find a very bright light and that was this little girl.

She shared the food with so much joy, she was so proud of herself. You could see no self-pity. The thing that was really touching was that this little girl, before she ate a bite, she put her little hands over her eyes and she prayed. She had gratitude. This little girl in a dress that was put together with safety pins was actually shining her light on me.

“All of you have the opportunity to shine in your neighbourhoods. It means shining to everybody – the homeless, the hungry, the sick, the discouraged. Don’t think you just have to go to the poor. The poor need you, but there are also people I would describe as being poor in spirit.

So make sure that your light is shining to everybody.”

One of the problems that prevents women from shining, Lena says, is that we assume roles instead of excelling at being ourselves. These roles include:

. The Critic – Instead of taking care of her own business, this woman always has her mouth in other people’s business.

. The Damsel in Distress – This woman is a victim, always blaming someone else for her failure to shine.

. The Spectator – This woman likes to sit in the audience and cheer on everybody else – her husband, children, acquaintances – but does not let her own light shine.

. Miss Cast – This woman has made choices and done things because of money, prestige, etc. but not the things that really make her shine.

Among the worst things that prevent a woman from shining is low self-esteem. “In Los Angeles there is a radio talk-show host who comes on every day and he is really oriented towards men.

What he tells men is that ‘if you really want to get a woman to do what you want her to do, the first thing to do is to tell her that she is ugly, because low self esteem is the best way of having your way with a person.’ So if a man tries to tell you that you are nobody he is trying to put you down. This can really make your light flicker and go out.”

Living in Beverly Hills, Lena says, she sees people who are discouraged despite their opulence and prestige. In the course of her work she has met and socialised with world leaders, politicians, writers, musicians, actors, movie producers, recording artists, top executives, sports greats, top journalists and royalty. So how does she keep her focus amidst the glamour?

“It isn’t real all that appearance of happiness,” she says. “People think it’s all so wonderful to be rich and famous, it’s not. The fame and glamour does not last. Remember the Notorious BIG? When he died the record company did not even want to contribute towards finding his killer. It was his mother who had to do that.

“I interviewed Princess Diana just before she died. I was surprised to see how thin and sad she looked – almost grey.

“A well-known TV personality told me that it was luck if he went two months without blacking out.

I interviewed another well-known person who seemed anxious and agitated. His heroine dealer was not far away. If you need alcohol and drugs to keep going, then you don’t lead much of a life.”

Nozizwe says that her own background helps her to help young people who feel themselves in distress.

“I am grateful for my background, because when I see young people in similar circumstances I try to help them,” she tells me. “I understand what it’s like to be an outsider. I don’t judge people. Homeless people, drug addicts. I try to understand the sub-cultures. It helps in telling their stories. I cry when I interview some people.”

After leaving San Diego State University with a Bachelor’s in Journalism, and much searching she found broadcasting work at KFMB-TV, a CBS affiliate. She also worked on ESPN, SKY TV, BET and America’s Most Wanted as a substitute host and correspondent. Then the big names took notice.

But success cost her birth name. Network executives said it was “too ethnic” and insisted that she change it. So she added Lena which was her grandmother’s name, and dropped Siwundhla.

Nozizwe left journalism a few years ago.

“I didn’t want to get to 50 and still be trekking around with a microphone,” she says. Her first book, Starring in Your Own Life, published by Simon & Schuster, took about two years to write. She is now a professor of journalism at the University of San Diego. She also owns a production company called Malume Media – Tall African Chick Productions. “I like to feature the human side of Africa,” she says.

She is currently working on a documentary called “Hut to Hollywood”, a production about her rise to Hollywood and about women’s hopes and dreams. HBO has expressed interest in her documentary and she is excited about it. “I put a lot of money and effort into moving forward with it,” she says.

She also takes on acting roles. Not big parts she admits, but she relishes them. “I’ve been offered roles to play Caribbean women,” she says. “But there are also roles that I will not take, like anything promoting exploitation and abuse.”

“Jamaica reminds me of Malawi,” she tells me over lunch. She notes the similarities in ethnic make-up, foods and flora. “It’s sort of a feeling I have been here.”

During her address she had said, “From sister to sister we have so many similar challenges and problems.”

Does she have any particular advice for Jamaican women?

“Don’t ‘player hate’,” she said referring to the habit of tearing down someone who achieves. Women need to support each other’s work. “Reach for the stars. Do something in and for your own community. Treat yourself well.

Even taking a bubble bath is special. Avoid fast foods. You have so many wonderful foods here in Jamaica. Eat the foods that grow here naturally. Let your children see you eating them so they adopt good eating habits.”

She encourages us to examine our motivations – the what and why of the things we want and do, because fame and glamour does not last.

I took the liberty of asking her age.

“I am ageless,” she quips. Indeed, she is. Inner beauty never ages.