I have decided to become a professional blogger, although somewhat amateur at this stage, we all have to start somewhere!

Hello World! This is hopefully going to be one of many blog posts from me! Let’s ignore the photo I have included since I do not have anything else on this “ancient” mac book pro rip-off, with only 250gb for 30 000 rand…. anyway….. no product reviews just yet!

Let me just give you a quick (this means shortening my life

into a few paragraphs) INTRODUCTION:

My name is Yajna Gold, I grew up with two “writers” as parents, my father more intellectually inclined would often read me bed-time poetry or bore me to death with his adaptations of Shakespeare or god-forbid his interpretations of the “the greats” as he so called them. An English lecturer, book-club member and hidden poet (he refuses to admit he is a writer yet he has a PHD).

He is now a lawyer who tries his best to annoy his kids with the Geographics channel and ancient history – or the latest book he picked up at the thrift store!

On the other hand my mother, a published travel writer, lifestyle writer, reviewer, investigative journalist & wanna-be blogger, as well as copywriter and content creator.

She is imaginative and believes in all thing esoteric. She used to read me Harry Potter before bed each night.

She has always inspired me to travel, having done 42 countries with a backpack by herself; she taught me to experience life to its fullest and appreciating those experiences, even if that means sharing it with the world! She taught me to question EVERYTHING and never accept what others may tell me – I wonder why she did not understand it when I started questioning her philosophies?! Jk.

Both my parents have been a huge inspiration to me and my journey, through the buddhist and spiritual teachings, charities they support, diets (vegetarianism) and more – I have so much thanks for them in helping me to keep and maintain an open mind in today’s society!

Both my parents were always anti all things aesthetic or “superficial” – I on the other hand revel in the beauty of life and selfies! A selfie a day keeps the doctor away – because it just makes you feel THAT good (if your makeup is on point!)

I am also the only apparent artist in the family which lends reason to why I treat my face as I would a canvass – it is not mine and I do not identify with it, it is simply a tool I use for social media, modeling and photography as well as a face for doing-good! (more below under outreach programs)

So the odd pair’s genetics formed a cross between a brainiac, creative, social butterfly (ADD they call it!) and so a foodie, travel/product reviewer, a poet and story-teller was born… and thus a blogger was born! Certainly one with more digital talent than them … Over many years I have developed creative passions, never quite sure whether I am left or right brained. I had a gift for the gab from the age of 1, winning numerous English awards up until the age of 15 (spelling, poetry and creative writing – how they judge this I don’t know?) following with academic awards in the field of business and commerce with 90s /A+ in marketing levels 1-3. This left me not know what to do with my life since I only chose a BBA for lack of knowing what I WANT TO DO.

Back to childhood…

I was brought up as a gypsy, moving bags from house to house till about 16, I was called “the bag lady” by family and friends, only to realize now at 25 in my own place the clutter has followed, so much so that room-mate calls this apartment a “depot” which I find absolutely hysterical! My mom calls this hoarding “black-hole-syndrome” which is the need to hold onto or collect things, a call this DNA. My moms house is full of cats, crystals and chaos, my dad’s house is full of books, belongings and believe me a lot more…

I used to carry and hoard all my things around because my Mom lived in the far South, whereas my Dad was up the west coast. They joke about how this was done on a purpose, a result of a strategic decision to escape each other (as far as possible, which is only about 60km in South Africa)

Due to my love affair with Harry Potter and my hate affair with my parental authorities – I decided to check myself into boarding school at 10 years old/grade 5. I was alone but I always kept a journal or diary throughout my childhood years, a place for my deepest darkest thoughts, it kept me sane and gave me some comfort.

I always wrote short children’s stories and poems but I really found my calling when MXIT came out and other chat apps, I have always been a techno-junky and a social butterfly – I must have written hundreds of books throughout all my years of texting! Texting is where I met my first boyfriends – after every breakup I would stick odd hate poetry /writings in my journals, I even wrote on a sheet once when I ran out of paper, I even graffitied the carpets to my step-mother’s horror. In later year social media became an expressive tool, a place to let out raw emotion in the form of “statuses” and “posts” . Quickly it became trendy, so did photo uploads and I discovered my love for photography and all things digital soon before many caught on to the trend.

Fast forward 9 years (almost my matric reunion!) and here I am starting a blog, after trialing many industries and projects, after considering every profession under the sun (radio presenter, lawyer, teacher, pharmacist, journalist, artist, dancer, actor, therapist, hr manager, labour law, chef, hotel school, dog walker – when things got desperate, beauty therapist, magician – someone who makes money from thin air…) yet here I am a digital artist/entertainer of sorts. I did everything right, I passed matric, I got into the commerce field and then business school at UCT where I did a post-grad (NQF level 8) and even won academic awards yet cannot seem to find something I am passionate about which actually pays, Cape Town economy is not helping my struggle either, everything I want to do covers half my rent.

So I thought screw it, I will do what I want, whether paid or not. I will be a starving writer – not like I did not witness that in my early years so I knew what i was getting into! “I will start a blog about ALL THINGS which I am PASSIONATE about whether the world cares or not” I thought… because I CANNOT CHOOSE JUST one THING, I decided to write a list, including but not limited to:

• – experiences
• – travel
• – food
• – photography
• – modelling
• – philanthropy/charity
• – environment/eco-goods/eco-tourism
• – lifestyle
• – fashion
• – beauty
• – technology
• – business/marketing tools and tipes
• – life hacks
• – writing/reading
• – art
• – music

I worked in hospitality for years, whether it was serving bottles, hostessing, bartending and waiting, I then started up my own promo company, worked as a marketing manager for several restaurants and clubs, I then went into property, a creative agency new business development, events, sourcing products for local buyers and finally into sales and social media management for a security company.

As you should be able to tell by now I go wherever the wind takes me! Like a sail boat lost at sea, but I like to think of myself more as good wine – something that gets better with age! Anyway I worked really hard and then I just decided I didn’t want to work hard anymore, I wanted to work smart!

My outreach programs and titles:

Last year I volunteered in the Miss Earth SA program and was Miss Earth SA Finalist 2016  (my claim to fame) where I did a lot of charity work and teaching at schools, networking with environmentally conscious people and this year won the title of Miss Power Woman SA 2017 which I intend to use for a purpose and a good cause.

• winter charity drive – to clothe and feed the homeless in Cape Town/SA
• to raise awareness for poverty in SA
• to promote ecotourism
•  raise awareness for animal conservation
• promote green awareness and eco products

PEACE . LOVE . HAPPINESS