Starting Strong

If minding one’s business had a face, Skeem Saam actress Amanda du Pont would carry it so well. The 31-year-old talks about walking a career path that uplifts others and the 20 lessons she’ll betaking into 2020!

- Kemong Mopedi

By societal beauty standards, Amanda du Pont should be the ultimate ‘It’ girl and the life of every event. She may have unknowingly stepped into ‘popular girl’ territory in the formative years of her career — especially during her three-year tenure as a presenter on the SABC 1 celebrity lifestyle magazine show The Real Goboza. But, she has since chosen to embrace the role of a real-life angel — constantly spreading love and motivation to those who need them.

Amanda relays how, at a recent event, someone told her that if she ever released a book on minding one’s business, it would be a bestseller. Laughing off the silliness of her having the makings of an ‘It’ girl, she vows never to abide by anyone’s rules but her own. “I feel like I’ve gone and changed the narrative because the rules dictate that if you’re not in that ‘It’ girl circle — constantly doing stuff to be written about in the papers — then technically you shouldn’t be relevant. But I’ve managed to stay relevant while staying in my lane. I’ve also learned that being great at your job is enough and that the rest of the stuff you choose to share is up to you,” she explains, resolutely so. She adds: “I’m rather content keeping to myself, unless of course, it’s work-related, something I feel could lift the spirits of those around me, or a worthy cause.”