The Fabulous Life Of Zari Hassan

Zari Hassan is a businesswoman, jetsetter, social media phenomenon and mother of five. She opens up to CATE ODERA about the men in her life, the woman who meant so much to her, being a mum, and what success means to her.

- Cate Odera

 

It’s Mother’s Day when Zari Hassan and I meet for the TRUE LOVE cover story interview and shoot. So when she pitches up and immediately reaches for her phone to catch up on what her kids are doing, I totally understand. A mother of five can’t leave anything to chance.

She has just hosted a cancer charity concert and back-to-back events, but she is looking as fresh as a daisy in her white dera with African print details. Shorter than her pictures on Instagram convey, her real hair which is jet black flows past her shoulders, and her skin is soft and glowy. With her is her manager, Aly Allibhai of Talent Africa, and his wife, former Ugandan beauty queen Sylvia Namutebi.

Zari is used to the stares she gets wherever she goes. She is, after all, a household name in East Africa.

She arrived in South Africa from Uganda as a musician, then built a business empire in Pretoria, then became a social media sensation whose hosting skills are sought after from Nairobi to London. Along the way, she had long-term relationships with two men – Ugandan businessman Ivan Don Semwanga, and Tanzanian superstar Diamond Platnumz.

On Instagram, she has a following of almost four million fans. She goes by @ZariTheBossLady on her social media platform. So, does the Boss Lady live up to that name?

Maybe, she admits. ‘I have one major weakness, I can’t work with slow people. I just can’t stand them, I have no patience for that, I can’t tolerate it.’

Her life is anything but slow-paced. When she’s not being mum to Pinto, 14, Raphael, 13, Quincy, 12, Latiffah, 2 1/2, and Nillan, 1 1/2, she’s rushing off to meetings, events, parties, and posting the details of her frenetic life with her fans. On the go. It’s who she was growing up, she says unapologetically.