By Priya Sharma
Sihle Bolani’s incredible life journey and her work for the empowerment of Black professional women are inspiring. Prior to starting her own business, Sihle worked as a senior communications manager at one of the top banks in South Africa. Her work included Public Relations, Media Relations, Internal Communications, and Employee Engagement. Sihle was 32 years old when she was forced to leave her corporate job, which she describes as toxic — with no back-up plan. While Sihle had always wanted to start her own business, she was not expecting this departure from her corporate job to happen so soon; however, when life gave her this opportunity, Sihle accepted it optimistically and became victorious. She says, “What has been the most interesting part of my journey is how embracing this new chapter and trusting the process have opened me up to work I never imagined I would be doing.”
Today, Sihle Bolani runs her own consultancy brand. She is a workplace transformation specialist, strategist, facilitator, and advocate for the equality of Black professionals who are often suppressed in the corporate ladder. Sihle has made it her life journey and mission to fight for equity and equality in the workplace. Sihle is also the author of the book We Are The Ones We Need: The War on Black Professionals in Corporate South Africa that delves into the challenges faced by Black professionals in South Africa’s corporate environment.
Sihle describes herself as focused and attentive to detail. She prides herself on having a high work ethic and an ability to see the big picture without losing focus on detail that matters. She is passionate about her advocacy for Black professionals — Black women in particular. Through her work, she seeks to upskill Black professional women and helps to create healthy work environments conducive to their success and mental health.
Sihle utilizes a few platforms to create and share content that is relevant and engaging for her target audience. She runs a community for Black professionals (https://workingwhileblack.co.za) that aims to transform the corporate world through knowledge sharing, career tips, labor law explanations, and more. Her Podcasts (The Workplace Revolution on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Anchor) talk about the Black experiences in the workplace. She also has a YouTube channel (The Epilogue with Sihle Bolani) that covers topics, trends, opportunities, and challenges faced by Black professionals. Apart from that, Sihle is also active on Twitter (@SihleBolani_/@workwhileblack/) and Instagram (@sihlebolani @workwhileblack @konnektedblackwomen/). Through these platforms, she aims to create the content that addresses the challenges of her audience and sparks conversations that enable them to connect with others and form communities.
“My consistency is what has helped expand my reach and impact. My background and experience in marketing, PR, and communications play major roles in assisting me with identifying suitable platforms and key messages to promote my work, my expertise, and my brand,” says Sihle. Her brand primarily targets Black professional women, moms, Black professionals, and corporates. Within these audiences are the intersections of parenting, identity, equality, etc.
Sihle believes that her best achievement is being able to identify a space that enables her to make money whilst doing meaningful work that benefits others. She says, “Passion and purpose had the perfect intersection, so I get to do work that fulfills me and not have to worry about money.”
According to Sihle, flexibility and owning her time are some of the biggest advantages of working from home. Since she is a single mother, working from home lets her be available for, and be accessible to, her daughter. Also, she likes saving time by not being stuck in traffic and saving money on gas. Sihle says that the other advantage is being able to walk away from her computer when she is tired or frustrated. Sihle says, “By working from home, I’ve been able to prioritize self-care, and that makes a huge difference in my mental health and general wellbeing.”
Sihle has a very positive outlook for the future of her consultancy brand. In the next three years, she envisions growing her business to the international level and with a remote team. She says that she believes in harnessing technology and focusing on impact and outcomes rather than traditional team and team management principles.
