Mbali Gudazi

While working at Transnet Freight Rail in Pretoria, Mbali Gudazi’s colleagues asked her to be MC at their year-end function. After excelling at her duties, her colleagues and manager encouraged her to do stand up. In April 2017, she tried stand-up for the first time at Wednesday Comedy Nights at Cappello, hosted by the late Vuyo Jiya, who played a massive role in her growth and understanding of stand-up comedy. "After my first time performing, I completely fell in love with it – I was happy inside! My first paid gig was in 2018, so I can say that I have been doing comedy professionally for five years now. This nomination, however, opens the door for more opportunities such as being a writer, acting, and even performing at international comedy festivals." Mbali’s comedy style can be described as social commentary, talking about her observations and experiences in life. Mbali has big dreams: “one day I’m expecting to get a call from Netflix to do a stand-up comedy special for them, maybe 2025 or 2026?”