Introduction

Born in Cape Town, 7 October 1978, Claire Mawisa spent her early years living in Gugulethu. At the age of 5 she and her family moved to Kenilworth. Many years later she would eventually leave this leafy Cape Town suburb to settle in Johannesburg.

Background

At 14 years old Claire was approached, at the Cape Town V&A Waterfront, by a model boss of one of South Africa's most recognized model agencies and was asked if she would be interested in modelling. Claire's mother needed some persuasion but in the end agreed to meet with the Topco Models boss, Lindsay Shuttleworth.

After signing with Topco Models, Claire was entered into the prestigious model competition, Cosmopolitan Model of the Year 1994, with the intent of familiarising her with the model/fashion industry. The novice model achieved the unthinkable and went on to win the competition, beating professional and established models. The gorgeous 15 years old became the youngest and the second black South African beauty to be featured on the cover of the local Cosmopolitan magazine.

Print

This tremendous accomplishment catapulted her into the limelight and she took it all in her stride. Juggling modelling and her schoolwork, Claire travelled to many exotic destinations for her assignments; including the length and breadth of South Africa, Maui, Hawaii and the Seychelles; all the while doing her homework on location! She has since graced the covers of many magazine including True Love, Pace, Drum, Real, and Bona.

When she came back from London in 2002, Claire approached True Love for an internship at magazine as a fashion assistant. The then editor, Khanyi Dhlomo soon recommended her to Seventeen magazine editor; Justine Daly, to become the magazine's beauty editor. Claire worked passionately for the magazine for over a year before deciding to go back into TV in 2003.

Print media coverage continued and in 2006 she was the first woman to appear on the cover of the male magazine Blink and proved to be their best-selling issue in their existence.

As a qualified Life Skills coach Claire, in partnership with Daily Sun, is continuously pursuing her passion of helping women through various empowerment workshops and events hosted nationally.

In 2010, Claire played lead in a Vaseline Brand Image Campaign that was also executed across several of women's magazines in South Africa. Unilever South Africa (Pty Ltd), is a subsidiary of Unilever PLC, and is one of the largest FMCG companies in the South Africa.

Her appeal in print extends from the aforementioned publications to City Press, Sowetan, HEAT, The New Age, Sunday World, Daily Sun, Jet Magazine, Destiny, Sunday Times, Sunday Sun, Real and Fair Lady.

In 2011 she gracefully declined an offer to be the first South African female to cover the regional issue of Playboy. In the same year she reached a high point when she graced the cover the October issue for DESTINY, a 'high-end business and lifestyle magazine for women'. Claire was the cover girl for February 2012 issue of Jet magazine and shared the cover of the True Love birthday issue of June 2012.

Television

Claire continued to model to pay her way through university and whilst on campus one day she got the call of a lifetime. SABC 1 was looking for a continuity presenter, her audition tape was submitted and two days later the job was hers. In 1999 Claire left Cape Town for Johannesburg - diving in head first into her new job as a continuity presenter. This opened the door to many other presenting opportunities that came her way.

She became the Team Leader for SABC 1 presenters and a preferred choice for a female MC during her two-year stint as a Simunye presenter. After leaving SABC 1 in 2001, she moved to England and upon her return a year later she became the anchor presenter, with Bianca Le Grange and Masello Motana, for SABC 1’s flagship music show ‘ONE’. During this period her involvement with radio deepened.

In 2003 she co-hosted SABC 2’s ‘Face 2 Face’ with Mark Pilgrim, a reality make-over show that targeted unsuspecting shoppers in malls all over the country.

Claire hosted two season of ‘African Within’ (a travel and lifestyle magazine show) with Chilu Lemba from 2006 to 2007 on SABC Africa on the DSTV Satellite Bouquet. Claire, alongside Pepsi Pokane, co-hosted the second season of the reality show ‘You’re Hired’ on SABC 2 during this period. In 2007 she was the host of the reality series ‘The Cut’, which aired on SABC 1.

In 2010 Claire became the lead in a Vaseline Brand Image Campaign for Unilever South Africa (Pty Ltd), a subsidiary of Unilever PLC and one of the largest FMCG companies in South Africa.

Throughout, the attention she garners has seen her on platforms such as ‘All-Access’, ‘Top Billing’, ‘Club 808’, ‘Flash’, ‘Channel O’, ‘Mzanzi Insider’, ‘Headline’, ‘Late Night with Kgomotso’, ‘Real Goboza’ and ‘V Entertainment’.

In April 2015 Claire was announced as the newest anchor on Carte Blanche – South Africa’s longest running investigative journalism program on M-Net.

Radio

Claire’s first job on TV as a continuity presenter in 1999 opened the door to another career opportunity; namely in radio. She co-hosted ‘Live and Dangerous’ with Phat Joe, Yfm’s breakfast show until 2000.

In 2002, Claire joined Metro FM, South Africa’s largest English urban radio station as a DJ for the ‘Smirnoff Experience Dance Mix Show’ and as a Lifestyle Team member.

5 years later she moved on from being Lifestyle Reporter on Metro FM and became a Producer for the show ‘Soul Therapy’ with KG Moeketsi on Radio 2000 between 2007 and 2008.

Between 2009 and 2011, she was the Executive Producer on the syndicated radio show ‘POV (Point of View)’ hosted by Randall Abrahams. The prevalent show was syndicated across Heart FM, Algoa FM, OFM and Kaya FM.

Since 2009, she has been volunteering her involvement with Radio Summit and presented her radio experience at the yearly conferences where representatives from radio broadcast field in various African countries attend. Radio Summit is an online www.radiosummit.com resource website for radio practitioners by radio practitioners..

In 2011, she joined the popular adult contemporary regional station, Kaya FM as a Producer and Content Coordinator where she was soon promoted to management. In November 2014, Claire left Kaya FM to pursue her business interest and focus on her passion of empowering young women.

Voice-Over

Claire is an accomplished voice-over artist for various organizations in South Africa. She done promotional voice over work for:

Dtsv Competition The Wild Ellen Degeneres Oprah 'Big Wish' Campaign International Black Music Exhibition

Appearances

Claire is a skilled MC and has hosted and continues to host corporate and entertainment events.

Cheesekids Mandela Day Concert (MC) Colours of a Woman, High Tea (Host) Mr. & Miss College Campus (Judge) Kaya FM Mother's Day Celebration (Host) RAG and EWS: Take A Child To Varsity (Main Speaker) Lusaka Radio Summit (Speaker) Metro FM Music Awards (Presenter) Till Dawn Entertainment Launch (Host)

Female Empowerment

Claire is a qualified Life Skills Coach and Facilitator for Teenagers. At the completion of the Louise Hay Heal & Love Yourself Workshops, Claire put her skills into action by continuously pursuing her passion of helping young women - through various empowerment workshops, hosted nationally.

She and her partner Karen Burt also present Code Teen workshops in partnership with the number one selling newspaper; the Daily Sun and their expertise are also utilised when hosting the Sun Babe's workshops.

In 2015 Claire developed and launched the first of the Me Only Better seminars for young women dealing with challenges, or merely seeking guidance, with their careers or personal lives.

Claire is also keen to volunteer her time to participate in events geared towards empowering young women.

Cover/Appearance/Features

April 2015 hosted the popular Code Teen workshop Navigating Girlword for young girls. February 2015 developed and hosted the first Me Only Better seminar for working young women. February 2015 appointed celebrity BONhomie for BON Hotel Midrand. January 2015 cameo appearance on Muvhango as herself.) January 2015 stand-in presenter on Cliffcentral.com. November 2015 stand-in presenter on Cliffcentral.com. November 2014 featured on Screen Time with Nicky Greenwall. November 2014 published article in City Press. May 2014 cover for Tropics magazine (English and French edition). August 2013 facilitator and guest speaker at Thebe Investment’s Women Day event. February 2013 profiled as one of South Africa’s living legends on uVelaphi on Mzanzi Magic. May 2012 featured in Real magazine. February 2012 cover girl for Jet magazine. June 2012 cover girl with Judith Sephuma and Zizo Beda for True Love birthday issue. May 2011 Claire was nominated by Cosmopolitan readers to be one of twenty-five Twitter Queens. October 2011 cover girl for DESTINY. May 2011 featured in True Love Magazine. February 2011 featured in True Love Magazine. March 2011 featured in The New Age. February 2011 featured in True Love Magazine.

Bookings

For Bookings and queries please contact:

Name: Gorata Mugudamani
Mobile: +27 (0)71 364 7988
E-mail: gorata@highrotation.co.za

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