Nonkululeko Mbuli

Nonkululeko Mbuli is a communications practitioner based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Mbuli began her career working as a community journalist for Caxton Local Newspapers. She has worked as a communications and research officer for an award-winning NPC that sought to promote girl-child education and adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights. In addition to Marcomms activities, she led a research project that aimed to document the experiences of adolescent girls in peri-urban South Africa who miss school due to the inaccessibility of sanitary pads. She was also involved in the organisation’s enterprise development programme, which was focused on equipping aspiring female entrepreneurs from historically disadvantaged communities with the necessary skills to build sustainable small businesses and earn an additional income.

Before that, Nonkululeko completed her media analysis training with media research institute, Media Tenor, and did a brief stint in the Pan African Parliament’s (PAP) International Relations and Cooperation office during PAP’s Fifth Ordinary Session. She has also lent support to a consulting organisation that offers intelligent project planning solutions to the international development sector. The research project centred on analysing trends in gender focused development projects across Africa, developing a comprehensive view of gender funding decisions across locations and project types, and sought to establish a repository of the operational and strategic lessons learned.

Nonkululeko has worked as a face-to-face fundraiser and trainer for an integrated marketing agency that did brand activations for some of the world’s largest humanitarian organisations. She has worked as part of a team that produced communications campaigns for various players in the medical schemes industry and provided rapporteur services for industry and policy discussions at public and private sector conferences.

During her tenure with Mimi Women, the organisation won a PRISM award for its 16 Days of Activism against Women and Children ‘Shock Box’ campaign. In addition, she has been a recipient of Media Tenor South Africa and Caxton Newspapers internal awards as well as a John Dludlu Scholarship for Ethical Journalism from Rhodes University.

Nonkululeko is passionate about women and children, and has been involved in mentorship and tutoring in her personal capacity.  She spends her free time binge watching reality shows, political thrillers, National Geographic documentaries and reruns of early 2000s sitcoms. She also enjoys restaurant hopping, gin tasting and attending live music shows with friends and family.