Reality TV star Thimna Shooto shares on giving back to community
She shares her journey and how winning Love Island changed her life.
Let us get to know a celebrity from Fourways, Thimna Shooto (29) who won the first season of Love Island South Africa.
“I went on Love Island because I wanted to experience something outside my comfort zone after going through a hard lockdown for most of the year. Another reason why I went on Love Island was the prize money that was going to help me pay for my mom’s knee replacement surgery. It is ironic how things worked out. It seemed to be the easiest way for me to get that kind of money and things worked out in the end.”
Shooto said the show changed her career, she went from a sports massage therapist to a content creator. “I was exposed to so much publicity I did not think I would be exposed to. I think I’ve grown a lot mentally since before the show. Stepping outside my comfort zone is something that I encourage everyone to do at least once.”
She said the older she gets, the more she is learning to appreciate all her surroundings. “I’ve learnt to appreciate stillness, nature and my privacy. I like to indulge once in a while like going out, late at night. I think everyone knows that I love being active. I love the beach, fashion, work and taking care of myself physically.”
Just like everyone else, Shooto has dislikes and hers include inauthentic people, being inconvenienced, unprofessionalism and she is not a big fan of noise. “My days are quaint. If I’m not watching crime and investigation documentaries, I’m at the gym or running errands. I love meal prepping and journaling.” She has two brothers and four family dogs.
“The challenges I face in life are my safety as a woman – I think this impacts almost every woman in South Africa. The uncertainty of the future of our country and service delivery, road works, electricity, water, governance and opportunity for work. I think also as ‘unimportant’ as many people may think it is, social media and technology especially for people who make a living using these platforms, things can change overnight and we see this when the apps are down, when peoples’ accounts are hacked or suspended.” She said mental health is also a challenge,” Being burned out and uninspired does affect my work quality and my ability to think outside the box and create fresh and new concepts. This is why it is so important to take breaks and/or travel and be in different environments.”
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