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Actress Lunathi Mampofu shapes her world by helping people kick butt
Lunathi Mampofu hopes that other women can empower themselves through education and mentorship.
Lunathi Mampofu | Picture: Supplied
After a traumatic experience that brought safety front of mind, actress and mother Lunathi Mampofu decided to do something about what she was feeling.
Mampofu founded My Defense – a non-profit organisation with the main goal of teaching women, young people and children how to be aware of the world around them by understanding that they too are capable of standing their ground through the self-defence classes and workshops.
Thanks to the career she has built herself, her story of strength and triumph and her steadfast desire to see through what she has started, Levi’s decided to partner with the actress for this year’s “I Shape My World” campaign.
In the campaign, directed by Ying-Poi De Lacy, Lunathi Mampofu opens up about her near-death experience in the hopes that other women can feel empowered to not only share their own stories but empower themselves through education and mentorship with programmes like My Defense.
“I have been given the opportunity to change people’s lives and I get to do it with love and with passion while I am doing it,” said Lunathi.
On this year’s International Women’s Day Lunathi along with Levi’s hosted an event attended by The Citizen and a select group of guests at Haus of Stauss in Johannesburg.
The event, aimed at launching the campaign, also gave women the opportunity to participate in one of Lunathi’s workshops and connect with one another in a safe space.
The workshop was led by Mampofu’s trainer, a man identified only as Simon.
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According to Levi’s “I Shape My World is a programme that was created by the late Meeta Bharvani, Levi’s marketing director, in March 2017 in recognition of International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month.
“The goal of the programme was to elevate women’s voices and promote the power of the female collective – when women tell their stories and claim their achievements, it inspires other women to do the same, which moves the collective forward,” and Lunathi’s story and the self-defense demonstration did just that.
Understanding that women tend to be timid and dismissive of their instincts, Simon and Lunathi took their time guiding guests through the self-defence basics that could not only help them but the people in their lives.
