VEREENIGING. – 30-year-old Odirile Tlhoaele popularly known as ‘The Savage Stylist’ is still on cloud 9 after winning the award of ‘Stylist of the Year’ at the Basadi in Music Awards (BIMA) on 12 August in Johannesburg.

Tlhoaele hails from Arcon Park and is a Business Management graduate, Celebrity stylist, and business owner. Talking about her recent achievement, Tlhoaele said words cannot describe how she feels.

“I cannot express the emotion and gratitude I have for BIMA. I’ve gotten opportunities from this platform. It’s overwhelming but yet so exciting.

“There are things in the industry I would like to change, and though I might not have the muscle to change everything. The change starts with me. This win affirms to me that I am the change I want to be and when God wants to make an example out of you, he will be done and nobody can say no,” she said.

Tlhoaele stated that the achievement opened up a world of opportunities for her.

“My goal is to achieve black excellence. I believe that I am a complete savage in everything I do. I’m currently working on the biggest project of my life and I’m about to turn heads and create a bigger name for myself.” She said.

Talking about what it means to be a woman, she said: “We are CEOs, business owners, award-winning brilliant women. We are making our mark. We are saying you will know who we are and what we bring to the table whether you like it or not, you will respect us and our work because we deserve our flowers.”

On her future plans, Tlhoaele shares that she aspires to own an exclusive fashion consultancy agency, where she creates opportunities for designers and stylists, and cater a very exclusive but beautiful experience to clients.

“I’m setting myself up to make sure that I’m recognized as an international stylist too. There is some international work that I’m working on and a big corporate gig that will help with that too.”