Zilanie Gondwe

"This word is associated with tranquillity and calm. It sounds more mellow than its meaning, and I think it describes me perfectly because I like balance. I am a creative who is interested in many things. I have lived several seasons of life and have walked into different chapters where I commanded the room. I have left some chapters messily, but in the end, everything is always ok. I like things to be ok."

"My psyche analysis tests show that I am an extrovert. I think I am an extrovert-introvert, meaning I am more extroverted than introverted yet both are strong parts of me. My daughter is in boarding school, and my partner lives in Europe and now visits twice a year – Covid pandemic allowing, so I live alone. People come over thinking I must be lonely, but that is not the case. I like and value space and silence. If I have to choose between doing something with many people and doing something with fewer people, I’ll choose the latter. In one of my chapters of life, I was a festival organiser; putting festivals and events together. Bringing people together was, to me, more enjoyable than attending them."

"I wouldn’t be able to do what I do now if I hadn’t gone through all those other journeys. I’m still involved in festivals and the gender space but in a different way. My core now is conservation and climate change. Activism is intersectional. So activism is the one word that would describe it all."

"I ended up in my home country, Malawi, helping a friend run a lodge. I realised I loved hospitality and tourism. So I opened a backpackers’ campsite. The plan was to do long-distance learning for my law degree; I’d read from the beach. Of course, that didn’t happen. After about 3 years of a wonderful life in the hospitality space, I went back to London and did a diploma in hospitality and tourism."