Lolah Mashapa empowers young people through her talk-of-town blog

Lerato Mashapa, affectionally known as Lolah, is the brain behind Updates with LolahM an influential social media news blog.

During her stint at Radio Turf, Mashaba was the content producer before she could initiate her very own platform.

Lolah was born and bred in Seshego in Limpopo. The 24-year-old is a University of Limpopo Communication studies graduate and she’s currently doing Post Grad at the University of Johannesburg.

Updates with LolahM is a social media news blog, founded in 2020. When the pandemic first emerged in South Africa, there was so much uncertainty and fear of Covid-19.

Everyone wanted to know the future dynamics of this outbreak, they all wanted to be kept abreast with the latest developments regarding the monster virus and they would contact Lolah during her tenure at Radio Turf to
enquire about what the president or the minister had said regarding their new reality.

With the mounting surge in cases and hospital admissions, people became interested in the news, and she became the go to person to keep people in the loop.

Lolah would then share the updates on her WhatsApp status, as time went by she would get messages from unknown numbers requesting her to save their numbers in order for them to see her updates on her status.

Some would screenshot her status and distribute it. She received so many new texts from unknown numbers and that is what motivated her to start Updates with Lolah.

It became too much as she felt that her personal WhatsApp was being invaded, she couldn’t even share personal stuff as her WhatsApp was full of unknown people, so she decided to open a Facebook and Twitter page, she then made her followers on WhatsApp aware that she was moving to those two platforms and as they say the rest is history.

Her baby which was born as a result of Covid-19 has since grown massively, it’s a leading news blog in Limpopo and her plan is to have an office in Polokwane so that it can expand.

Updates with LolahM opened the doors to five reporters, all originating from Limpopo Province.

The versatile thespian says that reporters at Updates with LolahM are students from the University of Limpopo.

“Some are doing media studies and others communications,” she says.

Even though many wants to work with her, but she feels that they are enough for now.

Updates with LolahM has gained momentum and it has many people sending news nationwide as well as people from other news platforms.

It has also ventured into radio where Lolah gives weekly updates on different radio stations.

She updates listeners from Blouberg FM almost every day, Every Saturday Radio Turf and a global Radio station based in Honeydew called Radio Panache which caters to 148 Countries.

Just like any business updates with LolahM also received their share of challenges.

Lolah reiterated that they were bullied several times, they were undermined by many, claiming they cannot do it.

She didn’t give the critics an upper hand, when faced with a challenge, she tackles it head on, whether it’s a company or an individual, she doesn’t shy away from any situation.

She knows people who are doing well in the industry, and she approaches them whenever she needs advice.

Lolah is also a Mentor and a founder of Girls Talk Initiative, a Non-Profit Organisation founded in 2018 while still at the University of Limpopo.

She identified a need and a gap in female students. As a result, she created a platform where they could sit down and talk about their academic, social, and emotional struggles.

All her mentees are from Limpopo. She found majority of them though an organisation’s called Limpopo Mentorship Program (LMP).

When asked where she draws inspiration from Lolah sung her mother’s praises and said she’s her source of inspiration.

“I draw my inspiration from my mother. She’s a hard worker, she hustles so much and she believes in herself so much that when she wants to do certain things, she will go ahead and do it, whether she fails or not.

“She’s well known by many around Limpopo. She loves people, she’s caring, that itself gives me pleasure to live and do better because I have a mother that tells me that I can do it,” said the vibrant Lolah.