Welcome to nozizwe.com, home to the creative work of award-winning storyteller and artist Lena Nozizwe.
info@nozizwe.com
Reporting
all photos and videos by Lena Nozizwe
LA Taco
Glassell Park Boutique Unapologetically Celebrates Fat Chick Style
Web Feature
November 2018
The owners of The Plus Bus say what you won’t find in their store are what they call ‘fat girl’ clothes. “If you want to wear a crop top, wear a crop top and we’re where you will find that,” co-owner Marcy Guevara-Prete told L.A. Taco.
Body Positivity, Glassell Park, Style, Self Esteem
DW
Teherangeles Protests
Radio News Feature
January 2018
In support of the Iranian protest movement,Iranian-Americans hit the streets of LA.
Iran, Protest, Politics, Teherangeles
AJ+
Afro-Mexicans in LA
Video Documentary Short
August 2017
Afro-Mexican, Los Angeles, Culture
DW
Secrets, Shame and #MeToo
Radio News Feature
October 2017
#metoo, Hollywood, Culture
DW
America’s Other Anthem
Radio News Feature
January 2018
A studious look at the roots of the “other”American anthem. “Lift Every Voice and Sing” has been tackling race relations for more than a century.
Anthem, Taking a knee, Music, Lift Every Voice and Sing
DW
The Birthplace of that Pink Hat
Radio News Feature
January 2017
A visit to the local yarn shop in Los Angeles where the colorful craftivist movement began.
Politics, Protest, Feminism
AJ+
The Solar Gang
Video Documentary Short
October 2017
Solar, Los Angeles, Grid Alternatives, Green, Earth Day
Gravy
South by South of the Border Soul Food
Audio Documentary
November 2015
Black-eyed peas and collards. Fried chicken and peach cobbler are on the menu at a South Los Angeles. But check into the kitchen you’ll find a Latino flava.
James Beard Award,South Los Angeles, Food, Southern Food, Immigration
About
The midwife who delivered Lena Nozizwe was not sure she was going to make it. Nozizwe’s umbilical cord was tied, not once, but twice around her neck. What was once her lifeline almost became her noose. So that midwife, located in a small room in a village hospital in Malawi, Africa, managed to pull Nozizwe to life, in spite of the fact that the most sophisticated “equipment” in the room was a chair with a hole in the middle of it.
Once the umbilical cord was cut, Nozizwe’s mother, Alice Princess Msumba Siwundhla, Ph.D., was subject to more drama because her infant was silent. She did not say a peep until the midwife splashed hot water on baby Nozizwe. Oh she cried alright and she’s been making noise ever since, most recently as a binary storyteller.
Her family came to the United States via Ralph Edwards’ pioneering reality television show, “This Is Your Life.” The principal subject of the program was Nozizwe’s mother.
She grew up to become an Emmy award-winning broadcaster, filmmaker, author, and speaker. She has earned a reputation as the storyteller who can and will go anywhere–from Palm Beach to South Central, Stockholm to San Diego, Dublin to Brooklyn and from Alaska to Zimbabwe.
In April of 2014 she came in second in the ALFA Short Film Competition on Ageism with her directorial debut, “A Father to Dye For,” starring Hulme Thamsanqa Siwudhla, Ph.D. She won the New York Film Festival Silver Award for a documentary she hosted and produced that followed the lives of LA runaways over a two year period.She won a Golden Mike for her coverage of a firestorm in San Diego.
A feature she produced for Associated Press Radio about an interracial rock group was also a New York Film Festival winner.
Nozizwe won a local Emmy for a feature about former NBA player Marvin “Bad News” Barnes. She found him living in a San Diego homeless shelter. She was nominated for a national Emmy, competing head-to-head against the likes of Ted Koppel and Andy Rooney, for a story about a sexual assault victim who fought back.
The binary journalist-tm has been featured in numerous publications, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Sister 2 Sister, Ireland’s Sunday Independent, Fitness, Glamour, the Adventist Review, Emmy Magazine, First for Women, Cosmopolitan and on SKY TV, CBS, and FOX.
Her writing has appeared in Seventeen, Complete Woman and Vibe. She is the author of the motivational book “Starring in Your Own Life” published by Simon & Schuster.
Nozizwe’s multimedia and radio reports have been featured on AJ+, FSRN, Associated Press Radio, Making Contact and Deutsche Welle.
When she is not writing, painting or creating beats or otherwise creating digital content, Nozizwe indulges in cooking and baking exotic comfort food, knitting, crocheting and designing clothing, especially from recycled materials.
Her designs have been sold in fashionable boutiques on Melrose Ave and Montana Blvd in Los Angeles. Nozizwe’s photographs have been featured online, in numerous publications and in a one-woman show.
Whether it is knitting a sweater or weaving together a story Nozizwe’s motto is that it’s all about the inner bling.
Blog
Con Home Confidential Reporting
Kudos to the Duchess of Sussex for remembering those who are often forgotten during this time of year. https://youtu.be/cs7u5800LQc
Reporting: Unapologetically Fat and Chic
One of my favorite stories of the year, along with some of my favorite photos of the year-via L.A. TACO. All photos copyright Lena Nozizwe 2018
Wishing you a Merry Happy
Contact
Reach me at info [@] nozizwe.com
Follow me on Twitter @lenanozizwe