Snaz Designs

WHO IS SNAZ?

Born in Durban, KZN in the place called Molweni in Hillcrest. Real name Thandeka Khumalo. Has always been driven to own her own big business one day. Raised by a single mother who always inspired me to be something she never was in her own youth, and always inspired me to study and I am thankful to her. The name Snazy which refers to a meaning cool, awesome, exciting, great, etc. was given to me way back in high school by an old friend.

At the age of 16 I started writing poetry and later on joined the local youth centre where I got the opportunity to be trained in stage performance, music and drama. I was involved with the team for over a year, met a lot of local talented youth and got to discover hidden talents i wasnt aware of. I finished my college studies in IT and graduated and started looking for an inter job. Luckily i found one soon enough at a small company in Hillcrest.

My Director introduced me to Photoshop and that was in 2010, she saw that my alive and bubbly attitude was perfect to pour it in graphics. She started giving me small projects to work on and in less than 3 months i was involved in large and exciting projects like designing new website layouts from scratch.

In 2011 a colleague of mine asked me if i would be interested in branching to designing event posters, and of cos the idea was great and thought, why not? We worked together in practice with Karabo Nxele who was a support technician in the company i work for and soon enough i aced the poster designs and so I decided to do it as a side job, freelancing.

Year 2012, I met with a local and very successful event organiser Sakhile Xulu known as Dj Stax from Molweni, he was surprised at my designs and the fact that a young woman did them and asked to work with me on all his events of 2012, I was thrilled at the opportunity and made sure i created my mark in order to grow and one day be someone respected with my work.

In the time that I had worked with Dj Stax i managed to get clients from all over KZN who were linked with him and others who saw the designs and loved them and that's how Snaz Designs was born. End of 2012 i had already built my name SNAZ as a brand.

Young and old artists and events organisers were coming to me for their designs and I was thrilled. I've met a lot of making people some of them bring good advise to the table like Mduduzi "Bon Husla" Mtakwende. 2013 i decided to go full on media, and started working with artists in marketing them through my designs, I worked with a lot of friends who were experienced in the Marketing industry and I learnt a lot from them. I started recruiting artists to work with in these projects.

My first recruit was King Msomi and Siyanda C'los Langa. Working with these two artist was a thrill, they inspired me to work hard and always kept me looking into the future so bright with their wise words.

Late 2013, a few more artists joined the team, Vuyolwethu "Veenie Vixen" Yanga, Bhapzin Gcabashe, Ndumiso "Ndunomic" Methula, Lunga "Lungsta" Nzama and the mighty young Dj from Chesterville, Durban Mlungisi "Dj Klackas" Mthethwa and that's how SD Media was born as a brand. Also in 2013 i got the opportunity to make it to the Original Material Awards with the CD Cover i had designed for King Msomi for his album "BEST IMAGE" and got 2nd place. also in 2013 the same cover was given props by the mighty Oskido in the SA Music Conference in Durban.

My dream is to own a media empire one day and i look to one of Sa's most respected woman Khanyi Dhlomo. Personally im a free-spirited person, I love nature so picnics and hiking is a yeeey for me, going out and socializing, I love music, Hip hop, RnB, Deep House you name it. I don't consider myself a loud person but i laugh a lot i speak my mind and i choose to be happy mostly because when im happy its easy to spread this happy feeling to everyone around me. I'm a proud mother of 2 beautiful boys and hope to inspire them to the perfect gentleman who are driven for success.

I still work for the same company as a Website Content Manager and run my business on the side which is still freelance. I believe that If you understand you as a person, what you stand for, what it is that you want out of life, if you’re solid about it, nobody is gonna move that foundation for you.

If you don’t build your dream, someone else will hire you to help them build theirs." - Dhirubhai Ambani