I lived like a celeb for a week and learnt something awesome!

Cape Town - Not sure if you've ever heard about Bonang Matheba? Well, she's a TV presenter, radio host, business woman and all around Boss Bitch.  

Yes, you heard me. Boss Bitch! But, woah, before you get all worked up, let's look at the definition of Boss Bitch. 

[Noun] A female that is extremely successful, stunting, and has plenty of power. 

Okay. Now that everyone is relaxed and up to speed. 

To me there is no local celeb more boss than Queen B*. Her ambition knows no boundaries, she deals with the haters with a simple brush off the shoulder, she's always 100 steps ahead of everyone else and proves time after time that you don't need a crown to be a queen. 

So, this was the plan. For a week I would be living my life according to Bonang's very high standards. I researched her style, makeup routine as well as her diet and exercise regime. 

The rules:

1. Dress in a Bonang inspired outfit every day. 

2. Full face of makeup - Queen B* loves a smokey eye and bold lip. (Preferably Revlon, duh!) 

3. 4 - 6 small meals per day. - No carbs after 16:00

4. Workout at least 3 times in the week. 

5. So. Much. Social Media. 

6. Be fabulous, fierce, confident and generally boss! (Here boss can be seen used as an adjective) 

Now here's the catch. When I started this experiment, I thought that by the end of the week I would be writing a fun, light-hearted feature story. I would be telling you about all the weird stares I got (because people literally come to work in their slippers), the struggles of contouring, how hard it was to see indoors while wearing sunglasses, my lash falling off at 10:00, and how wrecked my feet were at the end of the day. Oh yeah, and the awkward moment I was listening to Euphonik's Hell Naw remix and felt compelled to hit skip. 

But instead, while channeling my inner Bonang - who I referred to as Queen G* - I learned four really important boss moves, or life lessons, if you will. Which I shall share with you now.  

Please, bear with. 

I know that is probably one of the biggest cliches in the world, but it couldn't be more true. Most of us are guilty of being insanely hard on ourselves. Maybe you don't like your freckles, the jelly, or you feel that your hair is too kinky. For me, it's my lazy eye!

Whenever I take a close-up picture, I open my eyes so wide I resemble an animated cartoon character. Or pull some funny face, to try and draw attention away from my tiny little baby eye. 

But throughout the week I learnt that these "imperfections" are the quirks that make us who we are. Even Bonang has her off days, but she's learnt to embrace every flaw and metaphorical freckle, keep her chin up and keep grinding.

By the end of the week I was smouldering like Queen B* herself!

The first two days of the experiment was the total worst. Nobody knew that I was getting all dolled up for a story, and while walking to the kitchen I could feel people's eyeballs burning a hole into my back. I felt compelled to blurt out, even if nobody asked, "I'm doing this for a story. I don't dress like this every day. Please don't judge me!" 

People's response would either range from a sigh of relief, to a "I genuinely couldn't care less, please leave me alone" look. Feeling a little (a lot) insecure and in desperate need of a pep talk, I decided to scroll through Bonang's social media timelines and this is what I found. 

SIDE NOTE: At this point I had read so many of Bonang's interviews, magazine features and scrolled though her social media so thoroughly, that we were basically best friends. It was not weird at all. 

In that moment, I felt like the Queen herself was talking to me. I realised that when someone gives us a compliment, we immediately respond with "oh, but I've gained so much weight" or "can't be, my hair so dirty" or "nah, this old thing? I got dressed in such a hurry this morning."

If that sounds familiar, I am here tell you today, that you are absolutely gorgeous and when someone gives you a compliment, don't brush it off. You look good, you earned it. Embrace it, werk it girl!

The riskiest, sick to my stomach, breathes in paper bag moments are the ones that usually pay off the most. Do you think that Bonang achieved greatness by just being complacent? I don't think so! 

My "fear/obstacle" that week was speaking live on the radio (So ironic!). I've been on Cliff Central radio a couple of times before, talking to Arye Kellman over Skype about the weekly news roundup. The previous week we had horrific technical issues, and while on-air I couldn't hear a thing. We ended up talking over each other, I missed several questions, there were awkward silences, and it was pretty much just awful. Urgh. 

I was feeling less than confident this time around. But I was determined to channel my favourite husky voiced, Front Row, radio host. So there I was sitting behind my desk, in the middle of the afternoon, dressed in full fur, wearing a hat and sunglasses. And damn, I felt totally fabulous! - Killed it! 

So lesson three, even though things seem tough right now, you'll never know what will happen if you just take a dive into the deep end. If that's a little too intimidating right now, maybe just try and wet your toes.  

Imagine Queen B* gave up after a bad audition. 

Almost done, I promise!

This week I walked around the office wearing a body suit, (for the very first time!) blinged out Steve Madden heels and dramatic night time lash extensions. I had my doubts, I mean, really. Me, in a body suit? I don't think anybody wanted to see that.

But to be honest I felt so fierce! Yeah, yeah, people were staring at me while I was walking in Shoprite wearing stunner shades and a satin playsuit at 09:00. But I felt great. Who cares! 

So, If you didn't care much for this story and just scrolled down to the bottom, I beg you, please just read this very last part.

Bonang should be motivation to everyone, not to let anyone else write your narrative.

Don't follow the crowd and do things just because you want to please other people. Always put yourself first, and live your life with the sole purpose of making yourself happy. 

To end off, here are some of my favourite moments living as Queen G* for a week: