If you caught the dazzling runway action at the 2026 Free State Fashion Week (FSFW), you saw Bolawana ‘Mags’ Shivanda lighting up the stage.

Co-hosting the event with her signature flair, the media mogul proved that no matter how global your hustle gets, you never forget your stylish roots.

As the founder and CEO of DigitalShero Media Group, Mags operates a 100 percent Black female-owned creative agency across South Africa and Kenya.

She approaches both style and business with a fierce personal mantra: bold, intentional, and unapologetic.

“Whether it’s a campaign, a business idea, a platform or a conversation, I am interested in creating things that make people feel, think and ultimately see what is possible,” she said.

Iconic master of ceremonies for the Lemo Fest SMME Expo and Business Masterclass, Shivanda remains deeply passionate about purposeful innovation.

She credits the raw beauty of growing up in a small town with giving her the foundational mindset that guides her lifetime milestones.

That environment ignited her passion for media, driven by a childhood desire for authentic representation.

Even her agency’s name stems from her childhood love for superheroes, inspiring young women to lead in tech and creative industries.

She views her evolution across Thaba Nchu, Bloemfontein, and international markets as chapters of the same woman rather than separate identities.

“The girl from Bloemfontein still walks into every international room with me.”

Her leap from corporate stability into entrepreneurship in 2015 required building an empire brick by brick without financial cushions or investor checks.

“Looking back, those operational challenges were painful at the time, but they forced me to build resilience into the DNA of the business.”

Today, that resilience has powered a highly strategic expansion into East Africa, relying heavily on partnership and local market integration.

Shivanda firmly rejects treating Africa as a single market, opting instead to collaborate with local talent to respect different consumer cultures.

Through her beloved Bloem Girls/Guys Rock Foundation, she pours energy into local youth development and township digital skills programs.

“Sometimes the first thing you have to give someone is not an opportunity.

“Sometimes you have to give them permission to believe that they belong in the room when the opportunity arrives,” Shivanda said.

Fiercely loyal to the city that built her, she acknowledges that many of her career milestones started in the Free State.

“The projects closest to my heart are BloemGirlsRock and BloemGuysRock Foundation. Period!

“I love home so much and I will continue to be one of the people who helps to push it forward,” she concluded.