A young self-taught chef has proven that anything is possible with the help of social media- even landing yourself an opportunity to cook for one of the country’s biggest superstar, Cassper Nyovest.
While you were sleeping at 12:28am last Wednesday, 23-year-old Luyanda Mafanya was tweeting her way to what was going to be her big break.
The University of Johannesburg student tweeted the Tito Mboweni rapper, asking him to hire her as his private chef.
@CassperNyovest abuti please let me do a small dinner party for you then you can hire me as your private chef pic.twitter.com/FL8guid8QK
— cookingwithluyanda (@Luyanda_Maf) May 30, 2017
To her surprise he replied to her tweet, but not without a challenge.
Her challenge was to get 10 000 retweets, and if she got it, the job was hers. She rose to the challenge and within a matter of hours she got the retweets and she is now preparing to host a dinner party to celebrate Cassper’s new album, Thuto, that went platinum.
Dam, this food look mad expensive doe.... 10 000 RTs then we'll do the Dinner... then we'll speak about the rest after the dinner. Deal? https://t.co/H0Ad1yurXJ
— Abuti Fill Up (@CassperNyovest)
Through social media and her “online restaurant” blog called Cooking with Luyanda, where she shares her recipes and pictures, Mafanya, says she simply shares her content and “hope for the best”.
“I don't have a marketing strategy, I literally just post content on social media and hope for the best. I just took a chance and it worked in my favour.”
Mafanya, who has been cooking since she was seven-years-old and says she takes lessons from the Food Network and YouTube, says she didn’t think Cassper would notice her tweet.
“I was literally in bed at midnight and decided to tweet him. It had about five retweets when I went to bed and I thought nothing of it,” she says.
When asked if she expected any retweets, she adds: “No! Because I sent it so late at night (and) I didn't think he would notice it.”
When she got a reply, Mafanya, says: “I won't lie, I doubted it for a bit. But then the response after a few minutes was crazy and I started to believe I genuinely could do it, even though I thought it would take a few days.”
It only took about 17 hours for her to get the job.
“Around 5pm that day I had reached my 10 000 retweets and it was still growing."
@CassperNyovest got the 10k! pic.twitter.com/6XDRMc3tw1
— cookingwithluyanda (@Luyanda_Maf) May 31, 2017
“I did nothing. People on Twitter did everything. They were behind it all."
So when it happened, she was ecstatic.
“I was so happy. I couldn't believe it, I even threw my charger away while I was in the change room by mistake because my mind wasn't there! It was surreal.”
Congrats !!!! Give your details to @BridgeBossTLee.... Let's do this dinner thing to celebrate the new album #Thuto going platinum!!! https://t.co/8NKqeUosuv
— Abuti Fill Up (@CassperNyovest) May 31, 2017
Mafanya says she still has “no idea” what she will be dishing up for the hitmaker.
“We haven't as yet reached that stage of discussions. Until I understand Cassper’s vision for the night, I can't decide on what I'll serve him.
But I do know my dessert will be based around Ciroc since he is the ambassador”, she says.
Having already cooked for television personality, Sashi Naidoo, and now Cassper Nyovest, the young chef says she would like to to cook for TV and radio personality Tbo Touch.
Watch your for tweets Tbo Touch, it may be your private chef, @Luyanda_Maf calling.