Many people have always wondered how celebs and socialites manage their life in between the social media posts and careers. FamousMagazineZW Life & Style reporter, Lucia Mukazi (LM), caught up with Plot Mhako (PM), who opened up about being a father and socialite. Mhako is a Zimbabwean creative who has immensely contributed to the arts in Zimbabwe as he has been central in the establishment of hubs such as EarGround and many others. Below are excerpts from the interview.
LM: Being born in Zimbabwe and later on moving on to Germany, how have you coped with moving to a different continent, with a different culture from our own, what is it that drew you to Germany?
PM: Work and family drew me to Germany. I started touring with a production company I am part of.
LM: For a person with such a huge profile, how have you managed to strike a balance between your career and family?
PM: I have managed to create a routine, one that enables me to be involved with family and fulfilling my work.
LM: How would you describe sacrifice in terms of being father and a media personality?
PM: it’s quite an interesting balance. I do both with so much easy and passion so it never really feels like a task.
LM: What influenced you to become an Arts Reporter?
PM: The love for the arts, growing up surrounded by a lot of music and a passion to tell the story influenced me to become an arts journalist.
LM: What’s your greatest achievement so far in both your working and personal life?
PM: Work wise my biggest achievement is fulfilling my next goal and project. I believe the best is yet to come. I can point to some highlights of my career which are all connected to the initiatives I run.
On a personal level I think my biggest achievement so far has been seeing the number of young people whose lives, dreams and careers I have had a direct impact on. That creates a great sense of accomplishment for me.
LM: Given that you are a well know person, there are times in which you need your own personal time but your business is in demand, what priority do you give first?
PM: I struggle with that a lot to an extent that my work and personal life have to co-exist in the same space. However, I always pay attention to family needs first.
LM: How has the idea of what it is to be a man change over the span of your life?
PM: I think for me not much has changed. I still feel like the same person as I was in my 20s, with a bit more wisdom and experience. I got to be responsible with family at an early age after my father passed on when I was 17. That experience made me a man fast.
LM: When you first became a Father was there a big change in your working life?
PM: The change was mainly that I had to work more and harder
LM: Does being a father get in the way of your ambition or does it bring more motivation?
PM: I think it only interferes with my freedom to move. In the past I could easily travel but now I have to think of my fatherhood responsibilities first.
LM: Do you find yourself being judged as a parent by others sometimes?
PM: Not really unless they don’t openly say it.
LM: What’s one thing that your parents used to tell you as a young boy that turned out to be a true life lesson?
PM: My parents taught me that you are as good as the way you treat people around you. It taught me to treat everyone fairly and with respect
LM: Are you where you thought you’d be at this point in life?
PM: Not really bit I always dreamt bigger than what I grew up surrounded by.
LM: If you could dine with two inspirational people dead/live, who would they be and why?
PM: Oliver Mtukudzi (Tuku) _ His great talent, wisdom and humility and My Dad To thank him for inspiring me to dream, work and stay humble.
LM: If you could re-live the last 10 years of your life, what would you do differently?
PM: Decision making.
LM: What did a typical Friday look like for you at the age of 21?
PM: I never really went out a lot, even now I am more of an introvert so my Fridays were normally at home with my siblings.
LM: How would you want to be remembered?
PM: As a happy, easygoing dreamer and disrupted
LM: I understand your father was a “Learned man” not only because of how he named his children but the way he groomed all of his children. Looking at you and your siblings’ names, they are very unique. They seem to have a deeper meaning.
PM: My Dad passed away at 55, they are a lot of things I sort of started seeing after that, he was a man of people, he helped a lot and did a lot to the community. So was my mom behind him. Both my parents were my pillars. Dad taught us how to face the world, Mom made sure that I followed my dream, she was always behind me.
As for the names, mine comes from an incident that occurred years ago. There was a conspiracy against my father back in the village at home. He had a small retail business and a car by then and some individuals were jealous. One day someone attempted to ambush him, one of the people that had conspired against him turned his back on the others and came clean. The plan was to put blocks on the road. When my father got to know it, he changed his plans. Two years later he named me plot as the remembrance to the plot that was set against him but did not succeed.
Plot (Earground studio)