Nontobeko "Nona Zuri" Ngwenya

Nona was born and raised in Durban, South Africa – briefly living in Pretoria in the late 90s and early 2000s. At the age of 14, Nona completed her first manuscript. Around this time, she also committed her youth to social impact, working with NPOs and NGOs towards their goals as a volunteer, then as a student community engagement officer at her alma mater and briefly as staff in an international NGO during her late twenties. Her passion for humanity is made clear in her creative endeavors, as she often ruminates on relationships in her written works. This is the point from which she explores the world's power dynamics; often musing over the implications of loving and living within a capitalist frame.

"We learn a lot about our beliefs and the world from how we experience others - this is why I can't help but create around how we treat each other and the social factors that influence that."

Post-graduating from the University of Johannesburg with a degree in humanities majoring in Psychology, Nona offered her organisational development and creative skillset to small businesses in Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal. The work she did there led to opportunities to work as a writer in Cape Town, revealing the underbelly of the business of fashion to the author.

Not completely new to the scene, Nona had worked on fashion related projects geared towards community development in the past including organising youth fashion show fundraisers in her community when she was 18, modeling for small designer houses in Durban and Johannesburg  and working with a designer fashion house in Ladysmith in her twenties.

    This journey led her to briefly signing with Topco Models then My Friend Ned as well as featuring in a student film but she quickly left that part of her work to focus on creating media and continue her research in sustainability within the industry. In 2023, she was rewarded for her efforts with a free Business of Fashion professionals membership after applying for their Next Generation Black Journalists Fellowship. Her immersion in the world of designer inspired her business model for Zuri Manor House and she began working towards a private press to publish books from the beautiful midlands - the place she was forced to bloom from during her early twenties. This was a move made after studying companies like F.P Journe and Hermes, which have family owned beginnings and produce their ranges at a slow pace with quality superseding quantity and close relationships with their client base taking precedence. In September 2023, Zuri Manor House was established. Nona is currently based in Ladysmith, from where she runs Zuri Manor House and continues to write her novels whilst contributing to development and social impact efforts through partnerships/contracts with NGOs and the community work done through the Zuri Manor House trust.