The podcast 'The Anele Podcast: Her & Now' will resume its work in the second season in September, hosted by renowned television presenter Anele Mgudlwa.
Despite Mgudlwa's concerns about entering what she considered an oversaturated market, she decided to take the step and gained valuable experience during the podcast creation process. She admitted that she initially avoided creating a podcast because she had not yet defined its concept, only understanding it while working on the project.
Mgudlwa agreed to host the podcast in collaboration with First for Women because she supports the 'Her & Now' report. The first 'Her & Now' report aimed to gather responses from South African women to one question: 'How do you feel?', thereby giving voice to what many women had long kept silent.
'The Anele Podcast: Her & Now' facilitated a deeper study of this report, allowing real women to share their stories and analyze the research findings. The second 'Her & Now' report from First for Women showed that South African women are experiencing significant strain due to systems designed without considering their needs.
Mgudlwa shared that although she is outwardly a successful woman, the podcast allowed her to ask herself complex questions that she usually ignores, asserting that true success is determined not by what troubles you at night, but by what allows you to sleep peacefully.
In the first season, Mgudlwa spoke about things she hadn't discussed before, such as the inability to mourn her mother's death due to her role in the family. She explained that the family did not allow her to grieve because she had always been the person who found solutions within the family since childhood, often using humor to relieve tension during parental conflicts.
Mgudlwa's mother passed away in 2009, and only during the podcast recording in May was she able to admit that her family had not given her the opportunity to grieve, demanding that she be a strong pillar.
Each episode brought Mgudlwa new insights from invited public female guests, including Pearl Tsisi, Rachel Kolisi, Thumi Morake, Masasu Mbanjeni, Nozifo Tshabalala, Mantsoe Pout, Synovia Mondliva, and Sinendjabu Zungu. Mgudlwa is optimistic about the second season, feeling more prepared and knowing what she wants to improve in the new season.
She noted that when watching recordings, she sometimes thinks she should remain silent, but as a television presenter, she strives to fill pauses and advance the conversation, while also wanting to allow the conversation room to 'breathe.'
First for Women's second report, titled 'A World Built for Someone Else', was released during Women's Month and is based on qualitative and quantitative data collected from over six thousand South African women since 2025. The report poses a more complex question than the previous one: if women are already making so much effort to sustain their lives, are the products and institutions surrounding them easing this burden, or are they simply assuming that women will continue to cope on their own?