Founded in 2017, by Melusi Tshabalala (creative professional, entrepreneur, author, speaker, humourist, language & culture activist), Everyday Speak is a culture, dialogue, language activism, advertising and design company.
Driven by the ethos – Creativity can make the 21st century Africa’s century – Everyday Speak develops ideas and solutions that touch Africans, inspiring harmony, prosperity and a celebration of this electric continent and her eclectic peoples.
Having started out as a trainee copywriter in 1998, Melusi quickly became disillusioned with the advertising industry because of the way it treated and continues to indigenous (South) African languages, Afrikaans excluded. This disgruntlement and that fact that the problem was not just confined to the advertising industry would eventually lead to Everyday Speak starting a Facebook initiative called Melusi’s Everyday Zulu in 2017. Through Melusi’s Everyday Zulu, Everyday Speak uses social media to introduce people to isiZulu, using storytelling, humour and social commentary. Melusi has since also published a book – Melusi’s Everyday Zulu, and Everyday Speak runs an e-learning beginner isiZulu course www.everydayzulu.co.za
Unlike the book and the Facebook page, the e-learning portal delivers a curriculum-based beginner isiZulu course, delivered in Melusi’s unique style. The portal currently has over 1000 subscribers.
Everyday Speak then launched “Everyday” initiatives in South Africa’s other indigenous languages, with Everyday Xhosa being the most successful one after Melusi’s Everyday Zulu – it even has a slot on Cape Talk. Everyday Speak also launched Ubudlelwano, which is an initiative that saw South Africans from all walks of life, getting together every first Saturday of each month to break bread, share a drink and talk about South Africa, being South African and how we can all do better to help build this country.
Ubudlelwano is the isiZulu word for relationship and it means “eat together”. Ubudlelwano is currently on hold, due to Covid concerns, but will return as soon as it is safe to gather, break bread and share a drink. Hopefully it will be back by the time you read this.
Just as Ubudlelwano came about as a result of interactions on between South Africans from all walks of life on the Melusi’s Everyday Zulu page revealing that South Africans need to talk more and get to know each other better, we also noticed there was a need for South African men to introspect on issues of gender relations, parenting and general contentiousness. This is what led to Melusi writing the book “Magenge, we need to talk”. The book also uses humour, storytelling and social commentary to talk to young men about serious issues.
“Magenge, we need to talk” isn’t just a book and was not written to be one. It is a conversation started that allows Everyday Speak to further its mission of using creativity to touch Africans, inspiring harmony, prosperity and celebration of this electric continent of Africa and her eclectic cultures – in this instance, the target is young men.
Everyday Speak continues to operate as an advertising and design agency, with a focus on social marketing projects. The agency produces through-the-line campaigns for various brands, government and NGO’s.
