A woman with many hats Natashia Munian, 38, was born and raised in Chatsworth Durban. The comedian, entrepreneur and social media sensation has created a formidable brand, Bash with Tash.
She has recently opened a salon, Bash with Tash Beauty Empire, to promote beauty from the inside out and provide a therapeutic spot for women.
For Munian, Bash with Tash is not just a comedy brand, it is an empire and through comedy, she wants to change trajectories and create a sisterhood for empowering women.
She is also the process of writing her own book and the script for a movie based on her life.
“Bash with Tash is a brand that has built a community, not a fan base, a brand that is one for the community and comedy is part of the entire triangle too,” said Munian.
Interestingly, Munian and her husband Deveshen recently embraced parenthood through adoption.
Below is the Q&A with the community role model.
What inspired you to create this concept?
Being bullied as a young teen and never having a voice of my own, comedy was not something that I ever wanted to get into but I thank God that his plans are always bigger than ours.
I spent 17 years in a call centre and then studied and graduated with a BBA degree. Then a video of me went viral and the rest is history.
Shows got sold out both locally and internationally and then we started doing the women events and the ladies’ nights to create an empowerment circle.
I also wanted to use this concept as my voice because there are many young girls who get bullied at the moment who don’t have a voice and I want to be the voice for them.
How did you get into comedy?
Social media has become the first language of many people now and when I became a comedian and the show started selling out, everything just changed and that’s how I got into comedy.
I choose this platform as a way of my expression because you are most likely to get a person who has a phone in their hand, so a message travels widely when its on the phone compared to any other platform.
This is also my coping mechanism as with all the real life experiences I go through, I let people know that life is okay and I am real. Everybody goes through these experiences and its absolutely okay.
So this platform has worked best for this kind of message.
How has social media helped you grow your brand and business?
I think that from a brand perspective its more than just social media. It’s the community that I have built around this brand and the shows that I do because you have a group of people who have social media and those who don’t.
So social media has a played a great part in assisting the brand and let the message go and also assisting the shows so that the word is out. So yes absolutely, the brand is definitely helped and assisted by social media.
What are some challenges that you face as a business woman?
I get this question a lot and I think challenges will come to anybody whether you’re a man or a woman. However, I feel that women do have just a little bit more challenges in certain industries and for me, I have a lot of these challenges.
Being on social media is great but there is a lot of hate that comes with it, from fake profiles to toxic people. My brand is a business. I’m not just doing comedy but I also have other businesses that I tend to.
With regards to dealing with these challenges, I think that you have to take a very outside approach to it and a very ‘out of the box thinking’ kind of mechanism. As people, we’re always going to be faced with challenges and my life has been an uphill battle for many years.
Also, when you look at things in a more positive manner you’re able to face all of your challenges. God, faith, family and friends, my husband these are the people that keep me going through all of life’s challenges and there is nothing a woman of faith cannot achieve.
What motivates you when you wake up in the morning?
It’s really simple. Life can be really exhausting. You can go from one wrong to the next but when I open my eyes and realise that I’ve been given another chance, that motivates me.
When I look into the eyes of those who love me, that motivates me. When I get a message from a fan that says you’ve saved my life because you’re comedy has done this for me, that motivates me.
But more than anything, I have learnt that in this life we must live by only one thing and that is ‘we move’. If something bad happens, we move.
Life is not about how far you get, its truly about the journey to get where you need to. It’s the little steps that make all the difference to the greater destination.
You do a lot of community work, can you please tell us about this.
Philanthropy is at the core of this brand and I will never ever forget what it means to give back. I grew up with this mentality and I’m no stranger to this. This is how my family brought me up.
I was very lost for a very long time but when you’re lost you need to find yourself in the service of others because the hands that serve are holier than the lips that pray.
Giving back is not about what you will receive in return but giving back is a feeling you receive when you’re able to do something for somebody that cannot do anything for you. There is no greater feeling.
Any words of inspiration for young kids in the Indian community looking at your work.
To the young kids, I want to remind you that you shouldn’t take too seriously the things people say negatively because in a few years time, the very friends that you listen to now won’t even be there.
Focus on your studies, focus on you school work because education is the only key that can open any lock and never ever stop and never ever think that industry is too small.
Always remember that even through failure, it is the stepping stone of success that allows you the ability to learn.