Hulisani Ravele Reveals Why She Changed Her Name From ‘Cece’
We were first introduced to Hulisani as Cece on YoTV when she was just a cute teenage girl who was a role model for most young girls, fast forward to 2014, Hulisani is still a role model, but with way more than what she had back on YOTV. She is now a young career woman taking the corporate world by storm. The presenter of the Vodacom Millionaires game show took to social media recently to clarify the reason behind her name changes over the years.
“What’s in a name? Everything. A name, to me, is one of the ways in which someone’s right to human dignity and equality is acknowledged. When I started on TV I was known as Cecilia, my second name, which then went on to become CC. The reason it was Cecilia in the first place is because when I joined my agency in 1997, my agent found it difficult to pronounce my first name, Hulisani, and so she settled on Cecilia being the name of choice. I was 9, I don’t remember putting up an argument or a fight.
When I left YoTV in 2008 I dropped the Cecilia and CC and started using my first name. I didn’t care that it was going to be difficult to pronounce, everyone was going to learn how to say it. When I made that decision I was an adult who now understood that Hulisani is my name. It’s my identity. It’s my culture. It may be difficult to pronounce but it will not be impossible.
Our Constitution says we all have the right to human dignity and equality, I believe your name and the right for it to be pronounced correctly and to not be asked “ag, don’t you have another easier English name” falls under this right. My name is Hulisani, Huli for short. That’s it. ”
