Cape Town natural hair enthusiast Jade Oliver a.k.a Afrolecia, has scooped the award for ‘Africa Rising Creator of the Year in Sub-Saharan Africa’ at the TikTok Top Creator Awards 2023.
The awards ceremony for the Sub-Sahara African region took place at Vodaworld in Johannesburg on Friday, and saw eight winners being crowned in their respective categories, including Sports Creator of the Year, Entertainment Creator of the Year, Lifestyle and Education Creator of the Year, Africa Rising (Community) Creator of the Year and Publisher of the Year.
Jade, 27, from Kuilsriver, is a mom of one and a fulltime content creator. She started doing social media consulting for various companies, but then decided to document her natural hair care journey in 2019 on YouTube and Instagram and later on TikTok in 2021.
With 15 million views and counting, Afrolecia’s videos provide invaluable tips and tricks for maintaining a healthy and thriving bos hare.
An excited Jade says: “I feel so blessed. It’s such an honour to be nominated and to be named a winner. I would have never expected something like this. I am so grateful.
@afrolecia Another cute hairstyle for the holidays 🎄 #naturalhairtiktok #naturalhairstyles #christmashairstyles #curlyhairstyles #naturalhairstylestutorials #curlyhairstyletutorial #naturalhairtiktok #hairtok #hair #levelupafrica #africarising ♬ Butterflies - Tyla
“Natural hair was a topic I needed help with myself and looked online for advice in the beginning. I knew someone out there would be going through the same struggles and I decided to document my journey and share what I’ve learnt and the rest is history. Everything I speak on, I have researched and tested myself.”
Jade is in the process of releasing her own hair care range.
“It’s a 100% natural haircare line made all in South Africa. I am busy with the final detail but it should be done by the end of March. I have been busy with the lab for just over eight months curating the line.
“My reach on TikTok allows me to secure brand deals; so I get paid by companies to collaborate with them. My tips for creators is to find something you love and find a way to create content around that. That is the only way consistency will come naturally; you would do it even if it wasn’t for a video.”
Jade received a trophy and a Sony Z1 vlogging camera as a gift.
