Barely two years ago, Berla Mundi was on the Glitz cover discussing her talk show, ‘The Late Afternoon Show’ among other projects that stood out at the time in her career. The cover, which featured Mundi alongside Nana Aba Anamoah, Afia Pokua and Anita Erskine (the year’s most sought after female personalities in the media space) was by far Mundi’s best career recognition.
“When Claudia texted me saying, ”Hun, we need you on the cover for leading women in media”, I was like what?” Berla disclosed to our Supervising Editor when asked how different the photoshoot was from the previous one. “When she mentioned the other names, Nana Aba Anamoah, Anita Erskine and Afia Pokua, I was shocked and humbled. This is because the first time being featured By Glitz Africa Magazine, I was tagged as ‘Leader of the New School’ along with some others. I thought that was exciting for being recognised. Now jumping from ‘Leader of the New School’ to leading women in media with all these women I grew up watching and admiring, I couldn’t believe it. I told myself, “Girl, you’re doing it, you’re getting there, you’re there.”
Navigating through her media portfolio, Berla has masterfully exhausted what the industry calls the triple crown of media reportage: entertainment, lifestyle and governance. If proof is needed to ascertain our submission, then her coverage of the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections cements it.
Like many beauty pageant contestants that fail to take home the coveted crown and cash prize at the finale, Berla redefined her pageantry fame into something of a professional description. Within two years at the start of her career, she became a credible button for entertainment news. Berla was co-host on Rhythmz Live and Miss Malaika Ghana (the same platform that unleashed her charm on TV). Both young and middle-aged showbiz enthusiasts identified the star-quality that accompanied her show openings and interviews.
Fast and rising within her space, Mundi toplined weekly, daily entertainment and lifestyle shows on GHOne TV, where she was officially stationed for five years. Her ‘Late Afternoon’ show was glued to delicate subjects hardly touched on Ghanaian television. “Here in Ghana, I noticed that sharing the deep truths about ourselves wasn’t something that was readily acceptable. I was willing to put myself in the forefront to give people the opportunity to come on the show and tell their truth; so that anyone experiencing a particular challenge or confused about the direction they are taking, based on one’s real-life story, would be inspired to take that step,” Mundi said about her show in the ‘Women of the Year’ issue last year.
Despite the banner moment Mundi was having in the entertainment industry, there was more she wanted to do. In September last year, she upped her resume from showbiz to current affairs when she moved from EIB Network to Media General.
Articulate, engaging and analytic, the 2020 Ghana Women of the Year Honours Young Star covers a wide library of shows that captures everything her visionary brand represents. She is now a Morning Show hostess on TV3, a new home that has honed her skills into an upper-class corporate anchor.
With much seen over a year now, the switch is not much of a burden, but rather a steering wheel that accommodates every bit of her versatility.
”There hasn’t been much of a difficulty switching between the roles. I’m a good learner maybe because once I know I’ve a task ahead, I dedicate my all of my time to it. I’ve always received good feedback. That’s what probably encouraged me to venture into current affairs. I realised it wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. The experience has been great. It has opened me up to many people in the corporate world and that people now see me beyond just being an entertainment personality. People now describe me as a versatile host which is great which means I can sit on any platform, so give me time to learn and I would grow into the space. It has been very good; I’m loving it. So far so good,” Mundi disclosed in our upcoming December issue.
Now a magnetic figure on screen, almost every young Ghanaian girl hungry for a radio and television exposure proudly compares herself to Mundi, but in truth none has whatever it is she has. Seven years on, she remains one of the most recognisable faces of our time, an incredible personality that sees results in reinvention.
“Never stop reinventing yourself. Never stay the same. If you remain the same after three months, then you are not ready to grow. There should always be something that is different about you every time someone comes around you. This means you should be learning a lot. Don’t stop learning and reading,” Mundi said.
