After making her steady savings and getting support from a number of friends who believed in her idea, Mutendi produced an edition that began her journey as a publisher.Being a person without any journalism background, it should have been a mammoth task to come up with her first publication. But she says that was not the case at all.“I have no journalism background whatsoever,” said Mutendi.
“I learnt how to write articles through reading magazines. I then became motivated by the fact that lifestyle magazines were the missing link in Zimbabwe.”She said conceptualisation of her model of magazine was an easy task because she knew what she wanted.
“I just tried to make out the magazine that I would love to read and made sure it told a good story about Zimbabwe.
“I am convinced that most people out there will be interested in the Jewel magazine because the country’s image has been battered so much that many people think there is anything good about Zimbabwe.”
Mutendi cited a case when her friends implored her to go and deliver her first child Jasmine outside the country for better medical facilities as an example of how people had lost faith in their country.
“All I told them was the fact that Jasmine is Zimbabwean and she will be born in Zimbabwe,” said Mutendi.
“It is the same spirit with which I conceived the idea of the magazine.”
Mutendi was born on November 26 1982 to two doctors as the first child in a family of two girls.
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She is a holder of a degree in Marketing from Zimbabwe Open University and is also a fashion designer.
She is married to Daniel Mutendi, a professional art teacher and entrepreneur.
Her maiden family set up is a sharp contrast to that of her husband’s.
He is the seventh born out of nine. Mutendi celebrates having many immediate in-laws because Daniel’s father was born in a family of 72 children.
Daniel is also the creative director of Jewel.
Mutendi paid tribute to both her mother and mother-in-law labelling them as the best mothers in the world.
“I never took a maternity leave when I delivered my baby and I owe that to my biological mother and my God-sent mother-in-law,” she said.
