Episode 2: Abby Gugu Banda "Wait, You Doing that Slave..S*&!"
If I had one term to describe Abby Gugu Banda, it would be “straight hustler”. We first met her in 2016 when we featured her story on the Black Expat website when she was based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and remains one of our most popular stories.
This South African native has a story that is almost unreal. But the reality is, through hard work, determination and sheer grit, she’s charted an unconventional path. She went from a childhood marked by struggle in apartheid South Africa to managing the lives of some the most wealthy people in the world.
Abby stops by today to share what she’s been up to since we featured her life in Saudi Arabia and trust me, be prepared for the craziness.
Here are some excerpts from Amanda’s conversation with Abby. You can listen to the full episode on Spotify, Anchor or wherever you get your podcasts. You can can also visit The Black Expat YouTube Channel to listen in.
For Abby’s original TBE feature visit: Lifestyle Concierge: Abby Banda (March 2016)
On Exposure
I've been just about all over [the world] with the families and what this does is, is it exposes you without you even having to pay a penny. That’s been the beauty of the work. Again, I think it's important that when you mentioned where & how I grew up, I didn't grow up wealthy and exposed to luxuries that I'm now supposed to acquire for the wealthy people....So I've become this kind of authority of what is acceptable of a certain level to the 1%, and it blows my mind. This happened because I got curious....
Dating The UltraWealthy
Now, if you're somebody who doesn’t want to ask anybody else for things, and you're somebody who has a sense of independence and you just want to go out and buy something for yourself at a Gucci store without anybody kind of following you around, this is not the space for you. If you want a Gucci bag, your boyfriend is gonna call me and I'm gonna call the Gucci store, the Gucci store is going to send a stylist with like 15 bags. The bags are gonna be there and you're gonna get the bag, but you're not gonna get the experience of just getting in the car and going shopping.
Chasing Success
Now, if you're somebody who doesn’t want to ask anybody else for things, and you're somebody who has a sense of independence and you just want to go out and buy something for yourself at a Gucci store without anybody kind of following you around, this is not the space for you. If you want a Gucci bag, your boyfriend is gonna call me and I'm gonna call the Gucci store, the Gucci store is going to send a stylist with like 15 bags. The bags are gonna be there and you're gonna get the bag, but you're not gonna get the experience of just getting in the car and going shopping.
To hear the full episode, click below or listen wherever you get your podcasts.