This afternoon, on my new YouTube show called Sunday Learnings with Ben, I interviewed South African celebrity entrepreneur – Rachel Kolisi. Rachel is an intelligent and hard working individual who likes to be judged on the quality of her work, but the critics will always say that her surname is the main reason on why she is a successful entrepreneur.
Rachel’s husband is Siya Kolisi – Captain of the victorious South Africa Springboks team that won the 2019 Rugby World Cup held in Japan.
During my interview with Rachel, her response was quite simple. She said, “Critics will be critics and that is their opinion. I put in the work because of our four children and I am not the type of person that wants to rely on my husband’s name. He is very supportive of that. So let people be.”
Pre and post Rugby World Cup Final, Siya credited his wife and said without her support, he would not be able to achieve success in his sport.
When I asked Rachel about the public praise that Siya gave her, she said, “I am so glad that he honors, respects, and credits me. It is not easy when our children miss him when he is away on tours, and I have to cheer them up and also help them with the children stuff which is basically homework, meals, chores, school and other activities.”
Rachel then finished the interview with a very powerful statement. She said, “Why does a woman have to stand behind the husband and not next to him? It takes two people to achieve things. We all want to achieve our dreams, so do it together.”
This Friday will be the start of 2021. For those of you who have achieved your career goals, it might be a good idea to hug your wife or husband and say "thank you."
My wife has big plans for 2021 and beyond, and I am going to start the New Year by saying, “Not behind you, not in front of you, but always beside you.” Thank you Rachel Kolisi for reminding us of that. You can watch the interview on my channel at
Please also do me a favor and subscribe to the channel. Your support will help me continue to gain more quality guests like Rachel.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish all Vibes readers a very Happy and Safe 2021.
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Ben Ibrahim is a TV Commentator, Sports & Media Consultant. In his career, he has also worked for FIBA, FISU, Foxsports, and the Ministry of Youth & Sports.
He also set-up the Malaysia Valke Rugby Club for the Global Rapid Rugby competition.
You can contact him on his public Facebook page Or his Instagram @benibrahim_
