Cosmopolitan SA has unveiled the second edition of its #COSMOInfluencerIssue and on this March cover, beauty and lifestyle influencers Nadia Jaftha, Jessica Vanheerden, and Mihlali Ndamase pose for the publication’s first ever selfie issue.

Inside the magazine, the YouTube stars chat with Cosmo SA Editor, Holly Meadows about vlogs, beauty and building a business with the new A-list of social-media influence.

Read excerpts below:

Mihlali: On her proudest moment last year
Reaching 100K subscribers on my YouTube channel! After my father passed away in January 2018, I lost the motivation to carry on curating content. As much as our lives look perfect on camera, it isn’t easy pretending to be happy when you feel like the world is caving in. I started filming less and didn’t upload content for almost four months. But people continued to show support by saying how much they missed me. This helped me to get back on my feet and start filming videos again. I love and appreciate my audience for showing me so much understanding and empathy during that time.

Nadia: On revealing the “real” side to life on Social Media
It’s exhausting to put on a show all the time. It takes a lot of pressure off and removes the anxiety of constantly wanting to be perfect (which we all know is impossible). I like to remind my viewers that I am human and I experience the same emotions that they do – I just film it.

Jessica: On drawing the line between posting what she loves and making money off sponsored posts
I’m so lucky to receive paid offers from brands I love and believe in. When I do sponsored content, I rarely get questioned by my viewers because I wholeheartedly believe in the products I’m posting about.

Read more on the feature on www.cosmopolitan.za