Audrey Chirenje is a collected, imaginative and ambitious woman who has written some exciting books and published them for our reading pleasure on Amazon. We met with her and are pleased to present this mompreneur to you. We are sure she will leave you fascinated by her story.
Hi Audrey! Tell us more about yourself
I am an Author of 3 published books to date. In my day job I work as a Head Office Hardware Buyer for a Chain Wholesaler. I am a single parent to three girls. I am a Christian and attend Celebration Church. I come from Chihota and I grew up in Avondale West. For primary school I went to Avondale School and then Waddilove Primary School. I did my Form 1 to 6 at Waddilove High School. For College I attended Speciss and Trust Academy where I obtained my BBA in Marketing degree (IMM).
Impressive credentials and background there. Tell us something that’s never been published about Audrey.
I met Femprenuers in 2017. It is a group of female business women. We would meet for training and also showcasing your products. I was doing Cross-Border trading then and specializing in clothes and shoes. I have always been enterprising and in my life to date I have sold vegetables from my own garden and mealies. I have also sold Angel, AVON, Tupperware, at some point I was even selling books at Avondale Flea Market, I would buy these books in S.A. I would have a job but I would do this during the weekend to earn extra income.
A hustler for sure. You clearly don’t believe in sitting around wishing you had more money. You are a DOER. When did you start writing?
I started dabbling in writing in High School because I was such an avid reader from like 9 years old. My essays and short stories were kind of over the top though. In 2018 I attempted to write a book as I was going through a rough patch, called Ndakaiteyi which is my second name. I ended up shelving it when I got to chapter 6 as I felt it was too raw. The next year in 2019 in July, I then wrote Life Will Humble You and in the next month of August I wrote Chances . I then released Life Will Humble You in Dec 2019. The rest is now history as they say.
I have read both books and can honestly say they are really action packed. How many books have you written?
I have written and published three books to date, Life Will Humble You (December 2019), Chances (October 2020) and Appearances or Not (May 2021)
So a book every year. Nice! What would you call your genre of books?
I fall under the Fiction category, and my genre is Romance with a motivational flair written in a very modern contemporary manner.
My objective in writing is to entertain, inspire and motivate all at once. My concept, I call it the Faith Ever After series. My main characters have flaws and issues. I believe that’s most of us as people, we have issues or have gone through difficult seasons and survived. Society dictates people should be perfect but the reality is another story – that’s why people want to fake it. Why not just faith it, act and leave the rest to the Creator. So whether one is young or old, male or female they will find my stories relatable.
Very inspiring. So what’s your vision as a writer, where do you want to take this talent?
I would like to have many people reading my stories. I know in Zimbabwe most people will only read a school set book, so I will approach the responsible people and try and get two of my books listed as either recommendation reading material or set books for High School students. My current project is a children’s series. I want to incorporate rural and modern concepts in there. I have a shona novel already outlined which will be a 2022 project. I am going to give this writing career of mine my all, who knows I might get a Bestseller one day which will be turned into film and I will automatically transition into scriptwriting.
Cheers to that vision! How are you giving back to your community?
I am trying to assist upcoming writers in the process of publishing their own books. I am working hand in hand with other writers in the country to support them during book launches and any other relevant projects. I will keep availing myself to any book related projects.
You’re quite generous. How can the Femprenuers Community support you?
Some have bought my books and I have given some books for free. However if they continue to buy the hardcopies it will help me to keep printed stocks for sale available and this will boost the business.
And finally, share with us, Can a woman have it all, the career and the parenting all in one go? Does one of these have to grow at the expense of the other?
One must get the buy-in of their family. So with my girls, we have a culture of teamwork, and each understands that they must step up on their bit so that the whole team wins. Being a single parent makes things a little bit harder, so what I do is I write in the evenings and on weekends. Where there is a will there is a way. I am passionate about my girls and my writing, so I make it work.
Audrey’s books can be found on Amazon on www.amazon.com/author/audreychirenje.
Her books are also available locally at Innov8 Bookstores, Books Fantastics and Alois Books at Avondale Flea Market. Also available in PTA RSA by arrangement.
Twitter : @anchirenjethe
IG and FB: audreychirenjeauthor
LinkedIn: Audrey Chirenje
