21 Questions With Amanda Twebaze Kalule

Amanda Twebaze Kalule, is a Ugandan nutritionist with vast experience in nutrition and wellness.
With a career spanning over 8 years, the wellness and life enthusiast has made it her life’s mission to impact the lives of the people in her community using something that is so close to their hearts or everyday lifestyle which is food and eating. “For me its my way of not only fulfilling my purpose but also making the world a better place or leaving it better than I found it.”

Amanda is also a TV presenter at UBC, a wife and mother to one. “The journey of both, being a partner to someone else and also being a GOD given caretaker of a little angel is priceless.”

1. Where are you right now, and what’s the setting like?
   I am at a place called Smoke House where I actually did have a meeting that I needed to get done with. It is in the city center of Kampala; the setting is calm, quiet and artistic.
2. What is the most interesting thing you’ve read or seen this week?
   The most interesting thing I have gotten to witness is having three new entrants into the family that were born on the same day. I had my brother and sister have children on the same day, a pair of twins and one child.
3. What apps can you not live without?
   Facebook and Instagram; I never used to get why Instagram was hyped, but now I do. I cant live without Zoom of course, Blogger, YouTube, Uber or Bolt. As a wellness enthusiast, educator and coach, my work is centered around most of these apps.
4. What social media accounts are you currently following religiously?
   I am following a fitness enthusiast called Twaa_fit, Fresh Ug, Salad TreatUg, Cherry Blossom, Cissy Nansera, StepToFitnessUg and FionaKemi. I am also following Mercy Gono; she is a very popular natural hair enthusiast and as organic as they come.

   

5. What trends do you love right now?
   I love the empowerment trend that is going on right now in terms of mindset. More young people are taking control of their own lives and making decisions without too much influence from culture, traditions and societal barriers. I am also in love with the wellness trend because people are picking it on now more than ever before. I do believe its going to cause a really very big shift in the prevalence of Non-Communicable Diseases and diseases in general because people are now starting to take care of themselves, getting to know that depression is real and you have to work on it, you need to eat right, its not just about what you put in your mouth but the quality of what is going in, people are starting to exercise more and get quality sleep. In terms of fashion, I would say I do love the trend of people appreciating who they are originally. I love the natural hair trend, because as Africans we are now starting to see that our natural hair is not something that needs to be cooked to look silky but it is a crown that we can wear and it is beautiful. People are also starting to see that despite our different body shapes, we can dress and look really nice and feel good and confident about ourselves.
6. What is your most treasured purchase?
   The gadgets that I use for my content recordings, that include the digital cameras, my phone, tripods and microphones. I do keep these very far away from anyone whether adult or child because they are the life of my work and help me forge messages that are catered to the people in terms of nutrition and wellness.
7. Who is your fashion inspiration?
   I cannot narrow down to one person because I like to switch things up every now and then, but I also cannot say I am not inspired by people. I actually like to observe a lot and see if I can be able to put a twist to what I have seen out there. I do love Katty Perry because she does a lot of color to her outfits and I am also a color enthusiast so she could be up there on my list of fashion inspiration. I am also inspired by my mother (God rest her soul) because she was very particular about her fashion sense and in my opinion it was really incredible.
8. What are the wardrobe staples you think every woman should own?
   Being someone who is not boxed to a particular style of fashion, I think everyone should have every kind of cloth. You need to have baggy clothes, shirt dresses, jeans, little dresses, long elegant ones so you can go with whatever suits your mood. The one thing though, I would say every woman should have in their wardrobes is accessories like belts, fascinators, great shoes, whether high heels or sandals, just let them be unique, little hair pins and shades. I think it is accessories that bring out that pop to our outfits.

   

9. What is currently on your African playlist?
   I definitely have ‘Give Me Love’ by Levixone and Exodus which my most exciting song right now! The second one is ‘Woman’ by Rudeboy and I also love Fireboy; so anything that he sings, I go with.
10. What are you reading or watching right now?
    I am watching a series called ‘Coyote’ and reading a book called ‘Positive Thinking For Young Adults’. Like I mentioned earlier, I am getting in the habit of positive self-talk, appreciating and embracing positive spaces.

11. What three people would join you in your dream dinner party?
    In my dream dinner party, I would most definitely want to have my husband there because he is one fun person and at least I know the romantic bit of the dinner will be covered. I would love to have someone who is lively so we dance and scream so a friend called Consolate will do and then I would also love to have a friend that is a cheerleader, someone that supports you all the way and that is always there for you. That would mean having another friend called Vivian.
    
    

    

     

12. If you could swap places with one person in Uganda (living or dead) for a day, who would it be? Why?
    I would love to swap places with Captain Mike Mukula, I know that sounds crazy but I feel like he has so many boxes checked when it comes to genuinely living a great life. When it comes to passion for wellness, he has it, when it comes to living a lavish lifestyle which you can actually afford without forcing or forging, he has it, I would love to experience that. When it comes to self love and taking care of himself, he has that checked too. Also, the fact that he is also a pilot! Just for a day, I would love to spend time flying about from place to place-in Kampala and waving to my people.
13. What’s your favourite African holiday destination and why?
    Zimbabwe because that is where my mum originates from and embarrassingly it has been a while since I have been there but I do have memories, blurred memories of the place. I would love to go there as an adult and love to explore its different tourist attractions and how people live there. I would love to go to Egypt as well and explore those pyramids, and Ethiopia because they seem to have exciting food and hair and skin; I would love to know their secrets. Also, their fabrics are fabulous.
14. What is on your bucket list?
    I am such a freak to visiting and experiencing new places. As a nutritionist too, I definitely want to visit as many eateries, health and wellness centers, spas and other places that inspire wellness. So for me, I guess it’s travel. I may not be places that are far but just seeing new places outside my home.

    

15. What is your secret to feeling and looking good?
    Self-talk and keeping myself around positive spaces because as I grow up, I have learnt that where you invest your time, heart and mind can actually eventually affect who you believe yourself to be or who you actually turn out to be. I have learnt to have head to heart conversations with myself, say the best things to myself, appreciate myself and count my blessings. Also, anything that makes me feel any less of who I am, I actually separate myself from that place, whether it is tactfully or directly. This has kept me looking younger than 30 for some good time.
16. What is your beauty routine for a healthy nourished skin?
    Drinking water first thing when I wake up and last thing before I go to bed. I also eat a lot of fruits during the day. I try my best to do more organic facial and hair masks, and also body butters. I have not applied artificial chemicals on my skin for sometime now. I usually rely on rosewater, sheabutter and avocado oil. I do not use makeup at all. I last used it on my wedding day.
17.  What is on your nightstand?
    My nightstand has a flower in its vase.

    

    
    

18. What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
    First of all, be gentle with myself and not put so much pressure on myself for things that are not really my concern. Also, to have boundaries because you are not mean if you have boundaries, you are just taking care of you so that you are not unnecessarily hurt. Keep in the positive lane of life since we already have enough life ups and downs so having negative energy around you just makes things worse. Life is so short, so try to be happy as you live it and also ‘live’, don’t just go past life. Be happy with what you do, pursue your passion and purpose and tailor it in a way that it would be fun, something that you look up to doing and not one that you dread all the time.
19. What are the 3 things that have improved the quality of your life?
    Having a better interpersonal connection with God where it has reached a point that anything I want to do, I talk to HIM first and try to listen in for HIS answers. I give HIM more time than I used to and that has really gotten me far. You know HIS plans are always the best and we can never plan for ourselves better than GOD. Number two is the man I married. As much as I am a believer, of self-empowerment and I do work for that, I also do believe in having support systems and he definitely has been one of my biggest support systems, happy and always willing to help me better myself the same way that I am willing and actually work to help him get better. We all want to be in a relationship that actually makes you better, not stagnant, or worse than you were. Number three is learning to communicate better, listening more, being open minded, observant and taking the lessons I am learning because its only a fool who doesn’t learn and keeps repeating the same mistakes.
20. What would people be surprised to know about you?
    That I am a pretty awesome dancer, especially ‘Lingala’ dance. No one beats me at it! Also, I have failed to eat porridge since I was young, it just doesn’t work for me. I guess anything slimy doesn’t go well with me.
21. Uganda zaabu…what is the most Ugandan thing about you?
    I am terrible with directions so I direct people using the most bizarre landmarks for example ‘do you know the ‘ffene’ (jackfruit) tree?’. At the end of it all, I wind up saying ‘when you reach somewhere there, just ask a boda guy’ because it seems much easier.