Cannes Lions Special | Nyasha Michelle: When Faith Fuels Your Creative Career & What It Really Means to Build on Your Own Terms
It's 31 degrees on a rooftop in Cannes, and Nyasha has decided she is going for the mozzarella, tomato and cucumber salad. As I follow her around with my voice recorder, she’s greeting people, whilst taking calls on when she needs to go in for her video shoot for Cannes Lions. Dynamic, generous, sharp, always on the go. This pretty much sums her up.
Nyasha Michelle had a victorious year at Cannes Lions 2026. The award-winning presenter and creator of 'With Nyasha Michelle, a podcast amplifying the stories of African creators and trailblazers - was a standout face for the Financial Times events at the festival.
Originally from Zimbabwe, Nyasha moved to England at 12 and built a career spanning legacy media brands, New Zealand, South Africa, Mozambique and beyond. Last year she came to Cannes curious. This year she came back wearing two hats for the Financial Times — digital content creator and host of their flagship People Like Us event, and a successful EMERGE cohort member.
In this conversation we speak about something many people are dealing with: What happens to ambition when your faith kicks in, and what it really means to build a successful life when your belief system starts to shift?
“God, how are you going to give me this strong feeling that I need to take a new path, but not tell me what I’m supposed to do or how I’m going to achieve it?”
Nyasha’s Food Profile
Go-to comfort food? Chocolate cake with custard
If you could be a fruit or vegetable, what would it be, and why? Pineapple. They’re pretty, beautiful inside & out and prickly
Food item that reminds you of your childhood? Lacto. (It’s a Zimbabwean cultured milk, you can eat it with sadza)
Favourite restaurant? Orbit 360 Dining (New Zealand, Aukland)
The Interview
You spent years as a multimedia journalist at a legacy company before starting your own media platform. What was it like to take that leap into working for yourself?
It was a total act of pure faith. I didn't know how to build the structure, who to speak to - any of it. But what I did see was that God made it clear to me that something was shifting in my life.
Long story short: I had a dinner with some incredible journalist friends, and someone asked us to reflect: What is one thing that is making you happy? They forced us to focus on the positives, because sometimes there are a lot of negatives, right?
Each and every one of the girls got up and shared something they'd achieved. And there were different degrees of difficulty in getting there. I sat there like, ‘Wow, she told me she was going to try something and she advocated for herself and got there, or ‘She wanted a particular car, she worked hard to get it’, or ‘She moved from full-time journalism into consulting’. It left me with so much inspiration: I don't think I've ever been inspired like that.
I remember when I left dinner that night, I knew something had literally been imparted in my heart. But I was so pissed off, because I could feel it. I knew it. And then I was like, ‘God, how are you going to give me this strong feeling that I need to take a new path, but not tell me what I'm supposed to do or how I'm going to achieve it?!" It was actually really funny.
Nyasha presenting BBC flagship show, Focus on Africa
Growing up between Zimbabwe and the UK, what was your introduction to Christianity, and has your faith evolved from childhood to now?
Moving to the UK at 12 brought me into a completely different environment: church every Sunday, a congregation with a strong family community. A couple of weeks in I found out they had a youth group. I was nervous to go, but eventually I plucked up the courage, because sitting in the main service with your mum and sister as a kid is boring!
God is funny, because on my very first day at the youth group they were doing a drama production. And Drama was my thing, I was the only student in my high school to receive a Drama award. So on my first day attending the youth group, they are doing a play.
(She doesn't rule out Broadway one day BTW!)
Seeing that gave me confidence. I'm watching young people my age all part of this production, and when the service finished I went straight to the man who ran it - a Caribbean man we all called Uncle Jack. He said ‘Yeah, come join us’, and I did.
That's how I got connected to God, to community, and eventually developed my own personal relationship with God.
When you're standing at a crossroads in your career, how can you discern the difference between God's guidance and the industry or your own ambition?
This is very cliché but… Knowing my why. Then beyond that: my purpose. The Bible is very intentional when it says "I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb. (Jeremiah 1:5)"
So if I believe that, then it means I believe the God who created me has a purpose for me on this earth. And if he has a purpose for me, the best way to find out what that purpose is, in all my different seasons of life, is through the guidance of my maker: God.
In terms of trying to figure out which direction to take in my career, it’s about trying my best to come to God. Even if that means, "Lord, I'm about to make this decision. Go ahead of me. I don't know what to do. I'm going to speak to this person etc". I'm not saying we live in this fairytale world where all I do is talk to God and I don't need people. No, that's absolutely not it. It's just ensuring that your steps are genuinely being ordered by the Lord.
The Bible says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." (Proverbs 3:5-6). So if God says 'in all your ways', He means everything. From asking for strength to get out of bed and face a hard day at work, to seeking guidance on whether a brand's values actually align with mine before saying yes. Sometimes a guest doesn't get back to you and the frustration is real. Disappointment will always come, but I don't let it pull me into a place of doubt, where I'm looking down on what I'm building just because someone didn't come through.
Because every single part of my life, I try to be intentional to include Jesus. I'm not perfect, but I've realised it does help me.
How do you deal with disappointment?
One of the biggest things is: life is life. When I face disappointments, because my confidence is now placed in the Lord, I find myself getting to a space where I'm like, "Okay, this has happened. It's cool. We move forward. God I know you have a bigger plan." It goes back to remembering that the Lord created me. He knows me. I'm just going where he's told me to go, and everything else will align. That includes when things don't work out, because the Bible says, "All things work together for the good of them who love the Lord (Romans 8:28)”.
Advice for creatives navigating their careers whilst following their faith as Christians?
My biggest advice would be: remember that this life is a material achievement. When you die - whether you built an agency raking in millions, or you have a successful podcast - whilst all of that is good, ensure that one way or the other, it is glorifying God. If it is not glorifying the Lord, y'all need to talk.
And glorifying the Lord doesn't necessarily mean you have to insert Jesus into everything. For the most part, you can just be walking with integrity. There are so many people in the Bible who weren't necessarily preachers. Many were merchants, fishermen for example. Even the Proverbs 31 woman and her husband were just regular business people who held positions of power.
So essentially, don't let what you're doing become more important to you than God. Once it's your time to go, you're not going with all of that. Eternity is eternal. So let's not forget that.