Ayanda is a passionate, committed storyteller whose career spans over sixteen years. Her Film & TV career started at the South African Broadcasting Corporation where she started as an Intern in the Drama Department; and by the time she left she had Acted as the Head of Story, SABC 1 Editorial support alongside Head of programming, and as Head of Drama Dept. She resigned from SABC in 2013 in pursuit of growth and learning other broadcasting tricks and joined the Mzansi Magic Team at Mnet as Commissioning Editor. Here she expanded her portfolio from being a CE for Films (such as Izulu Lami, State of Violence) and episodic dramas, to being CE on telenovelas such as isibaya. She also worked on different formats like game shows and big formats like SA Idols. She resigned in 2015 to study but the funding fell short and she pivoted. Ayanda took on writing and head writing as a freelance creative. As a Head Writer she has worked on over twelve episodic dramas. Her TV screen credits include It’s Complicated 1 & 2, Mfolozi Street 2, Isikizi 1 & 2, iKani, and the number 01 most watched Series in SA for 2019: Makoti. The successful second season of Makoti was licensed to Prime Video. She Head Wrote and Creative Produced the series for Urban Brew Studios and SABC. Ayanda wrote “Happiness Ever After”, a sequel to the highest-grossing film for 2016 in SA Happiness is a Four-Letter Word. She is a Story Contributor and Consultant for the Movie Uncovered, also on Netflix. She is in Finance stages for her debut feature film “One Day in June”. She pitched and won second prize at the CTI (TIFF) 2019 and won JETS 2020 held during Berlinale. She is currently looking for a broadcaster/streamer partner. She recently directed her short film Sent, which is currently on festival circuit with 9 selections and has won Best Debut Short Film and Best Debut Actress at Luleå International Film Festival (July 2024), and Best First time female director at the Independent shorts awards. Through her company, YandaHalis Films, she has delivered the Script-Writing Schools Program for KZNFC – 2019 – 2023, The Scriptwriting Program from 2021 – 2023. She has also trained writers across provinces through NFVF’s Spark program. In 2021 she was one of the Mentors at the Episodic Lab by Realness Institute/Netflix. She is also one of the Mentors for the Realness African Residency (2022). She is a consulting Commissioning Editor for Multi-Choice Extended Cut program which has produced 4 made for tv films for Mzansi Magic, and is also consulting at Urban Brew Studios on their scripted division.