Cultural impact in Africa has always come from people who refuse to let important stories disappear into silence. What is actually working for African arts and heritage today is having dedicated individuals who understand that preserving culture means more than just keeping old artifacts in museums; it means actively flooding the world with diverse narratives that challenge what history books have ignored. While many activists talk about decolonization, Lerato Motshwarakgole is one of the few actually doing the work on the ground in Botswana.
Lerato Motshwarakgole is a Botswanan cultural activist, curator, actress, educator, and entrepreneur who has dedicated her career to amplifying marginalized voices in African history through art, exhibitions, and education. As the founder and director of Ora Loapi, she leads efforts to reshape how Botswana’s history is told by including stories of women, LGBTQ+ communities, migrant workers, and youth that colonial archives deliberately left out. Her work spans performance arts, visual arts advocacy, educational innovation, and policy influence at the highest levels of Botswana’s cultural sector.
Because her work touches multiple fields and her influence extends across Africa and internationally, many people only know fragments of her story: the Harvard education, the acting career, the curatorial projects, or the entrepreneurship.
In this biography, I’ll walk you through everything you need to know about Lerato Motshwarakgole, her early life and education, her multifaceted career journey, major achievements, current projects, and the philosophy that drives her work.
Who is Lerato Motshwarakgole?
Lerato Motshwarakgole is a Botswanan cultural worker whose career blends performance arts, curatorial practice, education, and entrepreneurship. She is best known as the founder and director of Ora Loapi, an organization launched in September 2019 that works to “flood the archive,” a curatorial strategy designed to amplify voices that have been systematically excluded from Botswana’s official historical narratives.
Key roles:
- Founder and Director of Ora Loapi
- Vice Chairperson of the National Arts Council of Botswana
- Board member of the Harvard Center for African Studies Leadership Council
- Former actress in South African and Botswanan productions
- Education consultant and entrepreneur
- Advocate for creative and cultural industries in economic policy
Educational background:
- BA (Honours) in Theatre and Performance from the University of Cape Town
- MA in Arts in Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education (2017)
- Teaching Fellow and Derek Bok Media Fellow at Harvard
Early Life and Background
Lerato Motshwarakgole was born and raised in Botswana. She describes herself as shy, private, free-spirited, and passionate about the arts from a young age.
Family influence:
She often says she is “her father’s child through and through,” indicating strong family influence on her values and work ethic.
Discovery of acting:
Her love for acting began in high school under the mentorship of Warren Nebe, who recognized her talent and encouraged her to pursue performing arts professionally. This encouragement came at a time when many around her, including some family members, were concerned about the instability and financial uncertainty of a career in the arts.
Early challenges:
- Faced discouragement from peers and family who viewed performing arts as an unstable career path
- Navigated the realities of being a nomadic artist in Botswana, which required frequent border crossings for work opportunities
- Balanced demanding schedules as a student in Cape Town (4 AM shoots followed by late-night rehearsals)
Despite these challenges, she remained committed to her passion and pursued formal training at one of Africa’s most prestigious theater programs.
Education Journey
University of Cape Town (2011)
Lerato earned her BA (Honours) in Theatre and Performance from the University of Cape Town, one of Africa’s leading institutions for performing arts.
Notable achievements:
- Nominated for the Fleur du Cap Most Promising Student award
- Performed in major productions including Romeo and Juliet, Spring Awakening, Hamlet, Macbeki, and Lot
- Gained recognition for her ability to portray diverse characters and complex emotional narratives
Her UCT experience exposed her to rigorous training in performance theory and practice while building connections in South Africa’s vibrant theater scene.
Harvard Graduate School of Education (2015-2017)
In 2016, Lerato was admitted to Harvard’s Master of Arts in Education program, supported by the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) Entrepreneurship Programme.
Harvard experience:
- Served as Teaching Fellow
- Worked as a Derek Bok Media Fellow
- Focused on arts-based education models
- Contributed to the Harvard African Art Initiative
- Transformed her UCT dissertation into a 10-year business plan for arts education
Key learning:
Harvard exposed her to African artifacts like the Benin Bronzes in museum collections, sparking her passion for repatriating knowledge and narratives back to African contexts. She was particularly influenced by:
- Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, which validated creativity and emotional intelligence as legitimate forms of knowledge
- Steven Seidel’s “pedagogy of listening,” which she applies in diverse settings from boardrooms to classrooms
She graduated in 2017 with her MA, bringing back to Botswana new frameworks for integrating arts into education and cultural preservation.
Acting Career
Before becoming known for her curatorial and educational work, Lerato established herself as a talented actress in South African television and theater.
Television Roles
2012: Mzansi Love: Kasi Style (e.tv)
Starred as Mapule Nkosi in this popular South African drama series.
2012: Silent Witness (Season 2, Episode 5)
Appeared in the episode “Colourblind” as a book-loving character in an interracial romance storyline.
2012: Stokvel (Season 7)
Played the character Lerato in this long-running South African series.
Theater Productions
Throughout her time at UCT and beyond, she performed in:
- Romeo and Juliet (classical Shakespeare)
- Spring Awakening (contemporary musical)
- Hamlet (Shakespeare)
- Macbeki (Africana adaptation)
- Lot (experimental theatre)
Collaborations
Worked with acclaimed directors and performers, including:
- Christopher Weare
- Pieter Dirk-Uys
- Owen Sejake
- Thembi Mtshali-Jones
Philosophy on acting:
Lerato used theater as a tool to shift mindsets about arts as a viable career that drives innovation and economic development. She advocated for performance art as legitimate intellectual and economic work rather than just entertainment.
Entrepreneurship and Education Consulting
LM Consulting (founded 2015)
Before Ora Loapi, Lerato founded LM Consulting, an organization that used applied theater and Drama in Education (TiE/DiE) for community impact.
Focus areas:
- HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention
- Abuse prevention and support
- Integrating arts into African school curricula
- Making creative careers economically viable for African youth
Approach:
She developed curricula that fostered creativity while addressing pressing social issues, proving that arts education could serve both cultural and practical purposes.
Ora Communications
During her Harvard years, she developed a 10-year business plan for Ora Communications, which focused on:
- Creating textbooks and teacher manuals
- Using arts-based approaches for STEM education
- Developing platforms like Lora (WhatsApp-based STEM animation)
She used seed capital from the Tony Elumelu Foundation to set up an office, build a website, and pitch to Botswana’s Ministry of Education.
Ora Loapi: Major Cultural Impact
In September 2019, Lerato founded Ora Loapi, the initiative that has become her most significant contribution to Botswana’s cultural landscape.
What is “Flooding the Archive”?
The core philosophy of Ora Loapi is “flooding the archive”—a curatorial strategy to counter the deliberate erasure of marginalized voices from official historical records.
How it works:
- Creating abundance rather than scarcity in representation
- Using exhibitions, digital media, oral histories, and art installations
- Highlighting stories of women, LGBTQ+ communities, migrant workers, informal economies, and youth
- Making speculative interventions where official records are absent
- Crowdsourcing materials from communities
Theoretical foundations:
Drawing from scholars like Achille Mbembe and Saidiya Hartman, Lerato envisions archives as spaces for critical discourse and imaginative exploration rather than static repositories.
Key Programs and Initiatives
Agang (Policy Advocacy)
Led advocacy efforts that contributed to the establishment of the National Arts Council of Botswana, where Lerato now serves as vice chairperson.
Amogelang Grant
Provides funding and support to community organizations like Aga Motse Centre.
Fofa Africa Dialogues
Facilitates conversations about African art, culture, and heritage preservation.
Curators-in-Residence Program
Hosts international curators and artists for residencies in Botswana, including:
- Thonton Kabeya
- Victor Ehikhamenor
- Michael Stevenson
Major Exhibitions and Partnerships
Partnerships:
- Phillip Segola/Sandy Grant Archives
- Oodi Weavers
- Thapong Visual Arts Centre
- Banana Club
- TBP Collective
Notable exhibitions:
- Kaene Palalani at the National Museum
- Multiple installations highlighting pre-independence women’s contributions to nation-building
- First Botswana entity at Abu Dhabi Art Fair
Final Words
Lerato Motshwarakgole represents a new generation of African cultural workers who refuse to accept incomplete historical narratives. Through Ora Loapi, her policy advocacy, and her commitment to amplifying marginalized voices, she is actively reshaping how Botswana’s history is preserved and told.
Her journey from actress to Harvard graduate to cultural entrepreneur shows the power of combining creativity with strategic thinking. She didn’t just complain about the lack of representation in archives—she created systems to flood those archives with the stories that were deliberately left out.