Sue Nyathi on Quitting Finance at 40 to Become Netflix's #1 Author

She wrote her first novel at 13. One handwritten copy,

passed around her class at Girls' College - and nobody ever lost it.

Fourteen years after self-publishing The Polygamist,

it became a Netflix series - number one in 16 countries

around the world.

In this episode of HUMHR Career Insights, Batje Chibafa

sits down with Sue Nyathi in Johannesburg - the first stop

on the Africa Across Borders Tour 2026.

They talked about:

- Writing by night while building a 20-year career in finance

- The rejection letters that almost ended everything

- Leaving corporate at 40 with no plan B

- A spiritual awakening during COVID

- The phone call in 2022 that became Netflix

- What it means to be a social anthropologist

- The 4 Ps: Perseverance, Passion, Persistence and Providence

CHAPTERS

00:00 Welcome | Johannesburg, South Africa

00:48 Netflix #1 in 16 countries

02:38 The Polygamist: written 2010, self-published 2012

03:43 The two-page rejection letter

07:53 The novel she wrote at 13 - one handwritten copy

11:14 Writing as a lens on society

16:24 Quitting finance at 40 - with no plan B

19:57 COVID, silence, and a spiritual awakening

23:35 Learning the business of writing

37:44 Discipline over inspiration: 8am to 3pm, every day

40:17 The Polygamist's impact: book clubs, healing, controversy

49:39 The Netflix adaptation

61:12 Kenya: when the government took notice

63:09 French translation rights

65:33 What would 13-year-old Sue say?

65:51 Fire round

GUEST: Sue Nyathi | Author | The Polygamist, The Gold

Diggers, A Family Affair, An Angel's Demise

HOST: Batje Chibafa | Certified Career Coach | Founder, HUMHR

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