Lebo Wa ha Leisa is a storyteller who was born in Bloemfontein and raised by stories. Her first classroom was the fireside in Flakfontein, a rural area outside Reddersburg, where her grandmother taught her through folktales and song. The mountains, rivers and indigenous games around her showed her how a people holds itself together.Through theatre, film, radio and the written word, Wa ha Leisa carries audiences to destinations their bodies have never been. As managing director of Thope Produxions, her days move between the creative and administrative. She writes scripts, poetry and songs, pitches, drafts proposals, curates festivals, assembles teams, directs rehearsals and reports back.For Wa ha Leisa, accountability builds trust and in the arts one cannot survive without the other.She loves to create and name. Camagu, Arabang and Mangaung International Music Expo each began as a word before becoming a world. Her reward is the moment the lights come on and she sees that something has shifted in the room.Her children, a 14-year-old daughter and a one-year-old son, keep her going as she builds a legacy they can hand to their own children.Raised by women who refused to be reduced, Wa ha Leisa draws inspiration from her mother, who was denied schooling because of the cultural beliefs of her time but entered an adult education classroom at 40. Her mother taught her that even though a door closed at 20, it can open at 40.Storytelling remains her life's work because, she says, it can educate, heal and break silences.Wa ha Leisa's work includes Arabang, a theatre work confronting gender-based violence; writing for Monyaka on Lesedi FM; and Kutlwano Can You Hear Me Now, which trains young deaf artists in film.Her achievements include the Camagu Colloquium, the Camagu Theatre and Dance Festival, a 2019 Sesotho Literary Award, the musical Paleho and work shared in Belgium, London and Paris.She has also founded African folklores and storytelling festival Diqi; co-founded the film development and training programme for women, Nala; and worked on the film documentary Masalla.Wa ha Leisa cooks, trains at the gym and travels.She describes herself as gentle until a door refuses to open. Then a warrior queen rises.