When Noeleen Maholwana-Sangqu burst onto South African TV screens early this year, it may have been her screen debut but she brought a formidable CV as the queen of talk.

Well cherished for her sharp, incisive questioning, sassy attitude and personal warmth, her new role as host on SABC 3 TALK  was a challenge to bridge the digital divide from radio to television.

Born and raised in Umtata , Noeleen's entrée to broadcast media was on Radio Transkei in 1986, as office skivvy before being promoted to reading English news and going on to becoming a talk show host.

Moving to Johannesburg in 1994, she applied for a job on 702 and started out at the bottom again - as a junior reporter before landing a co-hosting job.

Her career at the station was dramatic as listeners warmed to her generous, spirited style, first as a news reader and then news editor.

From 2001, she was on the Primedia Board and hosted her own daily show before leaving the company at the end of 2002.

In the process, she also won a Global Population Institute prize for Best Programme of the Year (which she received at an event in Cuba late last year).

Married with twin girls aged 2 and an 8 year old boy, SABC 3 TALK ushered onto TV a well-loved voice which has empathy with her audience.