Nice to meet you.
I'm Lulama Hana Lingela, Lula for short :) I'm Japanese and South African (Xhosa), and currently in my final year of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of Cape Town.
I've always ended up in the intersection between things. Engineering and Art. Cape Town and Kannami. English, Japanese, and the small fragments of Xhosa I pick up walking around. That mix is where most of my work happens, and I've stopped pretending otherwise.
You can find me building embedded projects, shipping small games, painting when I have the light, playing bass in a band and making music. This site is where I can show all of that.
The spec sheet.
Where I've been.
A running list of the internships, tutoring, and commissions that have shaped the way I work.
Equity Research Intern
Coronation Fund Managers·Cape TownReviewed initiation reports and presented two investment cases to analysts.
Computer Science Tutor
University of Cape Town·Cape TownTutor for the second-year CS courses at UCT, CSC2001F and CSC2002S.
Software Development Engineering Intern
Amazon Web Services·Cape TownShipped two backend APIs and an event-driven notification system on Lambda, SNS, and SES.
Information Systems Intern
Coronation Fund Managers·Cape TownAutomated a manual client data-screening workflow with SQL.
3D Graphic Designer (Commission)
BH Media·Cape TownBuilt a 3D t-shirt mockup in Blender with hero renders and a walk-cycle animation.
Japanese Interpreter
Colt Talent Agency·Cape TownIn-person interpreting for a Japanese model on an Oral-B TV commercial shoot.
Marketing Intern
Go Metro·Cape TownMarket research on UK target companies and a plan for enhancing the site and blog.
Developer Intern
Sozo Labs·Cape TownCompleted the Create with Code course in Unity and shipped my first game in a jam.
English Tutor
Private·JapanWeekly online tutoring and English assignment help for a student in Japan.
What else I get up to.
I play guitar and bass in Caffeinated. We do gigs around Cape Town. When I'm not with the band I'm writing my own orchestral pieces!
An ongoing self-study that I share on my art instagram. Learning through YouTube tutorials. I do character sculpts, texture studies and lighting studies.
A hobby since I was small. Pencil, pen, oils. 2 of my paintings were shown at the Cape Town Emerging Artists' Exhibition in 2024.
JLPT N1 qualified. I grew up speaking it at home and have my phone ready in Japanese mode.
I can proudly say I am a connoisseur of this artform. Ghibli movies take me back to my happy place. Adventure RPGs transport me to beautiful new worlds. I also love cosplaying at conventions.
New to the gym this year and enjoying it :) Cape Town's good weather takes me to explore the outdoors.