Mandie Cronje was born in Harrismith and raised in Klerksdorp. After matriculation, she moved to Bloemfontein to study Fine Art. She enrolled at the Central University of Technology and has since completed her B. Tech degree in 2010 specialising in printmaking. 

Since 2011 she has been lecturing at the Central University of Technology’s department of Design and Studio Art. She obtained her M. Tech degree in 2016 for which she investigated contemporary occurrences within the South African art and social sphere as being a symptom of societal and technological manipulation. She is interested in the ways in which ideologically based worldviews separate communities, impede dialogue, and hinder the uninhibited formation of identity.