Future Readiness with Za

In this inspiring episode of Future Readiness with Za, I am in conversation with Monde Twala, a global media influencer and Senior Vice President at Paramount Africa & BET International Lead. Monde reflects on his upbringing in Soweto, crediting his grandparents and the community for instilling values of respect, learning, and storytelling. His early fascination with cinema, along with his social sciences studies, ignited his passion for responsible representation in media, with a focus on gender, race, and minority experiences. Monde emphasizes the power of the African creative economy and the potential of young Africans to lead global storytelling. He discusses the need for authenticity, excellence, and investment in Africa’s creative industries, and calls for government support through legislation. Monde also highlights the rise of user-generated content and niche communities, while stressing the importance of showcasing Africa's diversity and culture on the world stage. Tune in for a conversation filled with wisdom on leadership, creativity, and the future of African storytelling.

Our guest on #FutureReadinesswithZa is South African-born and Australian-based Pearl Proud. She is a distinguished executive with a robust Psychology, Strategic Leadership, and Organizational Development background. As a proud member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (MAICD), she exemplifies dedication to corporate excellence and ethical practices. Throughout her extensive career, Pearl has held key leadership positions across diverse industries, where she has driven transformative initiatives and steered companies in their DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) and psychologically safety sustainability. She joins me on the podcast and we dive into her different interests and how her personal and professional journeys have unfurled thus far. We speak on her spirituality and how she balances this gift with the practicalities of being a Psychologist. We also talk about the challenges of being the only one in a room, the only Black or Person of Colour and the confidence required to thrive in spaces where one might not be seen or heard. She invites us to understand how to self-define, to balance duality and thrive in spaces known and unknown.  Pearl’s story is as unique as she is and is rich with wisdom.

#FutureReadinessWithZa Presents Sizakele in conversation with Glenda Venn – an award-winning creative with experience in designing and brand strategy. A new connection that already feels deep. She is smart, explosively creative, kind, benevolent, wise, and human-centred. She has walked multiple paths from working in a challenger ad agency (at which I have also worked but our times did not overlap) to running her own design practice and in her latest pivot, she is the Senior Design Strategist at Tetris Design and Build, working with global research and industry specialists to understand how resetting the return to office culture requires creativity throughout an organisation and its infrastructure. In this episode, we explore foundational creative concepts worth a re-fresh such as transitioning from customer-centricity to human-centred. We laugh about our early mistakes and delight in our emergent wisdom. She reflects deeply on the role of design in improving environments and then drops a magical bomb with her definition of Future Readiness… Glenda invites us all to lean into the bits that petrify us with courage You’ll learn how to challenge socially imposed boundaries about what creativity means and is, start betting on your own ideas and become more secure from the inside out. You can watch the interview on YouTube. You can connect with Glenda here: LinkedIn - Glenda Venn and Tetris Design and Build Website: https://practise.biz/ ___________________ Follow me on Social media: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-sizakele-marutlulle-78389a14b/ https://www.instagram.com/sizakelezamarutlulle/

“.. Burnout is when you have nothing left to give, there is no bandwidth left. When we have no bandwidth, we get really impatient with the people we love, we start making mistakes… and we lose the ability to celebrate what is wonderful in life…”We are nearing that time of the year when time seems loopy and we feel tired and unmotivated, which is understandable. In our practice, we have Wellness Days to help us catch our breathe and press pause.

“If you aren’t able to commit to a full body yes, it is a lot more respectful to say thank you, you’re so kind, I’ll consider the invitation, please give me time, so that you when you do finally say yes, it is a full body yes”.When you agree to join someone in a thing they have invited you to or take on an extra assignment at work when already stretched, consider the domino effect for yourself and for the other person.

“Joy for me feels a lot more dense than happiness.” How do you nurture your joy? Listen. Comment. Share. Let me know which topics you would like me to speak on.

“If you are going to wait for the perfect conditions, then your boat is never going to leave.” A good friend of mine once said “Boats are not built to stay in the harbor”, and this remains true. The truth is that conditions will never be perfect and you cannot control or create an excellent external condition, what you can do is build a brand/life that you are proud of.

Phakamisa Ndzamela is an award-winning former business journalist for Thomson Reuters, E-News Africa, Moneyweb, Business Day, Financial Mail and Financial Times of London. He holds an honours degree in journalism from the University of Witwatersrand. He lives in Cape Town.  The story of black business in South Africa remains under-explored and poorly understood. Dispossession of fertile or mineral-rich lands through colonial wars, as well as the landmark 1913 Land Act, are among the root causes of the economic precarity of black South Africans to date. Inadequate attention has been paid to how racist policies and discriminatory practices thwarted black business initiatives and success. That’s why Phakamisa put pen to paper to present the world with his book – Native Merchants: The Building of The Black Business Class in South Africa  In this episode, Sizakele and Phakamisa explore the root causes of the current material imbalance in South Africa and he, through structured thought and deep scholarship – presents a case for correcting stereotypes and according due praise to those forebearers who founded and grew businesses in the darkest times of South Africa’s history. Despite these biased systemic impediments, black South African men and women built successful enterprises in industries as diverse as hospitality, mining, media, agriculture, financial services, and real estate among others. Phakamisa seeks to show the long tail of entrepreneurship among black South Africans and to consequently correct a historical stereotype that implies that black people in South Africa are only able to do business as ‘tenderpreneurs’. More importantly in bringing these stories to the fore, he offers, the young black girl and boy – a NorthStar - as well as a renewed sense of pride premised upon an unshakeable truth, that they descend from a lineage of people who, from the beginning – we remarkable and resilient.

“When you place the human at the centre of everything that you do, then you can truly design for inclusive futures.” Designing for inclusivity is not about meeting a quota, it is about considering the complete human and how their daily experiences may be intertwined with your business. These futures ensure that no community is marginalised and that the collective thrives. Listen. Comment. Share. Let me know which topics you would like for me to speak on.

Future-ready brands are understanding more and more that you pay attention to what is happening in culture... and apply your creative lens in a way that solves for society” High-influence brands are intentional about placing humans at the centre of everything as this benefits them commercially and aids in their reputation. Connect with us so that we can elevate your brand to a high-influence one. Listen. Comment. Share. Let me know which topics you would like for me to speak on. #SizakeleMarutlulle #FutureReadinessWithZa #HowToSeries