Hello Podfriend!

Happy New Month! Hopefully nobody tricked you this April Fool’s Day.

The reluctant spring has brought with it a nasty cold that’s proving a little challenging to get over, but we push on. It’s all good in the land of the free, home of the brave.

How have you been?

We’re in experimenting mode at the SAL studio. Our first ever two-part episode has gone out this week, featuring renowned South African fashion designer, Palesa Mokubung. There’s more about that episode later in this edition. What I’d like to hear from you is what you think about this approach to the episode. So hit the reply button and let me know after hearing it.

SAL is also turning five this coming summer and in celebration, we will be catching up with a handful of some interviewees that have been on the show. If there’s a guest you’ve wanted to hear more from again, let me know and we will invite them back.

But before we get into the rest of the newsletter, a reminder to share this edition and ask your friends to join our squad. If this edition was shared with you, please subscribe.

Here’s what we’re doing in this edition:

-Studio Update

-Your Companion Listening for the Month

-Giving me Joy This Month

Alright pod friends, let’s get to business!

Mantsho is the brainchild of Fashion Designer, Palesa Mokubung. After a three year stint as an intern at the seminal post-Apartheid fashion house, Stoned Cherrie, she broke out on her own to found her fashion label. In our conversation she breaks down how she built Mantsho one dress at a time, until the global fashion spotlight shone on her with the famous collaboration with the Swedish fast fashion brand, H&M. She also talks about the most meaningful accolades she has received during her 20-year long career - and they are not what you would expect. You definitely don’t want to miss this lesson in self-love, ambition and believing in yourself.

Changing Narratives is the love child of Mozambican business and creative partners, Wacy Zacarias and Djamila DeSousa. These Mozambican textile and accessirues designers are on a mission to preserve traditional Mozambican and more broadly, African craft and knowledge through their brands, Karingana Textiles and Woogui. 

 Wacy and Djamila started working together in 2015, back when wax print was still the most visible representation of African textile. And as we’ve previously mentioned, these fabrics are, ironically, not even African-made or owned. 

In this context, these two women took inspiration from their local natural environment, existing production systems, local traditional designs and stories and decided to do things differently. 

In this conversation, we focus on their journey as pioneers in textile design, the sustainable fashion movement, we discuss one of their projects working with refugees in northern Mozambique, they also give their take on what “Made In Africa” means for fashion labels and designers.

Barack and Michelle Obama are making me happy these days. They are keeping it moving and not getting involved in any of the shenanigans that are going on in Washington. My favorite is what POTUS44 posted recently - a picture of the Capitol building in Washington DC, presumably taken while strolling and enjoying the cherry blossoms in town, as a tourist. Emphasis on tourist. LOL.

Delighted to see that Zulaika Patel, the South African teen (now grown) who made headlines for protesting against her high school’s racist hair policies a few years ago has a book about her story as an activist. Brave Like Me! is a children’s book that teaches the young to stand up for what they believe.

As someone who’s firmly in middle age now, after turning 50 in February, Zadie Smith’s reflection on age, regret and time on the 25th anniversary of her debut novel, White Teeth brought some welcome perspective. She was recently had an interview on my current favorite podcast, Wild Card.

I’m reading some non-fiction at the moment. The one that has my attention at the moment is News And How to Use it: What to Believe in a Fake News World. On the fiction side, a collection of short stories by Richard Ford called Springfield. It’s a set work for a writing class I’m taking at the moment.

And finally, I’m sharing a Spotify playlist I’m enjoying at the moment.

Enjoy! Until next time, please do take good care.

Cheers,

Kutloano