Hey Podfriend!

Happy New Month!

Hope you all survived the winter storms in the North and I’m sure those in the South are sad to say goodbye to the summer – although the summer came late and was way too hot in some places – or so the South Africans tell me. All the same, it’s a change of season and this requires a change of pace. How are you shaping the upcoming season to fit your needs? I’ll go first: I’ll be spending some time listening since I’m going through some kind of identity shift once again. You’re invited to follow along today, occasionally on socials and in future editions.  

So, greetings from Cremona! My semi-new locale. We’re almost at the four month mark of being here, and  we are fresh off the high of the Milano/Cortina Winter Games. We were so close, yet so far and by that I mean it started being a Rubik’s cube puzzle to sort out the logistics of getting to the events we wanted to see, like the snowboarding in Livigno. Anyhooo…happy for you if you managed to catch some of the events, it was nice to watch some live and on rebroadcast on Rai Play 😁

So, what’s happening? In this newsletter here’s what we’re doing:

-From the SAL Archives

-On My Mind This Month

-Giving me Joy and Pause

Let’s Go!

If this newsletter was forwarded to you and you don’t want to miss out in the future, we are ready to welcome you to our squad.

Since I’ve mentioned the listening vibes at the SAL studios, I’m pointing you towards two fitting and timeless conversations that I’ve hosted on the podcast; maybe they’ll come in handy for you too during this change of season. Both guests are healers and the reason I’m recommending these listens is because the women are both hosting retreats in different parts of Africa later this year; for people who are ready to do the work of healing.  

The first is a conversation called Do Your Work and Other Truth Bombs and my guest is Nokulinda Mkhize; you really should get to know if you haven’t already come across her work. She’s just a person among people –umuntu in isiZulu – as she would put it. Others may call her a polymath because she wears many hats; both personally and professionally. I am still to invite her for a follow up episode on her latest offering, a book called Kitchen Wisdom … let me know if you’ve read the book and if you have any questions for her. Just hit reply. Anyway, she’ll be hosting the second Guided Retreat in Kwazulu Natal, South Africa in October. You can email her for details: [email protected] and check out this video to see if this is something for you. She’s also fun and full of wisdom, listen to this episode if you don’t believe me.

The second conversation is by another wise woman healer, Yema Ferreira. She is based in Copenhagen and usually runs workshops for African diaspora women who are ready to reconnect with themselves. She’s also one of the organizers of the SHA Conference for Black and Brown women in the Nordics – the first of its kind. Yema will be hosting her Black Women Returning to Roots 10-day retreat in Kenya near Lake Elementatia, and she’s very clear that this is not a vacation, but an opportunity to do deep work while surrounded by natural beauty.  Check out her Insta page @blackwomantherapist to find out what else she’s up to and if you can work with her.

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It’s International Women’s Day this weekend and the theme is Give to Gain.

We start with a shoutout to Iceland who are now at 90% level of closing the gender pay gap. After 50 years of women downing tools every single 24^th of October, it looks like the work has been worthwhile so far. May it continue and never stop because the patriarchy never rests, if anything it’s digging in its heels and throwing a giant tantrum with its patron saint in the White House (more on that later).

Speaking of the orange menace, in the wake of his 2025 executive order to cancel DEI programmes and government jobs under this category – where a good chunk of the workers are Black Women – there was no doubt how things would turn out. And so it was no surprise and heartening to see a New York Times article about how black women have gathered to support each other via WhatsApp and other platforms. The main aim of these groups is professional networking and above all else, sisterhood. It’s the true embodiment of the adage ‘Nobody’s coming to save us. Only we can save us.’ Give to Gain.

Happy to have come across a new initiative called Motherhood Lectures. It’s the latest offering from Reshma Aujani  @reshmaujani, the founder of GirlsWhoCode and @momsfirstus. I’ve been saying time and again that American society is the most hostile place to women, especially if you choose motherhood (which of course will now be forced upon you going forward). I cannot tell you how many rivers I cried when we still had our last born in an American daycare. The costs are just ridiculous and very often you’re just paying for glorified babysitting; and some of the institutions were not immune to scandals of mistreating special needs children. Wild! Anyway, the world is hostile to women in general, but America takes the cake when it comes to motherhood. So, sleeves up girls, we have work to do. Give to Gain.

On this side of the world there’s yellow everything everywhere. My Italian teacher was quick to point out that it has nothing to do with entering Spring, but instead the mimosa flower is a symbol of International Women’s Day in Italy. The mimosa flower has a special significance, and bunches of this bright yellow flower have been handed out to women since IWD was first commemorated 70 years ago. The mimosa flower is a symbol of strength and solidarity with women’s struggles because it blooms under the harsh conditions of the northern winter. It’s not a romantic gesture like being handed a rose as I once experienced in Mexico City 😁.  Her suggestion is that I also enjoy the taste of the flower in a traditional torta di mimosa – a calorie bomb temptingly covered in mimosa flowers. Why did we move to the land of pastries? 😭😂 And what does Give to Gain mean in this context? 😂 I think I’ll invoke my right to observe Lent.

The Bad Bunny Bowl still makes me smile this many weeks later. What a nice pause in between all this turmoil we are living through. And what a nice way to propel us into a Puerto Rico rabbit hole and what fun to watch the Canadian response to the American Roll Call at the end of his performance. Soon after that one of my many clever friends brought me down to earth when we did a post-mortem of the event. Yes, it was a great protest, but it only happened because it was permitted by the powers that be. Power never ever concedes. 😭

AND THE PAUSE …

First and foremost, the US-Israeli war with Iran. No hot takes from me. I’m still processing.

Also, BAFTA’s baffling Tourette’s-related incident had me 👀 ICYMI – this involved an audience member who lives with the condition shouting out the N-word while Michael B Jordan and his Sinners co-star Delroy Lindo were handing out an award at the British Art Film and Television Awards ceremony. You can see how uncomfortable they both got when they heard that slur among many other inappropriate words that were involuntarily said during the live event. There was absolutely no need for the BBC to leave the N-word in the audio of their BAFTA broadcast later, but they did and here we are. Sometimes I think these institutions do this stuff on purpose. There’s no such thing as bad PR, right? So many people were abused in this situation; and that makes any apology from the BBC hollow. Ugh. Anyway, glad to see that Michael B Jordan and the film went on to win big at the Screen Actors’ Guild Awards soon after. I think I’ll watch Sinners again, or even director Ryan Coogler geeking out on aspect ratios.

THINKING, WATCHING AND LISTENING

I’m not listening to or watching much these days, except the sounds of my new city.

But I am loving a few things like Baratunde Thurston’s Speak Easy Substack and YouTube Podcast called Life with Machines since I’m in an AI rabbit hole right now. And yes, I’m cooking up something, so watch this space.

I revisited Femi Kuti’s classic album Shoki Shoki while writing this edition.

Happy to have stumbled on Creative Lens CPT I’ve not listened to many episodes, but I did enjoy the episode I linked to, featuring photographer South African photographer Lili Bo Ming. She talks about being Chinese-Afrikaans, how her father introduced her to photography and how she found her creative path and voice. A good one about the merits of apprenticeship, something that’s really disappearing from all spheres of life working life.

While I was having thoughts about apprenticeship, I thought about all the women I had to look up to and some whom I had the privilege to work with when I started my professional life: radio legends like Nothemba Madumo, Deborah Patta, Nolene Maholwana Sangqu and Zandile Nzalo, television producers like Pam Devereux-Harris and Palesa Ka Letlaka. And I’m here interviewing business leaders who are genuinely concerned about skills in the workplace and finding it hard to hire. I’ve said it time and again that I’m wary of talking about ‘in my time’ or ‘when I was young’, lest I sound like an old fart. However, as part of the new generation of adults and leaders, I often find myself in such discussions and I also hear from SAL guests and friends about how tough it is to hire young people. Gen Z in particular are said to have no work ethic or life skills; and I hear about how they traumatize their bosses. And then.... enter the internet. I was struck by a Complex Mag post that analyzed Fortune’s report on bosses firing their Gen Z employees within three months of hiring. In a nutshell, it speaks of a lack of mentors in the workplace, which is caused by the nature of work nowadays. And it’s a nuanced reflection from a young person’s perspective. Remote work means not being able to observe how those who came before you do it; competing with AI as an entry level employee means you never get to sharpen the basic skills of operating in a material world. The cherry on top is that this generation missed out on an essential part of development because they came of age during social distancing and remote learning. So hey, maybe that’s something to consider before we complain. What’s your take?

And that is all from me this time around. I’m off to do the work of grounding myself in Cremona and working on the evolution of SAL.

You’ll hear from me in the next edition of the SAL newsletter.

Let me know what’s on your mind; what’s giving you joy or what’s making you go huh? Just hit reply.

Until next time, please do take good care.

Cheers,

Kutloano