Women with eye on future
Take a mountaineering national treasure and a newly crowned beauty queen whose shorn locks got Twitter talking. Add two sexy sexagenarians and a trio of gals all set to release tomes.
Put them in a gorgeous room and serve a delectable feast as we high-five women bucking the business gloom and doom. This is why the Fairlady Santam Women of the Future awards remains a social-whirl high.
Held at Summer Place in Hyde Park, Johannesburg, editor Suzy
Brokensha’s annual do draws powerhouses such as Wendy Luhabe and two businesswomen who recently turned 60 — Judi Nwokedi and Dawn Nathan-Jones.
Glamour came in the form of celebrity makeup artist Gina Myers, Liesl Laurie (the first time I’ve seen her out since her break-up with rapper Proverb) and society doyenne Peta Eggierth-Symes.
At the lunch, I’m crestfallen to find out there are two huge prawns atop my salad of roasted cherry tomatoes and mozzarella tossed with red onion and roasted garlic. But my allergy puts me in the good books of table-mates Sonia Booth and Felicity Shiba, who are only too happy to snap up the scrumptious shellfish.
I learn that the lady on my right, comedian Lesego Tlhabi (better known as Coconut Kelz), has something in common with Sonia: both are bringing out books.
Someone else giving birth to a book is Basetsana Kumalo, who was there to support her sister Johanna Mukoki.
“It’s been the most cathartic, healing, liberating and empowering experience. I now own my own story,” says Bassie about her memoir, My Journey of Hope.
Someone who has recently notched a milestone was Thuli Madonsela. She marked Women’s Day by summiting Kilimanjaro, pushing through after being hit with a glucose deficiency during the hike. What was harder: Zuma or the mountain? I ask the former public protector. “With Kili, a lot of it was cruising until that bump, and then it was over and there was the exhilaration. I think handling humans is much harder,” said Thuli.
On to meeting our newest beauty queen, Zozibini Tunzi, whose short and natural locks are a change from the weaves favoured by pageant participants in the past.
I caught up with the day’s best dressed, Generations star Zoe Mthiyane. She wore a gorgeous green silk-satin pleated bustier dress finished off with a red belt. Enough about the guests and on to the winners.
Phillipa Geard of recruitment agency RecruitMyMom was named the Woman of the Future while Renshia Manuel took the social entrepreneur category. Nondumiso Sibiya, who runs a wastemanagement business, was awarded rising star. As for the grub, the mains of seared salmon medallions on lemon-crushed potatoes, served with a medley of veg, topped with a wild mushroom and dill sauce, was yummy. The panna cotta with strawberries and blueberries, though, lacked wobble.