This superwoman has the makings of a unicorn
● Olwethu Leshabane is a cross between the most slick momfluencer on the interwebs, solidly geared up to put pep in your parenting step, and Oprah Winfrey.
If you are not familiar with her work, watch out, because she is a media machine coming to get your breakfast and to tell you how to make it efficiently and nutritiously for a family of five.
She has three boys and a husband, who during Covid decided that his wife’s business prospects were such that he should focus all his financial nous on growing her brand.
He joined her company and I, like him, am just calling it — she has the makings of a unicorn.
We meet at Coppa in Parkhurst. It’s a perfect spring afternoon. The trees are almost fully green and this charming French cafe is decorated with a light touch by chef Mirlene Souza, who is serving up delicious Mediterranean delights.
You could almost forget our electricity woes. Olwethu orders a mussel angel hair pasta, while I am on marble cake and tea as we are meeting later in the afternoon.
Olwethu has driven back from a weekend at Nirox’s new boutique hotel in the Magaliesberg — Farmhouse 58. And she looks the part in a breezy straw hat and summer neutrals.
The cafe could be a set for one of Olwethu’s uplifting videos which is why I suspect she likes it here. It’s the way the world should be — pastel, with a hand-printed mural — and feels super empowering, as if everything is served with an uplifting quote in sans serif.
She tells me that her evolution as a new media power player with her Art of a Superwoman blog and 350,000 Instagram followers and her adjacent businesses, including a product line, grew organically.
Her interests and passions drive her storytelling which shows that those words of advice on the internet are true. “One thing just flows into the other
— everything I do is interconnected, from my creative content business, my blog and even my products. My NGO and the work we do on that side, it comes down to the question, how do we give back? How do we create space for other women to thrive? From small things such as ensuring access to sanitary pads and running water in certain spaces, and looking after mothers. I am also a doula.”
She trained to become a doula in 2019. “I had my third son by natural birth after two caesarean sections; I was told you can’t have natural birth after a C-section. I did the research, I dug deep — it is in fact much less risky having a natural birth after two caesars. But it takes a lot of individual attention and we don’t have the time or the resources in the health system to do that. So that became a big part of my research — asking, where is the gap?
“We don’t have enough doulas in this country. Doulas look out for the moms — they have nothing to do with the baby per se, that’s the midwife’s role, but there is no attention on the mother’s needs and the process of educating and giving information to the mothers. No matter what birthing journey you choose, nobody is advocating for the mother, nobody is informing them.”
Given the high maternity mortality rates in SA, this sounds like a crucial project to me.
“People think it is something just for rich people, but we really need doulas in the community clinics. There are women there who assist with birthing but are not formally classified. We need to remove the barriers to access when it comes to mothers understanding that they need someone who is walking the journey and the post-partum journey with them.”
A huge part of Olwethu’s appeal is that she has a story that resonates with many South Africans.
She moved around the country often as she grew up. Her father worked for a state-owned enterprise (we won’t mention which one), but when she was at university he lost his job and her parents divorced.
In the aftermath the family finances became precarious and she had to change from studying quantity surveying to a more affordable degree with media studies in the mix. Then she had to drop out to help her family and support herself. Her studies were completed only after she married.
It is this resilience and drive that comes from real hardship and her can-do attitude that drives her.
“That was the foundation of who I am and the work ethic.”
She is empowering by nature, hence my Oprah comparison.
For example, her project with Isuzu, She is Driven — pairing inspiring women with the young women who respect them and get to pick their brains on a road trip. It’s inspired.
“A lot of our content is about women as they transition from one phase of their lives to the next. I’ve landed my first job, met somebody and am thinking of long-term commitment; I’m going through financial challenges; I’m going through a separation or a divorce or I’ve got children and they are moving into high school or leaving home.
“You will find all that content on our platform. I draw a lot from my own experiences and just listening to women. And my close friends inspire me.”
Watch this space.