AUTHOR
In 2016 Penguin Random House South Africa published her book, a non-fiction work titled The Way I See It, which was on the bestseller’s list and republished after only six weeks on shelves. The book tackled historical biases and prejudices in South African society.
She’s currently Executive Creative Director (ECD) at Black Powder Agency. Lerato Tshabalala is a graduate of the Mandela Washington Fellowship, where she studied Business and Entrepreneurship at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, USA. With 20 years’ experience in the South African print publishing industry, she was voted by the Mail and Guardian newspaper in South Africa as one of the 200 Young People to watch in the Media category in 2013.
EDITOR
Her first management position was at the age of 22 as a women’s editor at South African weekly publication, Drum. She’s worked for South Africa’s largest Sunday paper, Sunday Times, where she HAD A COLUMN URBAN edited SA’s biggest Lifestyle supplement for five years. As the editor of South African English women’s title, True Love magazine (a position she left in April 2014 in order to take part in the Mandela Washington Fellowship, formerly known as YALI), she oversaw the day-to-day, as well as strategic running of the business. Other glossy titles she’s worked for in SA include O, The Oprah Magazine, Marie Claire and The Afropolitan magazine (a subsidiary of Joburg radio station, Kaya FM).
EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Lerato currently works in digital and social media as an Executive Creative Director, having established content studios for SA’s biggest telecoms company, Vodacom and the world’s biggest brewer, AB InBev.
When not creating content for digital campaigns for brands, she facilitates talks to various companies. Lerato is passionate about diversity and inclusion, particularly in the context of involving previously marginalized individuals, both in society as well as corporate spaces. She’s recently done campaign work with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on how we can fast track gender equality in the world.
SPEAKER AND HOST
Her talks mirror her professional disciplines – from giving a Social Media Masterclass to delving into “Unconscious Bias” and how it affects hiring, promotions and cohesion in the workplace. Previous clients include PPC Insurance, US Embassy and African Bank, among others.
A lover of broadcast, she hosted Living It Up, a design and property podcast on South Africa’s first podcast station, CliffCentral.com, started by veteran broadcaster, Gareth Cliff in 2014. She’s also hosted Best of Both Worlds, on SA’s online radio station, Touch Central (now TouchHD).
