South Africa

Witty, conscientious and detail-orientated, Amber is a Junior Consultant at Spratt Consulting. A User Experience Designer, she is a passionate advocate for user-centric design and stands by her mantra that “common practice and best practice aren’t one and the same”. A member of the Dream Team since 2013, she has completed diploma courses in Digital… read more »

Decisive, intelligent and endlessly optimistic, Prudence is the mainstay member of the Dream Team at Spratt Consulting, which she founded in 2013. She’s been a “lover of all things tech” her entire life, and this passion – coupled with her MBA-backed business acumen – is the driving force that powers her business. Entrepreneurship is in… read more »

After studying English Literature and Psychology at the University of Cape Town, Emma cut her teeth in print media, editing lifestyle magazines for nearly a decade. Although her career was destined for digital, it was this grounding in high-quality editorial and storytelling that gave her a unique insight into content marketing and how to deliver… read more »

Joanne joined John Brown Media South Africa in December 2014 after more than a decade in the media and luxury retail industry. Her most recent positions were as the Operations Director for Ndalo Media and Chief Operating Officer for Ndalo Luxury Ventures – South Africa’s first luxury department store. Her media career started in the fast-paced Media24 Newspapers division… read more »

Aashiqa is a University of Cape Town alumnus with a degree in industrial psychology and majors in HR and psychology. Her career began in corporate and then moved into the world of NGOs before she joined Media24, where she ran several departments over a period of six years. As John Brown continues to expand, Aashiqa’s… read more »

Megan’s career in the media industry spans 10 years and it’s been an amazing ride, having been involved in through-the-line and digital advertising and, now, content marketing. Megan completed her degree at the University of the Western Cape and soon after graduation spent two years in the UK. She came back to complete her articles… read more »

Ruschda joined Dentsu Aegis South Africa as Chief Financial Officer in July 2016, having spent 2 years at John Brown South Africa as Finance Director and 10 years at Media24 in various financial management roles. She is a chartered accountant by profession, and completed her articles at PricewaterhouseCoopers. She serves as Director on a number… read more »

Nina has the trust and respect of leading printing houses, who know that her insistence on quality, value and efficiency are matched by her warm, unpretentious nature. Nina is a board director of John Brown Media South Africa. At Touchline Media and Media24, Nina worked across several sports titles and custom publications. Having completed the Media… read more »

Justine Drake has worked in food media since 1988, though she’s been cooking since she was old enough to wield a wooden spoon. She has written five cookbooks and edited several magazines and supplements. She was editor of Eat In magazine from 2006 to 2010, and helped it win MPASA Pica awards in 2009. Justine is a… read more »

Lani joined John Brown Media South Africa as Group Managing Director in September 2010. Before that, she spent three years in Shanghai, China on secondment by Naspers as group business director where she helped launch a number of lifestyle titles. Her wide-ranging publishing experience spans over 20 years, and includes two years as publisher at a content… read more »

Paul Galatis came to Creative Spark in January to speak about Yuppiechef and all that they have done. Paul, along with his two partners, spent the past six years building Yuppiechef.com, South Africa’s leading e-commerce store. Paul joined the two-man Yuppiechef.com team as a partner and director in 2008 to lead the design, branding and… read more »

Rob Stokes visited the CSI headquarters in October, 2014 and spoke about startups, digital vs traditional today and where African brands are at the moment. Rob came up with the idea of Quirk in his bedroom, and it eventually grew to a warehouse in Cape Town, and later offices in London and Johannesburg. He has… read more »

Chris Moerdyk, former head of strategic planning and Public Affairs for BMW South Africa visited the CSI headquarters in May, 2014. He shared his insights into how the Marketing industry in South Africa has involved, including untapped markets and the influence of tech. Chris  was listed in a recent Markinor corporate survey as one of… read more »

Gavin Levinsohn, former CEO of Ogilvy and Mather Cape Town, visited CSI in May 2013 and spoke about brands and how to leverage the digital space. He is interested in how a new authentic style of leadership can impact business culture and drive performance. Gavin moved to Australia after a successful journey in South Africa… read more »

Alan Knott-Craig Jr, former CEO of South African-created mobile social network, MXIT, visited Creative Spark  in August, 2013, to talk about his involvement in this startup. Alan is now Founder & CEO of Project Isizwe, a non-profit organisation facilitating the roll-out of free Wi-Fi networks across Africa as well as World of Avatar, an investment… read more »