Episode 10: Pretty Over Good

Johannesburg is full of gorgeous new restaurants — velvet chairs, golden cutlery, walls designed for perfect selfies — but when the food arrives… It’s just okay. Somewhere along the way, we started chasing aesthetics over quality. And it’s not just food — it’s fashion, products, relationships, even how we live our lives.

In this episode, I unpack why we’re drawn to beautiful packaging even when the substance doesn’t match, and how this habit shapes what we value, pay for, and recommend. We’ll ask: Are we in love with the experience, or the performance of the experience? And what do we lose when we ignore the “unpretty” gems right in front of us?