Lebo Madiba is the founder and managing director of PR Powerhouse, one of South Africa's most respected strategic communications firms. She has spent her career at the intersection of stories, brands, culture, and trust — navigating white boardrooms as a young Black woman, building a business from a bedroom and a Vodacom dongle, managing reputations for the likes of South African Airways, Nedbank, Cricket South Africa, and Maersk, and advising at the highest levels of business and government during some of the country's most turbulent years.

But behind the external power was a woman who nearly worked herself into medical collapse, who had to learn the difference between herself and her work, and who eventually chose to rebuild everything — slower, quieter, and on her own terms.

In this conversation, Lebo and Kojo Baffoe discuss:

• Growing up in Pretoria and the grandmother who made her read newspapers
• Climbing through some of the biggest PR agencies in the country
• Starting PR Powerhouse with one client, one dongle, and no safety net
• Managing crisis communications during the Zuma presidency and SAA's most difficult years
• The doctor's appointment that revealed how close to the edge she had come
• Divorce, therapy, and learning to separate the person from the professional
• Why the rebuilt PR Powerhouse is deliberately smaller, slower, and more selective
• What it means to finally have nothing left to prove

This is a conversation about what happens after the climb — and why the view from there looks nothing like you expected.

Follow Lebo Madiba and PR Powerhouse for more on strategic communications, reputation management, and leading with intention across South Africa and beyond.

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