Blogs & Insights From Mama Gold
Rewriting A Different Story
When I walked out of the school gates at the age of eighteen, I never thought I would ever step foot back again.
Some people experienced school as one of the happiest times of their lives. For me, it was anguished and tortured. It was not my proudest era. I was mostly miserable and a mess. Sometimes I acted like the class clown to hide the overwhelming sadness I masked.
“Success” vs Significance
For those who have been following my journey, I want to introduce myself properly. That means being honest. Raw. Unfiltered.
My name is Ali. Some know me as Alleycat. Some as Mama Gold, a name given to me during a Gold TV series that stayed with me. My close friends know me as Jessica, my middle name. Jessica is lighter, freer, more playful. Alison can be serious. Ali is warm, open, and less guarded.
For a long time, I didn’t believe my story mattered. I didn’t believe my voice mattered.
In 2025, I received harsh criticism from family about my visibility. It broke me more than I expected. I retreated for months into silence, into safety, into healing. I had to look myself in the mirror and ask myself whether being visible was worth the cost.
Letting Love In
What a journey we have walked, from when I met you and married you 32 years ago. Our life has become a deepening love story of family, of creativity, of design.
Reflections On A Momentous Year
This was an extraordinary year in many respects. Having just returned from a month in Australia and seeing our daughter so happy and fulfilled as a mother has been our greatest gift. Our grandson - we are biased i know - is utterly enchanting and so calm and peaceful.
Then to celebrate the Creative Stone and the Soul Voice Journey teams on Friday night was a milestone in my life. It symbolized a 27 journey as humble founders. It's been a roller coaster ride.
Butterfly Dreams
Five years ago, a shy young woman entered my life. I never realized how much our journey together could change the very nature of the work I do now and my why.
Five years ago, when I met Jean at a church in the inner city, I could see her remarkable talent as a graphic designer. And how much her creativity was not being given the wings it deserves, the wings it was meant for, the wings that were meant to fly.
The Jackets of our Lives
It was about five years ago, when I sat shyly at the dining room table of a well-known speaker named Nikki Bush, where she spoke about the jackets of her life and what they represented.
I had heard Nikki speak for the first time after her husband, Simon, had been brutally gunned down in their home in December 2017 in a home invasion.
Nikki stood in a church in Parktown, only 18 months after having lost her husband and told her story of the six seconds that changed her life. The same church where she had married her husband. The same church where her children had been christened.
