Blogs & Insights From Mama Gold
The Legacy of a Shameless Life
What Dolly Parton Taught Me About Shame, Dignity and the Courage to Be Seen
This past Friday night, I poured myself a steaming hot Epsom salts bath after an intense week and suffused myself in the haunting ballads of Dolly Parton in the week of her momentous passing.
You see, growing up, I had identified so strongly with the haunting sounds and lyrics of Jolene. It had become part of my life script in some ways.
Women’s Day 2026
This Women's Day was incredibly poignant for me. I got to celebrate, along with my sisters, Keeya Mofokeng and Jean Zandile Mahlangu, the courage of a young writer living in Alex, who finally got the chance to tell her story - a story that was brave and true, and a story that is often hidden under the polite constraints of society across all spectrums.
A conversation that is often hidden, particularly in environments where therapy is regarded as strange and confusing.
For Lorreine Noko Lebeko to tell her story, a story that is often steeped in secrecy, was brave.
She finally got the opportunity, after six long years, to tell the story in a global book on Resilience, writing about how she battled severe anxiety and depression following the birth of her children, and having to seek out therapy, a therapy that saved her in so many ways. And in doing so, it birthed her courage to tell her story.
I was honoured to speak and I spoke about courage. The courage of 20,000 women to march 70 years ago against traumatic and incomprehensible pass laws.
To stand in silence for 30 minutes.
What If ?
Every now and then, in this journey of life, you meet a weekend where it meets you in the evolution of your story and the deepening of your messaging.
This past weekend was life altering, and I do not say that lightly. From the moment I entered the balmy, warm energy of Natal at the PSASA (Professional Speakers Association of South Africa) Annual Convention, I was gifted an immersion I never foresaw, quite in the way it landed.
Passages And Pages
When approval becomes an addiction, we remain enmeshed in a constant need to prove ourselves.
And it is never enough.
Never.
It becomes another self-fulfilling prophecy.
Significance lies somewhere deeper. It's raw and honest and deeply confronting.
Peace is the path I am choosing now. It requires a different form of courage.
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.
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.
