Some women opt for ‘sensible’ when they’re packing their travel bags. Not Katie Mohamed, CEO of BrandFusion and founder of the W-Suite. She’ll always go for glamour.
That’s not surprising, given that she lives by the mantra, “Try to be the best version of yourself every day.”
Katie’s best version is impressive, indeed: She may have grown up in the small KZN town of Richmond, but she is very much a citizen of the world.
This isn’t by accident – although she’s the first to admit that much of her career success came about through serendipity. “When you come from a small town, the city is endlessly seductive. I felt like I had spent much of my early life being put in a box, and as soon as I turned 26 and got divorced, I was no longer content to stay inside that box,” Katie says. She moved to Durban, where she got her first taste of the media industry and she so loved working as a broadcaster on a local radio show.
From there, Joburg beckoned. In love with the idea of being financially independent, Katie took on a job in sales and marketing at the SABC. It was a heyday for the industry, and she lost no time making the most of everything this thrilling world had to offer. Soon, she had distinguished herself as a top performer in her field – but why stay there when you can dazzle in other areas? That’s the philosophy that saw her move into production. “I’d been privileged to work on some really big projects, like the FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup, and I felt like I’d peaked in that part of my career. I needed something new,” she explains.
That’s how the door opened to becoming host on the TV show No Reservations, then producing and hosting Food With Friends – until she started BrandFusion, leveraging all her skills to offer integrated marketing services.
Her dynamic career has given Katie plenty of opportunities to explore the world – and she’s made the most of them. Starting with her very first overseas trip to New Orleans (which she won through her achievements at MTN), to this year, when she’s collected an enviable number of stamps in her passport, she gets something out of every country she visits. “My trip to Palestine was wonderfully spiritual; while I remember my times in New York for their endless energy,” she says.
Her favourite thing about travel? “It makes you realise that the world is so much bigger than yourself,” Katie muses. “I think that, as you get older, travel becomes even more of an experience because you’re happy to take time. I like just standing in front of the Mona Lisa, wondering about the magic and mystery of her smile, or looking at the White House and thinking of all the history that resides there. It takes you back in the continuum of time.”
Katie’s tips for the perfect trip
- Practice patience. If you’re travelling on a budget, there’s no such thing as VIP treatment – you’re exactly the same as everyone else who is waiting for the plane or trying to make sense of the language.
- Do your research. When you’ve read up on a country’s customs and cultures, it becomes easier to understand why they do things a certain way, and therefore easier to tolerate the differences between your worlds.
- I love being intentional about my outfits when I travel. I plan every outfit and my style often turns into a conversation starter.
- Travel with gentleness, with optimistic energy and without trepidation.
Text: LISA WITEPSKI • Photo: MEGAN BRETT • Location: ARBOUR Café & COURTYARD, www.arbourcafe.co.za
