Woman & Home South Africa

a brave new you!

'It's heartening to know you're part of a group of like-minded women who are sharing similar experiences' There's no doubt about it – these are difficult times. With uncertainty filling the news, and our time-pressured lives demanding more and more of us, it's easy to see why issues like anxiety and burnout are escalating. But women are resilient and, historically, have rallied, finding impressive new ways to get through challenges. At w&h we strive to be positive and uplifting, but we also share the stories and journeys of women who've gone through some pretty tough experiences. I've lost count of the number of readers who've told me how, when they were feeling overwhelmed by a situation, they read in w&h about someone who overcame something similar, which helped them figure out…

meet our contributors

On page 40, comedian KURT SCHOONRAAD shares his passions, hobbies and memories. ✢ Winter’s day pick-me-up? We have a fireplace at home, with one of those magical FatSak beanbags in front of it. Need I say more? ✢ This season, I’m reading... Yuval Noah Harari’s 21 Lessons for the 21st Century. ✢ My favourite winter memory is... being 10 years old, watching the rain outside through the window, while listening to Riders on the Storm by The Doors and eating fish paste on toast. Our finance expert, ANGELIQUE RUZICKA, helps us manage our money on page 100. ✢ Winter’s day pick-me-up? I’d like to say it’s a lie-in, but as a mom to two energetic little boys, when they’re up (so early!), I’m up, too. ✢ Your biggest winter indulgence? Glühwein! The spicy aroma and taste…

woman & home south africa

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR FRITH THOMAS MANAGING EDITOR Stacey Love DESIGN ART DIRECTOR Jody Scott DESIGN FREELANCER Kewin Esof PRODUCTION SENIOR SUB-EDITOR Jenna Grenfell JUNIOR SUB-EDITOR India Gonçalves HOMES AND FOOD FOOD AND DECOR EDITOR Claire Badenhorst FASHION FASHION ASSISTANT Tiamara Naidoo BEAUTY BEAUTY EDITOR Martinique Stevens FEATURES AND HEALTH FEATURES EDITOR Stephanie van der Plank FEATURES WRITER Savanna Douglas FEATURES WRITER Marike Watson HEALTH WRITER Belinda dos Santos ONLINE DIGITAL MEDIA STRATEGIST Aqsa Qureshi DIGITAL EDITOR Michelle Nortje GENERAL MANAGER Anton Botes WOMAN & HOME INTERNATIONAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Kath Brown INTERNATIONAL CREATIVE DIRECTOR Dave Dowding HEAD OF INSIGHTS Debbie McIntyre MAGAZINE MARKETING MANAGER Reinhard Lotz MARKETING AND PROMOTIONS Francis Germishuys e-mail francisg@caxton.co.za…

the older i get, the more fulfilling life becomes

There’s no stopping Julianne Moore. Successful, smart and sensationally beautiful at 58, she’s one of those rare actresses whose career has gained momentum past 40. The Academy Award-winning star – for Still Alice – is busier today than at any other point in her career. This year alone, she has three films slated for release, including a biopic on the life of feminist trailblazer Gloria Steinem. This month, though, she stars as a different Gloria: the carefree divorcee in Sebastián Lelio’s latest romantic drama, Gloria Bell . Julianne lives in New York with her husband Bart Freundlich, a film director, and their daughter Liv, 17. Their son Caleb, 21, is at college in North Carolina. Growing up, I wanted to be a librarian. I was a typical nerd with thick glasses…

why you need to stop multitasking!

We women pride ourselves on our ability to juggle. It’s what we do. We’ve honed our multitasking muscles through years of keeping all those balls in the air. When was the last time you cooked dinner without breaking off to check on your kids’ homework? Even when we’re watching TV, we use this time to catch up on social media. It’s all water off a duck’s back to us, this constant flipping back and forth. But at what cost? We’ve been led to believe juggling is the most efficient way to manage the multiple strands of our lives. But experts now claim that, far from being the ultimate weapon in the arsenal of the overstretched, multitasking is adding to our anxiety, and making us less efficient. “Multitasking is exhausting,” says psychologist Tony…

mother knows best

My friend Samantha is in her thirties, with two gorgeous little girls. Like most women of her generation, Sam has a job outside the home. It’s not really a choice. Not if she and her husband Matt want to keep up with the bond payments on their house. The other morning, a stressed-out Sam told me she’d been thinking of decreasing her working hours so she could spend more time with her three-year-old. Olivia had been very clingy to her mommy lately and screamed when she was dropped at crèche at 8.15am. “In the end, I decided not to take Fridays off,” Sam reported ruefully. “But why?” I asked gently. “If you think Olivia needs more of your time, you should listen to that instinct.” “I know Olivia wants more of my…