A former broadcast journalist who attended Rhodes University, Mandy de Waal spent twenty years in the corridors of greed before returning to her first love, writing. de Waal currently works as a freelance writer and journalist.
de Waal currently writes for Daily Maverick, iMaverick and Mail & Guardian. She has written for City Press, Rapport, Moneyweb, Noseweek; Brainstorm Magazine; ITWeb, Mark Magazine, MarkLives, Brandchannel in New York and Canvas8 in London.
de Waal currently consults to the Ornico group of companies and sits on its advisory board.
When she owned a brand agency or was a spin doctor, de Waal counselled blue chips like ABSA, Acceleration, BT, Consology, Gold Reef City, Heinz, Microsoft, Mosaic Software, Motorola, Nashua Mobile, Nestle, Shoprite Checkers and The South African Post Office. Her awards include the Text 100 Chairman’s Award, Planet Text Award and the Financial Mail PRISM award.
Some milestones along the way:
• de Waal brought The Forgiveness Project to South Africa by hosting Jozi’s first Forgiveness Festival. TFP is an international organisation founded by Marina Cantacuzino with help from the late Dame Anita Roddick, and aims to build a future free of conflict and violence by healing the wounds of the past. Archbishop Desmond Tutu is the project patron, while supporters include Dame Helen Mirren, the late Terry Waite and Annie Lennox. The project is funded by (amongst others) Gordon Ramsay, The Roddick Foundation, Findhorn Foundation and The Body Shop Foundation.
• Helped found innovationTOWN a national campaign to promote innovation in South Africa with CIDA City Campus and the amazing Dr Taddy Blecher.
• Helped found the Digital Media Faculty at The Maharishi Institute of Management (a free university founded by Taddy Blecher, and endorsed by international icons such as Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, Richard Branson and the Dalai Lama).
• Helped publish Value through Values, her friend and mentor Jerry Schuitema’s remarkable book about the value of service and how to end economies and societies predicated on greed and corruption.
• Helped pioneer the South African ‘Media Image Survey’ with MediaTenor, the country’s first comprehensive study of media coverage attracted by JSE-listed companies.
• Founded leading brand and reputations consultancy Idea Engineers, taking it from a start-up to a multi-million rand business counselling South Africa’s top brands.
• Led the local chapter of the technology specialist communications firm Text 100, winning local and global awards for the work she did in the field of high-tech communications.
• Helped launch many of South Africa’s first internet businesses including M-Web and 24.com.
• Helped launch and market South African local to global success stories including online payment giant Mosaic Software - now S1 Corporation (Nasdaq: SONE) and online marketing technology experts Acceleration.
de Waal has interest in challenging writing assignments. You can make contact with Mandy de Waal by emailing her at mandyldewaal [at] gmail.com. You can call her on 082 557 9190.
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