Eighteen months ago, Redi Thlabi gave me a simple piece of advice. I have been living it ever since.
When I left my job as an editor at a massive news organisation, I had no idea what would come next.
I was burnt out after years of covering politics while studying towards, and eventually graduating with, a master’s degree in journalism. I knew I needed a change. I just didn’t know what that change should look like.
So, on a rainy day in Johannesburg, I called Redi Thlabi.
By then, she had relocated to the United States. But long before that phone call, Redi had already been an inspiration to me, as she had been to so many young journalists.
She hosted mid-morning radio at a time when talk radio helped drive the country’s public conversation. I would listen to her interviews with politicians and other power brokers, in awe of the way she could interrogate an issue, connect the dots and articulate what so many of us were thinking but could not yet put into words.
After leaving talk radio, Redi went on to facilitate important conversations, study further and take her work to global stages.
When I called her, I needed help figuring out what to do with my own career.
Her advice was simple: “Do everything.”
And so I did.
I worked in television. I wrote for an international newsroom. I facilitated conversations, delivered keynote addresses, wrote a weekly column and started a digital news organisation.
I do not yet play on the same global stage that Redi does. But what I learnt from watching her, and from that one conversation, was the importance of rigour.
Redi is prepared. She is researched. She is articulate. She understands that having a platform is not enough. You must know what you are talking about, and you must be willing to stand by it.
She has also shown us what it means to remain principled while facing enormous attacks, particularly because of her position on Gaza.
She may not know it, but her bravery empowered me and many others who have faced severe online attacks not to retreat, soften the truth or give up.
Recently, Redi came to Johannesburg for an event where we were both speaking about social media manipulation and the online attacks faced by women in public life.
I invited her to visit us, at Debrief.
Partly, I wanted to show her what I affectionately call our “media spaza shop”. More importantly, I wanted to be reinfected with the audacity that our conversation 18 months earlier had injected into me.
There are very few South Africans who do not know who Redi is. But it is fascinating to hear her tell her own story, in her own words, and explain what continues to drive her.
Today, she speaks on global stages, sits in conversation with people such as Zohran Mamdani and advises international institutions on strategy. Journalism remains at the centre of what she does, but her work has expanded into something much bigger: helping people make sense of power, politics and the world around them.
Our conversation was fascinating, enriching and deeply affirming.
At one point, I tried to play devil’s advocate. I asked why she continued speaking so forcefully about Israel’s genocidal crimes, given the immense personal cost.
Her response was immediate.
“What? Are you joking? No!”
That moment says so much about Redi.
For her, the responsibility to tell the truth is not complicated simply because telling it comes at a cost. If anything, the cost makes the responsibility even clearer.
This episode is about Redi’s extraordinary journey, but it is also about courage, reinvention and the importance of doing work that remains anchored in principle.
I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did.
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