One of the newest players in the luxury media space, YourLuxury Africa, has announced the appointment of Ntokozo Maseko as editor of this multi-media platform.Until recently the Head of Content for Africa’s longest running contemporary African art fair, FNB Art Joburg, Ntokozo was previously the editor of heritage title BONA and Bloss Africa magazine. Ntokozo, an alumni of Mail & Guardian’s 200 Young South Africans list, has also worked in the world of luxury brand communications, including global cosmetics brand MAC, G.H. Mumm, Martell, Italian Gin Malfy and local luxury gin brand Inverroche.
At YourLuxury Africa, Ntokozo will head up content across the magazine’s monthly print edition, the website yourluxury.africa, the platform’s social media channels as well as showcasing the world of luxury through the brand’s events platform, the YLA Lounge.
Ntokozo says her vision for Your Luxury Africa stems from an interest in depicting what a contemporary Africa looks like in 2023 and beyond and, most importantly, to tell that story from an African perspective. “Africa’s luxury credentials can be traced back thousands of years, if not more, to the era of economically powerful rulers and dynasties that dominated in the trade of fine goods (which we now know as luxury products) and the export of highly refined expressions of culture in literature, textiles, sculpture etc. I want my time at Your Luxury Africa to perfectly capture our continued legacy of creative prowess in real-time. By featuring and celebrating the moves and shifts Africans make in all aspects of luxury, the stories we tell ensure that our influence continues to reverberate across the world. I want the way we live and savour the best of life in these current times to be a well archived and un-erasable future testament preserved on the pages of Your Luxury Africa.”
Jacquie Myburgh Chemaly, editorial director of YourLuxury Africa, said Ntokozo’s appointment was an exciting next step for the media platform: “We are delighted to have someone with Ntokozo’s experience and vision at the helm of our new luxury media platform. She brings with her a wealth of knowledge and media savvy and the team looks forward to bringing to life her vision for luxury media on the continent of Africa.”
YourLuxury Africa Managing Director Yvonne Shaff welcomed Ntokozo, saying that, globally, the world of media was going through massive changes and as a new media player, YourLuxury Africa was perfectly poised to showcase a contemporary way of thinking. “With an editor of Ntokozo’s calibre at the helm, YourLuxury Africa looks forward to taking our readers and commercial partners on this journey into a new world of luxury media.”
IN HER OWN WORDS: NTOKOZO MASEKO ON THE EVOLVING WORLD OF MEDIA
As an 80s baby, I’m part of a unique sect of millennials some are calling ‘the bridge’ because we’ve lived through several critical shifts in political, societal, cultural and most memorably technological advances. We have seen the world move from using floppy disks, to USBs to the cloud in one lifetime, so bridge millennials are fluent in change and quite invigorated by it. Media has taken me on a similar journey since my first taste over 15 years ago and I’m optimistic about the changes that have occurred over the years.
I grew up at the peak of American and Western influence dominating the media landscape in South Africa and now I get to not only consume but also produce content that is uniquely inspired by our own lived reality and that’s incredibly exciting.
I’m also excited by the changes taking place in the world of publishing that make it a much more diverse space where smaller players can enter the field of play and thrive, particularly in the digital sphere. I believe the more voices there are, the richer the experience for readers. Africa is primed to take charge of the world’s increasing gaze on us by owning how our narrative is depicted and the media most certainly will continue to play a pivotal role in recording this shift in the zeitgeist as it happens. I’m excited to be a part of that.
WHAT DOES THE NAME YOUR LUXURY MEAN TO YOU?
I’m ignited by the “YOUR” in YourLuxury Africa. That’s the nerve centre of luxury in the 21st century; ownership and having agency over what you consume and how. The future of African luxury being tailored for us and by us is an exciting prospect for me.
ON THE EVOLUTION OF LUXURY IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Luxury remains informed by the economic realities of the times and the changing tastes and needs of consumers. In our post COVID-19 reality, I believe luxury has become less a matter of smack-in-your-face consumerism and more of a hyper personalised expression of comfort and relief. Things like time and the freedom to allocate it for relaxation and enjoyment as well as health that goes beyond the physical body have become as important in experiencing luxury as anything money can buy. Luxury now is hyper personalised and experiencing a much needed conscious awakening as brands are increasingly compelled to consider the wider reality of climate change, carbon footprint and other aspects of sustainability. Luxury is evolving by virtue of having to be more considerate and considerate because in this economic climate people are far more particular about value and how luxury makes life more liveable in small and large ways.
ON AFRICAN LUXURY
Our continent is the undefeated champion of birthing ingenuity and where colonialism normalised the act of exporting our genius, our originality and refined eye for beauty without crediting the source, this generation is on a restorative mission. Much of what is changing now in the luxury conversation is the cutting out of the middle man, we are rightfully labelling our impeccable legacy of invention and creativity with the names of the original makers. We have a big challenge ahead to reclaim the value chain of luxury goods production on home soil but the days of Africa ghostwriting and prototyping luxury for the world to package without us are fading fast. We have always had something unique to show and must be bold in reclaiming our seat at the global table.
WHAT IS YOUR PERSONAL CONCEPT OF LUXURY?
My idea of luxury is the ability to personalise and tailor. Whether it’s a hair style, a piece of jewellery or selecting car specs, the freedom to make something more intuitive to my tastes is a high form of luxury for me. We’re moving towards a not so distant future where vintage Magugu will hold its weight right next to vintage Dior, so owning something like that, that can tell a story over time without fading in quality is also luxury to me. I didn’t grow up in a family with tangible heirlooms, I want my children and future generations of my family to own remnants of history that I personally lived to witness and managed to preserve for them. Lastly, owning even the smallest slice of time that I can speed up or slow down at will is an exceptional experience of luxury for me.