Having shaped some of the world’s most powerful and best-known brands, Dr Mzamo Masito (PhD) balances extensive boardroom experience with human-centred insights. One of the panellists at the 2025 Vastly Sage Uplifting Brunch, he’ll be offering a refreshing male perspective on leadership and personal development. We asked Dr Mzamo to reflect on the people, experiences, and ideas that have shaped the leader he has become.
YLA: Who do you find most uplifting in your life?
Dr Mzamo: My mom is my role model. Every time I think about transcending things or giving up, I remember that I have a walking example of someone who persevered. She became pregnant as a teenager and was a domestic worker for close to 20 years. Then, in her 40s, she decided to finish high school and went on to earn an honours degree and qualify as a social worker. She is my living and breathing motivational textbook.
YLA: What’s an important lesson you’ve learnt in the past year?
Dr Mzamo: Gender equality is not a zero-sum game. What I mean by that is that as a society, when we talk about women’s equality and closing the gender gap, we make it binary. It shouldn’t be women or men, but women and men. Boys are increasingly falling behind. As a society, we need dialectical behavioural therapy that allows the idea that we can care for girls and boys. It is okay to address both needs and both gaps.
YLA: How did you move forward with confidence to get where you are today?
Dr Mzamo: I learnt to accept uncertainty and fear because they make me human. For me, confidence is not the absence of doubt or fear. I actually see those emotions as amazing things to have because they serve as signals. They tell me where and to what I need to pay attention. As long as they don’t lead me to faint, freeze or flee, I’ve always welcomed these emotions and thoughts.
YLA: What’s a major transformation or change that you’ve undergone?
Dr Mzamo: For me, it has been transcending poverty. Poverty is strong. Poverty is painful. The data against people born poor is very bad. It’s bad for neurological development. It’s bad for educational outcomes. If you can transcend an environment where the odds were stacked against you, it’s significant. I grew up in poverty and had an absent father. So, overcoming all that to be the person I am now is a major transformation.
YLA: What’s your current favourite luxury or indulgence?
Dr Mzamo: I love chocolate cake. I’m fully addicted to anything that has dark chocolate. I would never go on a diet that excluded chocolate, no matter if a dietitian told me to stay away — I just wouldn’t listen. Some people link their craving to stress or sadness, but not me. If I’m happy, I want chocolate cake. If I’m sad, I want chocolate cake. It’s a vice — and such a strong one — that I have to try and distance myself from chocolate. If there’s a really well-made chocolate cake in the house, I can be sleeping, and if I remember it’s in the house, I’ll wake up and go eat it!
Sold-Out Event
The 6th annual Vastly Sage Uplifting Brunch takes place on 22 November 2025. Tickets for this year are, however, sold out. To secure your place next year, purchase your 2026 tickets online at vastlysage.com and mark the date in your calendar.
