Joanne Mwangi-Yelbert is happy. Not the Instagram type that tries to persuade you of its users’ happiness, or, like Twitter, of their rightness. No. She just is.
What she also is is the founder CEO of Professional Marketing Service (PMS) Africa Group, former chair of the Federation of Women Entrepreneur Associations, and Kenya Tourism Board; and founder chair of Eastern Africa Women Entrepreneur Exchange Network.
She also received the Head of State Commendation for her work in support of the growth of women-owned and led enterprises adding to her glitzy career that deserved chef’s kiss.
Cooking is her love language, and she does it not just selflessly but also selfishly, making a mean fish dish as her signature meal.
Her father cooked for her, and her husband occasionally does; reflecting the ancient wisdom that maybe we actually marry our fathers.
She dishes herself up on a plate, about her dance routines and hopeless romanticism and grandchildren.
We are at the lounge area of the Mercure Hotel (formerly Crown Plaza), where the overhead speakers are playing some soul-sucking corporate pop; which is just as well because those who have followed her career can see an eerie familiarity where the blood and thunder is steadily giving way to a moderate breeze and the heavy metal is giving way to muzak.
Outside, the sky is falling and the clouds gather with the hangdog gloom of a man called in to work on his off day. It was a Nairobi afternoon, the kind you get if you’re in Nairobi, which we were.
Is there a shortcut to getting to where you are?
I think I have lived a long time so when you say that, it is because you are looking at it from the premise of how long I have lived. It is simply seizing opportunities and not being afraid. Daring.
What’s the most daring thing you’ve ever done?
Starting a business, because you have no guarantees it’s going to work, especially starting when you really need the money—with no fallback except family.
What did you know then that has helped you now?
I learned an important lesson about respect in my second job. I was working for a boss who used to cuss people. I hated it.
I decided I would never take that from anybody. When my turn came on the wringer, and he started cussing me out, I told him to shut up!
I thought I’d be fired the next day but I wasn’t and he never raised his voice at me again. I learned that I have my boundaries and it is my responsibility to make sure they are not broken.
What’s it like being you?
I was that daughter that wanted to impress the parents. It really mattered to me that I was doing good things.
We were many children so you had to find something to stand out in. It was deliberate for me to pass school because I wanted to impress my dad.
Joanne Mwangi-Yelbert is the CEO of Professional Marketing Service (PMS) Africa Group. FILE PHOTO | POOL
You are a daddy’s girl?
Sana (a lot). Shamelessly.
What do you think your father learned from you?
He wouldn’t know but I think he learned that girls could end up being the same as boys—the things I did with him fathers did them with their sons.
He learned to adapt to the new realities of girls and boys with equal opportunities. My father was a guy who would go to the kitchen.
Is there a special memory you share just with your father?
My dad was a dandy. He dressed like a mzungu (white man), in a suit and tie, with sparkling white shirts.
I have always liked when somebody makes an effort to look nice. I grew up seeing him cook for us.
For me, my idea of a special treat is when my dad would make us a sandwich to eat. It made me feel safe.
Even now, it's the same when my husband cooks. It’s a language I understand.
When you think of the weekend what food comes to mind?
It’s a throwback to childhood! It has to be French toast. I mentioned we were many children, but as long as we had two eggs and unga (flour), we were sorted.
My dad would make French toast with two loaves of bread and about four eggs. The man was a magician, I tell you!
Is cooking your love language?
You bet. It is also a relaxation technique. I am a great cook and I love hosting. I express my love for people and I understand it expressed through the sharing of food.
What’s your signature meal?
There is a fish treat that I make when people come to my house, they eat and insist on carrying the leftovers.
Have things in life turned out the way you expected?
No, better. Growing up I wanted to be a lawyer. My wildest dream was to be the Secretary General of the UN, to represent my country.
I grew up in an era where Africa's representation was crucial on the global stage.
I have achieved that through a different route: winning international awards, chairing international bodies. I have been fortunate, I used a longer path, but I still arrived.
How do you balance family and work?
I don’t think there is a balance. It always shifts, sometimes you give priorities to family, and other times the business.
If you have invested enough in the family, it is easier to neglect them kidogo (a little) to focus on the business.
My seasons of life are also different now that my children are grown. Now the balance is between me, my husband and maybe caring for my aging mother.
It is impossible to have balance, especially in your mid 30s when you have a family and the job is at its most demanding, the children are the neediest, the husband wants time with you, and you also want to enjoy life.
That season shifts and as you rise, you can delegate more and your children grow up becoming less needy and with your spouse, you understand each other when you have niches and quality time.
Is there a special treat you do just for yourself?
I dance a lot. I have a dance instructor who teaches me kizomba and bachata. I learned how to dance just for me. I read a lot and I also love nature, so I spend lots of time walking and smelling the air.
I like to go out at night and just stare at the moon. Bliss. But I read to lose myself in another world.
What’s that one thing that has stayed with you from a book?
I read so many books that they merge. If I were to pick one, it was Definition of Success which I can’t find anymore.
What I consider success is not what you consider success, I need my own definition. I can only be satisfied by my own definition. When I achieved my own successes in my 20s, I took time to clap for myself.
How often do you dance?
Twice a week. I also do rhumba.
Does dancing mean anything to you?
I dance because I love music. And it makes me happy, I love the fact that you get to move because lack of movement is an aging factor.
The more I move, the younger, and more energetic I feel.
Especially now with an empty nest...?
Yes, at first, you are lonely when you are used to having people around you. You have to learn to enjoy your solitude. I am alone, but not lonely.
Not that I don’t miss them, but I am happy to have people in doses. When I am with my husband it is enough.
Joanne Mwangi-Yelbert is the CEO of Professional Marketing Service (PMS) Africa Group. FILE PHOTO | POOL
What’s your favourite travel destination?
Malindi and Watamu.
You are a beach person?
Contrary haha! I love sceneries more, the mountains and animals. But Malindi and Watamu have my number.
Maybe it is because of their histories; the old churches there, those are the things that appeal to me.
What’s the dumbest thing you’ve spent money on?
Buying a pair of shoes that they said would make you walk like a model. They had the heels cut out. I couldn’t walk in those shoes haha! I tried but I kept falling haha!
Do you have an absurd thing or habit that you love?
Smelling the air.
In Nairobi?
Yes haha! Where I live there are places I can just stop and smell nature, there is just that je ne sais quoi (elusive pleasing quality) about the leaves, the grass, the flowers.
I also really cannot stand caterpillars but I also don’t want anyone to kill them. And chameleons. Cognitive dissonance 101.
What’s the soundtrack of your weekend?
[proceeds to sing] The emperor, the conqueror, the lion is here…zebu zebu hahah…right now that is the one [Game Changer by Mr Flavour].
Previously it was Buga o! [by Kizz Daniel] hahaha! It is an earworm and now anyone who reads this sentence can’t stop thinking about it.
‘The emperor, the conqueror, the champion, the lion is here haha…’
Are you on TikTok?
My team has been egging me to get on it but I am not ready. I am worried about creating content for content's sake.
Are you happy?
Yes, why? Okay, I am in a happy space. There are ups and downs, but right now I am happy because there is much to be grateful for, cognisant of the fact that you can have a lot but you are not aware. I am aware.
What’s your superpower?
My incredible ability to delegate.
As a CEO does your phone stop ringing?
My phone does not ring. It’s a fallacy because I also don’t pick it up. I pick up very few calls in a day. I made sure I have a competent team to deal with the big problems.
If a client calls, it is the client service manager who calls me to give them guidance. If there is a crisis the boss knows the client service manager, not me.
I realised if I want to hoard everything, I become incompetent because I never rest. If I am with you, you have my attention.
Lately, what have you become good at saying no to?
Things that please others and not me. For instance, if you invite me hiking and I am not into that, however much I love you, it’s a no.
I will support you but I will not jump through hoops and with no guilt.
What’s a weekend hack that you know?
Start off with a physical activity every Saturday morning.
Boiling down all your experiences in life, what is the one thing you know to be true?
Nothing lasts and everything changes. Change is to be embraced.
What are you changing about yourself?
I am trying to get myself to be less rigid on what I think should be vis-à-vis what is. To accept what is and be comfortable with it. And to allow people to be themselves.
Who do you know that I should know?
You should know my grandchildren. If anybody teaches me much, it is them.
They see the world differently, that the future is theirs. ‘Cucu you don’t know, let me show you!’ And they show you something you don’t know.
What’s it like being a grandmother?
Best feeling ever... all your life as a mother you have no script, you are experimenting. Your children grow and you wish you had done this, not that.
Your grandchildren are take-twos. You try to steal them but you fail but you still try. I want them to be immersed in tech, to be future-proof, and citizens of the world. Youth, eh?
