Thabo Leshilo joins Fleishman-Hillard, Plascon appoints Lauren Shantall

Thabo Leshilo

Top journo at agency

Leshilo has held several key editorial positions during his career, including transport editor, news editor, night editor and assistant editor at Business Report. He is a past winner of the Sanlam Business Journalist of the Year Award - in the small business and RDP section.

Leshilo edited Pretoria News, Sunday World in 2002, Business Times and Sowetan. He is credited with the successful re-launch of Sowetan in 2004, which had suffered a huge loss in circulation.

He was awarded the Nieman Fellow in Journalism at Harvard for 2008/9. On his return from Harvard, he was appointed the first public editor of Avusa Media's eight newspapers.

Leshilo has served on the board of the SA Press Association and is a board member of the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism. He has a Bachelor of Administration degree from the University of Limpopo.

"Being locally relevant"

"While Fleishman-Hillard is one of the few global agencies having invested in South Africa we believe very firmly in being locally relevant. To this end, we could not wish for someone with better local business and media understanding. He is well-placed to strategically advise our portfolio of blue chip clients," says Kevin Welman, managing director of Fleishman-Hillard South Africa.

Leshilo joined Magna Carta at the beginning of 2011 as CEO reporting directly to Annemarie McKay Ichikowitz as executive director and founding member of the agency. He worked there for an eight-month period and in October 2011 made the decision to pursue other interests. According to Ichikowitz, now the CEO, Leshilo made a positive contribution to the company by bringing his extensive media experience into the agency environment.

Passion for design

Lauren Shantall

Shantall's strong flair for design, a passion for creative arts and decor and determination are central themes that have run concurrently throughout her career. Here experience at the Free World Design Centre, coupled with her time as a working journalist and editor will prove invaluable in her new position.

She has a BA degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and a suma-cum-laude honours degree in English from the University of Cape Town. As editor of Design Indaba magazine, she was awarded the Communication Arts Award (USA).

Her work for the national annual Design Indaba Expo represents a major stepping-stone in her career path. Combining her creative talent and her project management skills, Shantall turned a once poorly attended show, with just a splattering of exhibitors, that ran at a loss, into one of the most prestigious design shows in South Africa.

"In less than two years, the exhibitor base, audience and floor size of the expo tripled," says Shantall.

Two PICA awards

More recently, Shantall was deputy editor of Elle Decoration, which received an Avusa company award for her having started and driven the Elle Decoration website and blog. In addition, Elle Decoration received two PICA awards under her guidance.

Two years ago, Shantall left the publishing world to take on the challenge of heading up South Africa's first trade-orientated design centre - Plascon's Freeworld Design Centre, recently voted as "Best Design Concept" in Cape Town by House & Leisure magazine.

"It provides a decor consultation and 3D rendering service for architects, interior designers and decorators, property developers and owners," says Shantall. "It's a great space which draws a wide range of different people who all have one thing in common - a passion for decor and design and a love of colours and textures.

"Letting go of the centre to take on this broader and more strategic role at Plascon was easier said than done. This has been my pet project for the past two years."