Vanessa Valkin has been an accomplished journalist and editor for over 20 years.
She worked as a corporate news reporter for the Financial Times’ New York City bureau and was previously the Executive Editor of Lifestyles Magazine.
Vanessa landed the first exclusive cover interview in North America for Lifestyles Magazine with Elon Musk early on in the entrepreneur’s colorful career.
After re-locating to South Africa, she served with distinction as the Editor of one of South Africa’s most respected national newspapers.
Vanessa has also had a successful career in philanthropic work.
She works tirelessly on behalf of renown institutions of higher learning.
Upon relocating to South Africa with her family in 2012, she successfully ran an important Community Educational Foundation, raising funds for children to enable them to attend quality schools who otherwise could not afford to.
Vanessa earned an Honors degree in Clinical Psychology from the University of Witwatersrand—a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg—more commonly known as University or Wits.
She also earned an MA in Journalism from Northwestern University in Chicago.
Vanessa currently lives in beautiful Cape Town South Africa where she writes books and she is representing Lifestyles Magazine/Meaningful Influence.
She is currently focusing for Lifestyles Magazine/Meaningful Influence on the philosophy of ‘ubuntu’, the African concept of giving and caring for your neighbor and other members of one’s community.
This selfless and compassionate quality is part of the age-old African culture and expresses the core value of humanity as goodness to fellow humans. The act of giving back has been and still is an integral part of one’s moral duty and collective responsibility. It is a concept that has held African families and communities together for generations, despite the continent’s many challenges.