With more than 30 years in PR, Lisa Pellatt knows a thing or two about making connections. She’s worked in South Africa and the UK, with everyone from Woolworths and the Investec Cape Town Art Fair to Unilever and the England Rugby Football Union. Food, travel, entertainment and good causes have been thrown into the mix along the way.
In 2010, she started communications company Marvello and Mill, which, a decade or so later, evolved into Ten x Collective, the full-service communications agency she now heads. Built around the idea that connections create thriving collectives, Ten x works across PR, social media, content, events and strategy, particularly with brands and organisations that care as much about impact as they do business.
Pellatt, meanwhile, brings a sense of humour to the serious business of communications. She climbed Kilimanjaro despite being terrified of heights, once pretended to be Tori Amos after being mistaken for her and shares her home with two rescue dogs. We put our questions to her.
What’s the best book you’ve read in the last year, and why?
Most of my day job involves keeping tabs on the news, which, given the current state of affairs, can be a bit of a downer. So, when I read, it’s usually pure escapism, and I have to confess, I have a cookbook fetish. I devour them like fiction. I loved Tessa Kiros’s latest, Now & Then: A Collection of Recipes for Always (Jonathan Ball). It’s much more than a collection of recipes. It’s a beautiful reflection on food, memory, family and the places that have shaped her. Drawing on her South African childhood, travels and life in Italy, it’s the kind of book you want to cook from and simply spend time with.
How do you keep fit?
I’d love to call myself a runner and now that I’ve completed my first marathon this year, I think I officially can! Although, if I’m honest, it may be a case of one and done. I try to run with my club at least three times a week, as well as with friends … and I should probably think about picking up some weights in the near future too!
Weeknight low-key restaurant go-to?
Thaiyashi in Newlands, Cape Town, which serves a combination of Thai and Japanese food. Their wonton soup is an absolute go-to for me, as well as their sushi and Massaman curry. I also love sitting at their bar, enjoying a cosmopolitan on nights when I’m collecting takeaways. Glam, nè?
What is the one artwork you’ll always love, and why?
More than 20 years ago, I walked into an advertising agency for a meeting and along one wall was a series of huge artworks, each about 2m by 2m. One featured a pink stag’s head with the words “This road leads to Rainbowville, are you going my way?” — a slight variation on the song Going My Way by Bing Crosby.
I asked who had painted them and one of the young guys in the studio put his hand up. I immediately asked if I could buy it and it has been in my home ever since.
It’s signed by the artist, A Shear, but I honestly have no idea who he is or what he went on to do. It’s one of those pieces I instantly fell in love with and still love to this day.
Do you have a hobby?
I’m not sure you could call it a hobby, given that I work in the social media space in my day job, but I voluntarily create content for my local community garden, GRAPA Garden. I love being in the garden, especially early in the mornings and on market days, capturing the plants, fresh produce and everything happening there.
The one unusual item you can’t live without?
My hot-water bottle. I simply hate being cold!
Who was your high school celeb crush?
I was a major Brad Pitt fan and watched Legends of the Fall way too many times, but I’m also firmly Team Aniston, so that ended rather abruptly! Matthew McConaughey, John Cusack and Jason Bateman also made the list. The latter was more of a junior school than a high school crush. He’s definitely back on the radar now, though.
Three songs you’d take to a desert island?
Frank Sinatra’s Fly Me to the Moon. I first heard it in a movie and just loved it. I wish I could remember which one! It later became our wedding song, so it has a very special place in my heart.
Johnny Clegg’s Asimbonanga — nothing makes me feel more proudly African than hearing that song and picturing Madiba walking onto the stage with Clegg. That moment will forever give me goosebumps.
The Stone Roses’ I Am the Resurrection. As a ’90s girl at heart, I love indie, grunge and all those genres that defined the era, and this song just instantly gives me a happy heart. Plus, it has that extended instrumental outro, which almost feels like a second song. So, I’m extending my desert-island playlist to four songs instead of three!
