It might be stating the obvious when I say Jo-Ann Strauss is the walking, talking — and now ballet-dancing — embodiment of grace.
I have long suspected this fact as I watched her, bedecked in crowns and ball gowns, weaving her magic on our screens and at the social events we have air-kissed at.
Strauss seems to have been born with innate poise and personal warmth, as well as the ability to articulate her well-calibrated thoughts perfectly, as though everything emerging from her mouth was destined for soundbite immortality.
And so it proves to be on closer inspection over lunch. It’s her birthday weekend, and she is taking it very seriously and systematically. First up was an adult ballet class (she is picking up her childhood passion after circumstances forced her to stop as a young girl), then she went on to a padel game, and now she is lunching with me at the Mount Nelson’s Oasis restaurant, which overlooks the hotel’s glorious gardens and idyllic swimming pool. She is, I am happy to report, exactly as unflappable and charming as you might also have imagined her to be.
In her voluminous bag, which contains all her many activity accessories, she is also carrying a Dan Brown tome — in anticipation of taking her place on a pool lounger with a birthday libation before her four children and surgeon husband join her at the hotel for a frolic and sleepover.
On the second day of her birthday weekend, she is emceeing the launch of the Thebe Magugu suite at the iconic Cape Town hotel. It is this intersection of culturally inflected creative output and the art world that has increasingly become Jo-Ann’s great passion and focus. She is a non-executive director on the advisory board of Strauss & Co Fine Art Auctioneers (no relation) and is recording the third season of her podcast, Audacity.
Taking part in Miss South Africa afforded me an opportunity I wouldn’t otherwise have had. It was a way for me to go in the direction I wanted to go in and accelerate my path when I needed to do that. I think it’s for these reasons that beauty pageants tend to do better in developing countries.
“Everything I do is self-funded, because I want the independence. My podcast is called Audacity because it’s about the audacity of speaking about art without having a formal training in it. I used to think art was an exclusive thing for people who had money. I didn’t understand the huge impact art can have on our society.”
It’s a spectacular day in the Mother City, and Jo-Ann is telling me about her childhood.
“I come from a very different background. I was raised in Blackheath, and I know some of the staff here, as we grew up as kids together there. My parents were from Elsies River and Ravensmead, but they moved to Blackheath. Until I was four, we lived in the servants’ quarters of a house in Vanguard Estate, alongside Jakes Gerwel Drive. Ironically I then ended up serving on a board with Jakes Gerwel some years later, so it’s like the universe conspired in that regard.”
She was accepted at a model C school and had to spend two hours a day commuting there and back. She became the school’s first head girl of colour and was on her way to medical school when a public-speaking engagement at a conference for young leaders took her on a different path.
Someone who had watched her at the event suggested that, before committing to medical school, she should study something more general to explore her manifest and manifold talents.
She was studying towards a BCom in law at Stellenbosch when she entered Miss South Africa. I ask her why she made this move. “I wanted a car and world peace,” she quips. We both acknowledge that wish is uncomfortably relevant at the present time.
She won’t be drawn on what it was like to meet Donald Trump, who owned Miss Universe the year she competed in the pageant in Puerto Rico, and in the fullness of time she returned to South Africa to complete her degree.
I wonder if she would encourage young women to enter a beauty pageant today. “It’s a difficult question, because not everybody has the same opportunities. Taking part in Miss South Africa afforded me an opportunity I wouldn’t otherwise have had. It was a way for me to go in the direction I wanted to go in and accelerate my path when I needed to do that. I think it’s for these reasons that beauty pageants tend to do better in developing countries. People look down on them, but they are really just brand-ambassadorship interviews. And if I look at the opportunities being a beauty pageant winner afforded me and the experiences I had, I can see it was well worth it.
“I’ve started my foundation, which I am launching on February 14. It aims to make art more accessible to everyone and create spaces for conversation. Art is a conversation-starter — it’s an opportunity for us to speak out, share our experiences, relate our different perspectives, and listen to other people’s stories. I love the curatorial theme of the Cape Town Art Fair, and that’s why this year I’ve got my booth there, where I will record my podcast. It’s all about accessibility.”
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