Shades & Layers
Shades and Layers is a storytelling platform celebrating Black women and women of colour who are building something of their own — on the African continent and across the diaspora.
The podcast launched in 2020 and is now more than 100 episodes strong. In 2025, the show was nominated for Best Long-Time Podcast at the Black Podcasting Awards.
In each conversation, host Kutloano Skosana sits down with founders to explore business ownership, representation, and what sustainability and success really mean in a complex, interconnected world. The conversations are wide-ranging — part masterclass in entrepreneurship, part wisdom for living well — and always a space for women to be fully human: to share the quirks, the doubts, and the vulnerabilities behind the highlight reel.
These days, Shades and Layers is two things woven together. Alongside the podcast, Kutloano — now exploring a new chapter of her own in Italy — sends Life Notes: honest monthly letters on identity, motherhood, reinvention, and the business of building a life.
Shades and Layers’ founding philosophy is: a story well told can change your life, you don't need big accolades for your entrepreneurial journey to matter.
The guests span beauty, fashion, and wellness, North and South: Dr. Theo Mothoa-Frendo on building a science-based African skincare range with USO; Taryn Gill of The Perfect Hair on supply chains and brand-building; Katonya Breux of Unsun Cosmetics on melanin and sunscreen for every skin tone; Abiola Akanni of IYA Well on non-performance in yoga; and designers like the late Maria McCloy of her eponymous fashion label, Nkuli Mlangeni-Berg of The Ninevites, and Candace Lawrence of Modern Gesture, championing handmade, custom, and circular production.
Whether you're here to listen, to read, or to build something of your own — welcome to the circle.
Shades & Layers
Hashtag McCloying with Maria McCloy (S6, E1)
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Welcome to Season 6!
Shades and Layers is here with a brand new season, featuring fashion and textile designers, as well as other black women crafters and makers shaping culture across the world. In between there will be episodes from beauty, hair and personal care entrepreneurs.
The first guest for the season is South Africa's quintessential multi-hyphenate, Maria McCloy. She and I are former business partners and our friendship dates way back to university days. In this conversation, we discuss her path to being a designer of iconic African-influenced fashion essentials in her hometown, Johannesburg. How she juggles fashion with being a sought after entertainment industry publicist and filling dance floors with her choice of vintage and modern African tunes when she deejays.
We discuss many culture related topics like wax print being synonymous with African fashion, cultural appropriation, infrastructure limitations and opportunities, and the many other dynamics that influence the trajectory of the cultural industries of the African continent.
It's a conversation of the ages and not to be missed.
MENTIONS AND LINKS IN THIS EPISODE
Black Rage Productions - co-founded by Dzino, Maria McCloy and Kutloano Skosana in the late 90s, they documented South Africa's urban culture through television shows, an online magazine and through the independent record label, Outrageous Records.
As a publicist, Maria McCloy represents many clients in the cultural space, including legendary South African musicians Thandiswa Mazwai , Nakhane, and Ladysmith Black Mambazo, as well as Zimbabwean artist and activist Kudzanai Chiurai.
South African media heavyweights Tim Horwood and Sylvester Chauke
Maria McCloy's Tedx Talk
South African veteran fashion designers, Marianne Fassler, Ephraim Molingoana, David Tlale and Thula Sindi
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