About Mandi
A name that belongs to all of us.
The Name
Mandi is the common thread that runs through us all.
In Afrikaans, it is a short form of Amanda. In isiXhosa, it is drawn from Mandisa. Different languages, different communities, different lived experiences, and yet here we are, the same women, navigating the same bodies, deserving the same care.
We chose a name beginning with M to anchor this project in Menopause, the life stage that sparked this mission. But Mandi was always meant to grow beyond that first chapter. Because hormonal health does not begin and end with menopause. It is a lifelong journey, and every woman deserves a trusted companion for the entirety of it.
Mandi is that companion, a place to understand what your body is saying, in the language you feel most at home in.
Where This Began
This platform was born from a personal story.
In my late 40s, I mentioned heart palpitations to two older colleagues over lunch. One immediately suggested I see a heart specialist. The other said it was just part of getting older. Neither mentioned menopause. Neither mentioned that heart palpitations are one of the many recognised symptoms of hormonal change. I had no idea.
Soon thereafter I moved to Cape Town at the age of 50, ready for exciting new adventures. Instead, I ended up in hospital with a severe kidney infection caused by a bladder infection. I saw a urologist. My GP. A gynaecologist. Not one of them asked whether I was on HRT. Not one of them connected my recurring infections to my hormones, even though research keeps pointing to that link. They treated my symptoms, not the cause.
I endured years of joint pain, brain fog, mood swings, UTIs, painful sex, hot flushes, dry eyes, and many more symptoms.
Then I went online. I found Dr Louise Newson. Dr Mary Claire Haver. Dr Lisa Mosconi. And many more. I started telling all my friends to find help. My husband calls me a menopause evangelist.
“Once you know better, you can do better.”
— Maya Angelou
This motivated me to pitch a documentary series to kykNET called Meer As Warm Gloede, a four-part documentary series launching in August 2026. It breaks the silence around menopause in Afrikaans-speaking communities, tells real stories from real women, and gives viewers the knowledge and confidence to take their health into their own hands.
The documentary opened doors. More research led me to discover MIDI in the United States, a platform that has recently achieved unicorn status, serving hundreds of thousands of women across all 50 states. That realisation set something in motion.
I am now embarking on this journey with some incredible women to build our own South African equivalent: JoinMandi.com.
The Vision
JoinMandi.com is more than a website. It is a movement.
It is the belief that every South African woman, in Parow or Polokwane, in Soweto or Stellenbosch, whether she speaks Afrikaans, isiZulu, isiXhosa, or any of the other languages that make this country extraordinary, deserves to understand what is happening in her own body, in a language that feels like home.
South Africa has twelve official languages. Most digital health platforms offer one: English. We can do so much better. Mandi is built to grow with the country, into every community where women have been left without informed answers and proper medical care.
No woman should feel alone, uninformed, or unsupported during menopause and beyond.
A project from The Yolk! · MrsKing Productions
The Mandi Blanket
The central visual metaphor for Mandi is a quilt, a blanket made of different fabrics, different textures, different traditions, stitched together into something whole, warm, and beautiful. Just like Mandi. Just like South Africa.
Ready to begin your journey?
Menopause understood, not endured. Intentional, destigmatised women's health, in your language, with an African voice.
Start your blanket →