Behind every successful fashion brand is a team of people figuring out more than what to sell. They are deciding how a brand speaks, who it speaks to, what it makes people feel and, increasingly, how it becomes part of their everyday lives.
For Konaye Dlatu, that work sits at the intersection of strategy, storytelling and human connection.
Born and raised in South Africa’s Eastern Cape, Dlatu has built a career across social media strategy, influencer management and brand experiences, working behind the scenes with fashion and lifestyle brands including AYANA, Refinery, Refinery Junior and OSMO.
Her work spans PR and influencer strategy, creator partnerships, copywriting, brand experiences and creative campaigns. It is a role that requires her to move between different worlds, understanding what makes each brand distinct while figuring out how to make those identities resonate with the people they are trying to reach.
For Dlatu, however, the work has never been simply about getting people to buy something.
“Marketing has never been about simply promoting a product. It’s about creating moments that make people feel something.”
That belief is central to how she approaches the industry. In an era where audiences are constantly being marketed to, attention alone is no longer enough. Brands have to create reasons for people to care.
Building brands beyond the product
Working across multiple fashion and lifestyle brands means Dlatu is constantly shifting between different identities and audiences.
AYANA, Refinery, Refinery Junior and OSMO each occupy their own space, requiring different approaches to communication and community-building. Her role is therefore not simply to put content onto social media. It is to understand what each brand represents and translate that identity into experiences that feel coherent and authentic.
That can mean developing a PR and influencer strategy, managing relationships with creators, crafting copy, curating a brand experience or contributing behind the scenes to a larger campaign.
The common thread is connection.
Dlatu believes the strongest brands are the ones that build genuine relationships with their communities rather than treating audiences as numbers on a dashboard. For her, creativity and strategy are most effective when they are grounded in an understanding of people.
It is a philosophy that has followed her throughout her career, and one that can be traced back to a lesson from her grandmother: leave people better than you found them.
A career built around connection
That philosophy extends beyond her professional life.
Dlatu describes creativity as something woven into her everyday life. Fashion, in particular, has been a lifelong interest, with styling and discovering pieces that carry their own histories forming part of how she expresses herself.
Some of her most treasured dresses were passed down from her grandmother, giving her relationship with fashion a meaning that stretches beyond trends.
For Dlatu, those pieces represent heritage, confidence and the women who came before her.
It is a perspective that adds another layer to the work she does professionally. Fashion can sell clothing, but it can also communicate identity, memory and belonging. The brands that understand that have an opportunity to create something more lasting than a campaign.
Outside of fashion, she finds another form of connection through cooking for family and friends, creating spaces where people can gather around a table.
Across both her personal and professional life, the same principle keeps appearing: create something that brings people together.
Leaving things better than you found them
There is a tendency to think of marketing as the machinery behind a brand: strategy decks, campaigns, content calendars, influencer lists and performance figures.
Dlatu’s approach places the human being back at the centre of that machinery.
Whether she is working with a creator, shaping a brand experience or developing a digital strategy, her focus remains on making the interaction meaningful. It is an approach that values authenticity without abandoning strategy, and creativity without losing sight of purpose.
As she continues to grow within the industry, Dlatu hopes to keep creating work that inspires, connects and leaves an impact.
The lesson from her grandmother remains a useful one, particularly in an industry built around influence and attention: leave every person, partnership and project better than you found it.
For a strategist working behind some of South Africa’s most recognisable fashion and lifestyle brands, perhaps that is the most important strategy of all.
