Chic Jozi is hosted by Taryn Cohn, Lisa Cohn and Nikki Temkin. Follow us on Twitter Take three livewire born and bred passionate Joburgers (two of them sisters). Put them in one gritty, go- getting vibrant and sometimes exhausting city. Add a dose of arts; culture, music and opinionated chat and what have you got? The Chic Jozi show on Fridays, 9am on Radio Today (broadcast on 1485 am an
d 869DSTV Audio) explores life: the good, the bad and even the ugly in Mzansi. Witty, irreverent and above all fun, sacred cows are left outside the Chic Jozi studio door. The three hosts bring their different skills and personalities to the show making it a rollercoaster ride of fun and sometimes-serious conversation. Our diverse, weekly show features interviews with interesting Jozi people – everyone from theatre directors, actors and comedians to authors, artists, life coaches and trend experts. In between, we chat about where the best food is in town, where there’s extra chocolate on the croissants and play the music we love. We’ll tell you about the best spas, sales and shopping as well as the latest happenings, events and exposes too. We seek out the new, the hip and the happening. Opinionated on news and views, and armed with all the info about our city, it’s inhabitants and everything happening in it, we aim to entertain and inform and that we do with a giant dose of attitude to measure. The Chic Jozi show’s Bookmark segment gets listeners up to date with the latest releases on the shelf as well as featuring interviews with authors about their work. In the SWAG (Super Wonderful And Gorgeous) slot, we give away fantastic, coveted prizes, which include restaurant, theatre and shopping vouchers, loads of books and places on workshops and tickets to other exciting events.
2013 saw the launch of Chicjozi.com, our blog platform where views and reviews of arts, culture, entertainment, books and lifestyle on the streets of Africa’s most complex and energetic city are posted by us and our qualified legion of Chic Jozi correspondents. And of course, most importantly, we post the podcasts of our show. Fans of Chic Jozi can follow up on Twitter to share, win and find out about our latest shows, giveaways, what’s on and what we’re up to in our city. Nikki Temkin
As a bookworm child with many delightful imaginary friends and who loved concocting tall tales (and talking to herself), Nikki Temkin was perfectly poised to become a writer and journalist. Her passion for storytelling in all of its forms led to a Postgraduate degree at Wits University in Drama and Film. Over the last 13 years, her colourful career has included copywriting in advertising, TV producing, screenwriting and researching, editing websites, editing novels, tourism projects, media strategy planning and various other jobs within the media industry. Nikki’s focus over the last 10 years has been in print lifestyle journalism for magazines, newspapers and digital. She has written prolifically for, among other publications, The Sunday Independent, Mail & Guardian, Femina, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Longevity, Art South Africa, Your Baby, Heat, Your Pregnancy, Voila! , Destiny, Sawubona, Grazia, Marie Claire, Sunday Times, parent24, JHBLive, Sunday Lifestyle and House & Leisure as well as international publications The Guardian and Wallpaper*. Her longest stint was with The Sunday Times Magazine as TV columnist, critic and features writer and for Heat magazine as the books editor, both for seven years. In 2004, Nikki’s love for her hometown led to her co-writing The Chic Jozi Pocketbook with ex-Elle South Africa editor, Nadine Rubin. The book, a discriminating guide on where to eat, shop, party and relax in the city was the first ever of its kind and became an instant bestseller. Updated versions Chic Jozi: The Savvy Style Companion, followed in 2006 and 2010, both of them bestsellers. Other than living in the UK while completing her Master’s degree in Scriptwriting in 1997/8, Nikki has always lived in Jozi and continues to document the city’s exciting and continuous incarnations. She says, “Chic Jozi gives me a platform to engage with others when it comes to the city we inhabit in all of its forms. It’s become something of an obsession to find the creative folk that make this crazy place what it is. I am so excited to see the city constantly changing and to witness where it’s going. Plus, I love to gab about food, books, shopping, fashion and the arts to anyone who will listen.” When she’s not urgently tapping her keyboard, exploring Jozi or juggling the various bouncing balls of her life, Nikki is reading novels and spending time with her husband Alex, who has an independent record label, and two daughters Eva Rose (6) and Izzie (3)
Lisa Cohn
It all began for Lisa Cohn when at the age of 4, she walked straight into a Joy Division-poster-covered door. This incident changed everything, and resulted in a life-long obsession with music, the theatre and the city of Joburg. The music/theatre- fixated Lisa understandably chose to study Drama at Wits University. After leaving, she dropped by the music industry as a publicist and landed up working as a fashion stylist and art director for commercials, music videos, fashion weeks and shoots. She then found herself in magazine publishing as a writer, and then as a writer for television. A hop, skip and a jump later, Lisa was still in television, still writing, but now as an editor for major websites for one of the networks of channels, which lead to a fixation with geekdom and a way to make it accessible to the mainstream. Her multifaceted pop-cultural pursuits and music obsession led to Lisa having her own weekly music column in The Sunday Independent Newspaper for many years. And so, the multi-talented Lisa’s career traversed fashion, magazines, TV, the African continent, the WWW, and it’s handset-equivalents. Currently she parlays her passion and expertise into a day job as a Senior Strategist, App, digital and content strategist and all round ‘tinker-thinker’ at AquaOnline. Past employers includes Anglo Gold and Demographica. Lisa recently completed a Management Advancement Programme through Wits Business School, with a view to eventually doing her Masters of Management in Innovation and Strategy Studies. Her understanding of the technical aspects of music production and engineering mean that she has mastered “the desk” for the Chic Jozi show and so really, the power is all in her hands. To the rest of us tech mortals, Lisa’s innate ability to get her head around technology, social media and digital advances often leaves us shaking our heads in amazement. Lisa’s instinctive knowledge that with the world moving at such a head-spinningly rapid pace, it is more important than ever to maintain a human angle. Somehow, through all of her career endeavours, whether socially responsible, musical, sartorial, televisual, or technological, she has managed to keep this as her functioning central focus. Lisa brings an undeniable sensitivity and knowledge of the arts the Chic Jozi. Any free time available sees Lisa prowling the city in which she was born, a token of her love tattooed on her arm as the skyline of Jozi. An obsessive user of so-called ‘new’ media, you may call her a geek, but she will take it as a compliment. Lisa has recently had her first child with her partner Rob ‘O Brien, a musician and Digital Manager at Jozi’s biggest indie music label. Taryn Cohn
Some might call her superhuman, but Taryn Cohn just has much more energy than most people. At a young age, Taryn managed to carve a distinctive presence in the South African visual arts industry. Her background of studying Fine Art at Stellenbosch university was a training ground for Taryn’s entry into the wider art world as a visual art project consultant and cultural communications specialist. Taryn uses her robust intellect, seemingly supernatural energy and charismatic personality to handle it all at her company Art Source South Africa including managing budgets, artists and expectations—all in the name of arts and culture. At one time, Taryn was the marketing manager for Constitution Hill. She’s known for delivering innovative solutions for clients in the private and public sector. . She has worked on various arts, culture and development projects ranging from writing, project management, fundraising, marketing and strategy.. In fact, Taryn has pretty much perfected the art of balancing her multiple talents in many different areas with no compromise on quality. Over and above running Art Source, Taryn has also created a series of acclaimed professional art practice courses used in universities nationwide. A pioneer in mentoring artists in the marketing and development of their talents, her work emphasises self-empowerment and Taryn is the embodiment of that which she teaches and leads by her own example of entrepreneurship. Her reserves of optimism about art as a business are inspiring not only to the artists that she interacts with but with all who come into contact with her. Blessed with a creative mind and critical thinking with the ability to practically execute her ideas, Taryn’s streetwise voice on the Chic Jozi show is comproised of solid reason, sharp wit and quick-thinking backed up by a giant store of information and general knowledge.
