Client: Cross the Divide
My role: Marketing & Communications Committee Member
Engagement: Consulting | Brand strategy, identity design, marketing assets, website design & copy
Location: Johannesburg (Ward 90 and surrounds)

The opportunity

Cross the Divide was born in 2020 as a community-led COVID-19 feeding scheme, responding quickly to urgent need during a moment of crisis. As the initiative grew, so did its ambition: to move beyond emergency relief and build longer-term, holistic pathways for displaced and homeless individuals rooted in dignity, rehabilitation, and community connection.

At this turning point, Cross the Divide needed more than ad hoc communication. It needed:

  • A clear identity and story that reflected its values
  • A credible, recognisable brand to support fundraising and partnerships
  • Digital foundations that could grow with the organisation
  • Communications that honoured lived experience without exploiting it

I joined the Cross the Divide committee to support the organisation’s marketing and communications as it evolved from a grassroots response into a structured, community-driven nonprofit.

How the engagement worked

As part of the committee, I worked closely with founders and volunteers to help clarify Cross the Divide’s strategy, theory of change, and public-facing identity. This was highly collaborative, values-led work, balancing limited resources with the need to look credible, trustworthy, and professional to donors, partners, and the broader community.

My role spanned strategy, creative direction, and hands-on delivery, ensuring ideas didn’t stay on paper but translated into usable tools.

What I delivered

I led the development of Cross the Divide’s brand and digital foundations, creating assets the organisation could use consistently and confidently.

This included:

  • Brand strategy & positioning, helping articulate Cross the Divide’s shift from crisis response to long-term community impact
  • Logo design and complete corporate identity (CI), grounded in the organisation’s values of community, collaboration, and care
  • Marketing and communications materials, supporting fundraising, donor engagement, and events
  • Website design and copywriting, shaping the structure, language, and storytelling
  • Website build collaboration, working with a developer to bring the site to life on WordPress
  • Built Cross the Divide’s social media presence from the ground up, setting up channels, creating and publishing content, and shaping the organisation’s online voice

I owned the design and copy end-to-end, ensuring the site was clear, human, and accessible, and that it worked for both community members and potential supporters.

I created a new website for Cross the Divide, executing the design and copywriting, shaping the structure, language, and storytelling.

Brand and digital transformation

A key focus of this work was helping Cross the Divide look like the organisation it was becoming, not just the one it started as.

The new brand and website:

  • Clearly communicated Cross the Divide’s mission, programmes, and impact
  • Provided a credible platform for donor and partner engagement
  • Gave the organisation practical tools it could maintain internally
  • Balanced professionalism with warmth, dignity, and respect

Importantly, everything was designed to be fit for a small, volunteer-driven nonprofit, simple to update, easy to use, and sustainable over time.

The impact

  • Cross the Divide established a clear, recognisable brand identity aligned to its evolved strategy
  • Communications shifted from ad hoc to coherent and intentional, supporting growth and trust
  • The website became a central hub for storytelling, fundraising, and engagement
  • The organisation gained stronger footing to engage donors, partners, and the local community
  • Brand and messaging now reflect long-term impact, not just short-term relief

What this says about how I work

This work reflects my approach to purpose-driven organisations at grassroots level: meeting people where they are, respecting constraints, and building foundations that last. I combine strategic thinking with hands-on delivery, from brand and copy to websites and practical tools, so organisations can move forward with clarity and confidence.

I’m especially drawn to work where community and real-world impact matter more than polish for polish’s sake, and where marketing exists to enable people, not overshadow them.