Open Chair sends 14 South African women to Cannes Lions 2026
There’s something powerful about women opening doors for other women, especially in an industry where access still shapes who gets seen, heard, and celebrated. This year, Open Chair once again secured passes through the Cannes Lions ERA Programme, sending 14 South African women to Cannes. The Croisette won’t know what hit it.
Open Chair is a community for women in advertising and marketing, focused on inspiring and uplifting the next generation of leaders while advocating for a safer, more inclusive industry. Amen! This year’s Open Chair Lionesses were selected by a panel of women who know exactly what it means to champion talent and create meaningful opportunity. The panel included Suhana Gordhan, Founder of Open Chair; Lorraine Smit, Co-founder and Executive Producer at Darling Films; Melina McDonald, Co-founder and Executive Producer at Darling Films; Fran Luckin, Co-Chief Creative Officer at Boundless; Nkgabiseng Motau, Founder and CCO of Think Creative Africa; and Roanna Williams, Founder and CCO of Boundless.
Open Chair put out a call to women, and those who identify as women, across the creative industry to apply. “What we were looking for was not a portfolio of work but rather a feeling, a quality – someone who moved us,” says Suhana. “We wanted to select someone with more than a hunger and desire to attend Cannes, but also a point of view and a way of being and thinking.”
This year’s Open Chair Lionesses heading to Cannes are:
Fundiswa Ngwato | BIC
Izabel Barkhuizen | We Are Bizarre
Sarah-Justine Ward | Clockwork
Sibulela Bolarinwa | Accenture Song
Sibuyiselwe Nhlangwini | The Odd Number
Sohyeon Bang | Machine_
Anna Durr | Meow Meow Woof
Gale Maimane | Darling Films
Insaaf Khan | VML South Africa
Jeanine Vermaak | M+C Saatchi Abel
Maxine Selmer-Olsen | Vision
Michelle McKenna | Joe Public
Nwabisa Tolom | TBWAHunt Lascaris
Zimkhita Sokhanyile | Boundless
This trip is not only a dream come true for a White Lotus superfan, Open Chair’s Cannes initiative continues to grow into something far bigger than a week on the Croisette. Last year, Open Chair helped send 16 South African women to Cannes. This year, they’ve done it again, continuing to build momentum around a programme creating tangible pathways into one of the world’s most influential creative spaces.
And while only 14 women will physically attend Cannes through the programme this year, the impact stretches much further than the festival itself. Each initiative expands Open Chair’s growing network across agencies, production companies, post houses, strategy teams, and marketing departments, creating connections that continue long after Cannes wraps.
“If we are able to continue doing this in the years to come, this idea of access will become so much more than creating space and opening up representation – this will be about creating a seismic shift in the way women are nurtured, seen, heard and valued in this industry,” says Suhana.
A massive congratulations from all of us at IDIDTHAT to this year’s Open Chair Lionesses. We can’t wait to see you loudly and proudly representing South African creativity in Cannes.
Wanna (s)talk some more? Open Chairs website.
Produced by the IDIDTHAT Content Studio
Credits: Anne Hirsch (Writer) / Julie Maunder
This content may not be reproduced, distributed, or used in any form without prior written consent from IDIDTHAT. Reprints must credit IDIDTHAT.co as the original publisher and include a live link to ididthat.co.
This editorial was commissioned by Open Chair.
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