Johannesburg – South African entrepreneur Vanessa Perumal, founder of JT Communication Solutions, has paid a heartfelt tribute to the late Maria McCloy, describing her as far more than a cultural icon and calling her an economic builder, job creator and narrative architect whose impact on Black women in media and communications cannot be overstated.
Perumal, a cancer survivor who lost her vocal cords, said what moved her most was seeing the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture issue a significant tribute to McCloy, something she said she had rarely witnessed at that scale for publicists, media strategists, journalists or communications entrepreneurs.
“One thing that strikes me deeply today is seeing the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture issue such a significant tribute to Maria McCloy. Truthfully, it is something I have seldom witnessed at this scale for publicists, media strategists, journalists, or communications entrepreneurs,” she wrote. 
For Perumal, McCloy’s passing forces South Africa to confront a much larger truth, that Black women in media, PR, communications, fashion, publishing and storytelling were never simply creatives. They were, she said, transformation drivers who built pipelines and shaped entire economies.
Perumal was candid about how hostile the creative industries historically were to Black ownership and Black women-led businesses, particularly before social media opened up access. She described newsrooms and agency spaces as being controlled by gatekeepers who decided whose voice carried legitimacy and who was allowed access to influence and opportunity.
“For many Black women founders entering these industries, the environment was not only exclusionary — it was psychologically exhausting,” she said, adding that some who eventually gained access later replicated the same gatekeeping they once fought against.
What set McCloy apart, Perumal said, was her entrepreneurial generosity. When others would not venture into township venues or grassroots cultural spaces, McCloy did. Through Black Rage Productions, she covered events in spaces where mainstream media rarely went and did so without making emerging founders feel inferior.
Perumal also raised a pointed question that she said keeps returning to her as she writes her book #UnMuted: “Why do we still celebrate Black creatives mostly for visibility and influence, but not enough for ownership, equity creation, job creation, and generational wealth building?”
She was equally personal in her tribute, recalling a chance encounter with McCloy at the airport in March when both were travelling to East London. “I told her JJ’s last pair of McCloy’s was too tight but he wore it to a wedding and has not worn it again. She said uber it to me I will sell it. That’s the Maria I have always known for over two decades,” Perumal recalled.
She described how her children grew up with a wardrobe full of McCloy’s treasures, how she herself wore only McCloy earrings during the early days of Moshito and projects like Standard Bank Joy of Jazz, and how McCloy would always offer generous discounts and insist that customers take something extra for themselves.
“On my birthdays she would wish me and say come around and get something,” she said.
The tribute closed with Perumal noting that just days before writing, she had spotted McCloy dresses on two different women, one at a Parkhurst restaurant on Saturday evening and another worn by a Joburg Tourism employee on Mother’s Day Sunday.
Perumal extended her condolences to McCloy’s inner circle and family, including her mother, Natasha and Thandiwe Katrina McCloy, and expressed hope that entrepreneurs would honour her legacy in their own media and PR agencies.
“Rest Maria, you going home to Jesus and I guess that’s equally beautiful. Thank you for being so kind to me during my cancer recovery journey,” she wrote.
