03 Sep 2026

After years of carrying personal pain behind a smile, Tshenolo Pearl Ncube has decided to turn her healing journey into a platform where people can speak openly about similar struggles. Ncube, (40) will officially launch her podcast, Healing with Ms Pearl, on Saturday at Aquarium Tide Hotel. 

The podcast is born out of what Ncube describes as a deeply personal journey of confronting wounds, rebuilding and learning to live beyond the pain of her past.

 A native of Mathangwane, Ncube says her decision to speak publicly about healing was not because she had everything figured out, but because she became tired of carrying pain in silence. 

“Life taught me that unhealed wounds don’t disappear. They show up in how we love, work and lead,” she says. She believes healing is a subject that needs to be brought into everyday conversations because emotional and mental struggles are often hidden behind outward appearances. “For me, healing is wholeness. It’s when your mind, heart and spirit begin to align again. It doesn’t mean the pain never happened. It means its no longer controls you,” she says. Ncube’s understanding of healing is rooted in her own experiences.

 She survived a cardiac condition at the age of 12 and later survived an attempted suicide at 18, following her first experience of rape. She also went through a difficult marriage which she eventually left while her children were still very young. 

For a long time, she appeared to be functioning normal, working, serving others and smiling, while privately dealing with exhaustion, anger and numbness. A turning point came when she was forced to confront a question she says changed her perspective: “Who are you when no one is watching?” “That question broke me. I realised I had been managing pain instead of healing it,” she says.  It was through journaling, prayer and honest self-reflection that she began what she describes as the real work of healing. Through Healing with Ms Pearl, Ncube hopes to extend that conversation to others who may be going through similar experiences but unable or unwilling to speak about them. She says signs that someone may need to begin their own healing journey can include constantly feeling tired, anxious or disconnected, reacting more strongly than a situation warrants, repeatedly experiencing the same relationship patterns or using work, food, social media or people-pleasing to numb difficult emotions. She believes the first step toward healing is acknowledging the wound rather than pretending it does not exist. 

“Name it. This hurt me. Stop pretending it didn’t,” she says. She encourages people to create a safe environment where they can process their experiences, whether through prayer, therapy, a trusted friend or another genuine support structure. Ncube also stresses that healing is not something people should expect to accomplish overnight. 

“You don’t have to heal everything today. Start with one step,” she says. The podcast will explore issues including faith, mental health, relationships, forgiveness, grief, self-worth as well as healing in business and leadership. Ncube says she is particularly looking forward to conversations around issues that people often discuss quietly, including healing after disappointment, developing a healthier relationship with money and navigating healing as a woman or man in leadership.

 She intends to feature both men and women on the platform, arguing that healing is a human issue rather than something that should be viewed exclusively as a women’s concern. Beyond the podcast, Ncube plans to organise healing retreats and create safe spaces for people who may not yet be ready to publicly share their experiences . 

Ncube acknowledges that healing is rarely a straight journey. She describes it as a spiral in which people sometimes revisit old wounds but with greater understanding and wisdom.

 “When old pain resurfaces, I don’t panic anymore. I ask, ‘What is this trying to teach me now?’” she says. As she prepares to introduce the podcast to the public, Ncube hopes it will become more than a platform for conversation. She wants it to become a community where people can find practical tools, encouragement and the reassurance that they are not alone. ENDS