Jade Kirkel

Entrepreneur | Brand Builder | Storyteller

About Jade Kirkel

Jade Kirkel is a storyteller at heart, and a lifelong brand obsessive. She’s always been fascinated by what makes people fall in love with a brand—and stay loyal for life.

That passion led her to help grow Sorbet from just 10 stores to over 220, turning it into one of South Africa’s most loved beauty brands. After Sorbet’s exit, she started JoyJoy, a kids’ sneaker brand inspired by real parenting moments and designed to bring ease, fun, and confidence to little feet. What started on a lounge floor, landed a Disney licensing deal and is now scaling globally, one joyful step at a time.

Whether she’s speaking in a boardroom or to a group of moms juggling it all, for Jade, business has always been personal, and it shows in the way she sparks a connection with every audience.

Jade has shared her story and lessons on stages across South Africa from Nedbank WIFA, Heavy Chef, Amrod, Vega, UJ, Gibs, Mail & Guardian, Spar, and many conferences for women, students, young drivers, marketing and start-ups. She’s is a founding partner of Signal, a collective of over 50 South African entrepreneurs and a contributor to two published books: Start-ups and Side Hustles’ and ‘The Book Every marketer should read’. She’s also served as a judge for the prestigious Jewish Achiever Awards.

A mom of three daughters, Jade’s talks explore the intersection of motherhood and entrepreneurship, rooted in brand, business, and identity, but always grounded in humour, heart, and honesty.

Signature Topics
(Customisable to suit audience)

The Sorbet brand journey: building trust, love, and consistency in a competitive market.
The JoyJoy startup story: parenting insight turned product innovation.
Scaling Without Losing Soul – The dilemma of growing a purpose-led brand in a mass market world.
The Mompreneur Myth – Breaking the narrative of “balance” and doing business while doing life.
The Power of Brand Storytelling – How emotional utility builds communities and customers.
The Forks in the Road – What no one tells you about reinvention, resilience, and risking it all.

Speaking Style
Jade is a natural storyteller, warm, witty, and refreshingly real. She doesn’t offer “five-point plans to overnight success”, she offers lived insight, real world examples, and stories that hit home.