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After years of building and leading brands in retail and FMCG, Michelle van Schalkwyk has taken the leap to start something new: Cognitive Shift Brand Strategy Consultants. Their mission is simple: to help businesses cut through complexity, define compelling brand strategies, and find their place in a fast-changing world. Michelle is a strategic, customer-focused marketing leader with over 20 years’ experience driving growth, engagement, and brand equity across retail and FMCG. She started her career in advertising before moving to Sweden to work in the software development industry where she led the brand advertising, creative and customer service division. After returning home, she worked primarily in FMCG where she has combined her strong commercial understanding and analytical thinking with creative problem-solving and brand storytelling. For the last ten years, she has worked for retailer Pick n Pay where she led brand and campaign marketing and more recently, the in-housing of the creative agency team. She has a proven ability to align brand and business objectives, lead high-performing teams and optimise marketing investment across traditional and digital channels.

CMO COUNCIL: What skills and qualities does a cross-functional marketing leader need today?

VAN SCHALKWYK: A cross-functional marketing leader needs to be strategic and commercially minded, as well as have the ability to influence without authority. Collaboration, clear communication and customer centricity are essential, as is the ability to solve problems and align diverse teams around shared goals and objectives. Empathy, creativity and a results-driven mindset help ensure a collaborative working environment and commercial impact.

CMO COUNCIL: What factors have contributed most to your success?

VAN SCHALKWYK: A few key qualities have consistently contributed to my success. I’m highly curious by nature, which means I never settle for surface-level thinking — I’m always asking why, looking for better ways to do things, and pushing for clarity. That curiosity naturally drives my determination and commitment to continuous growth. I’ve also always been deeply interested in human behaviour, which stems from my background in human sciences. It’s shaped my ability to champion the customer, not just in marketing campaigns but in strategic decision-making across the business. I think that blend of curiosity, discipline, and customer obsession has been a powerful driver of the results I’ve delivered.

CMO COUNCIL: Where do you focus most of your time, attention and brainpower on a day-to-day basis?

VAN SCHALKWYK: I focus a lot of my energy on ensuring the work we do delivers real impact — both for the customer and the business. That means thinking strategically about how our marketing translates into the store environment and how it supports our teams on the ground to execute seamlessly. The simpler and more focused we make it, the better the customer experience. I also spend time developing and empowering my team — building capability and creating the conditions for them to do their best work is a big part of how I drive results.

CMO COUNCIL: What challenges do you face in the coming year and how do you expect to adapt and change?

VAN SCHALKWYK: One of the big challenges this coming year is navigating a tough consumer environment where budgets are tighter, expectations are higher, and brand loyalty is fragile. That means we need to be sharper than ever with our messaging, more relevant with our offers, and laser-focused on delivering value. At the same time, the pace of change in tech and media is relentless, so staying ahead of new channels and customer behaviours is crucial. To adapt, I’m leaning into real-time data and feedback more than ever — not just to optimise performance but to quickly pivot when something isn’t landing. I’m also investing more in cross-functional collaboration, because solving big problems needs diverse thinking and alignment across the business. And importantly, I’m focused on building a team that’s not just skilled, but resilient and adaptable — because the best strategies still need the right people to bring them to life.

CMO COUNCIL: What career advice would you give to emerging marketing leaders?

VAN SCHALKWYK:  My advice to emerging marketing leaders would be to stay relentlessly curious and never stop learning — the landscape changes so quickly that the moment you think you know it all, you're already behind. Get comfortable with data, but don’t lose sight of the human behind the numbers. Build strong relationships across the business — marketing doesn’t work in isolation, and your influence grows when you can connect the dots cross-functionally.