Tamara Oberholster
Founder and Head Word Chef
Tamara savours great stories. She loves cooking up creative projects with her clients and bringing flavour to words. As the founder of Word Chef, she helps organisations and individuals to connect with people through the power of story, creating content that inspires action rather than merely filling space.
With a background spanning journalism, public relations, advertising and communications consulting, Tamara has been running her own business since 2010. Today, she works across sectors including higher education, financial services, manufacturing, sustainability, and social impact, translating complex, technical or academic content into clear, human stories that resonate.
Her ghostwriting and editorial projects include best-selling business books, leadership biographies and social-impact publications that bring bold ideas and deeply personal journeys to life. She has written for publications such as CFO South Africa and Acumen Magazine, and lectured in journalism, earning the Midrand Graduate Institute Award for Teaching Excellence in 2013.
Tamara holds a Bachelor of Arts in Film and Media from the University of Cape Town and completed the Bloomberg Media Initiative Africa Executive Financial Journalism Programme (NQF 7) at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) in 2017.
Through a close-knit network of creative partners, loosely known as “The Un-agency”, Word Chef delivers end-to-end content solutions, from concept and strategy to copy, design and publication. Ever curious, Tamara is drawn to work that lets her pair the winning ingredients of strategic insight and creative flavour.
Outside of work, she enjoys pottering in her vegetable garden and taking far too many photos of her husband, son and two cats.
References, case studies and writing samples are available on request.