Most people who exit a business take time to regroup. They pause, reflect, perhaps give themselves a few months before considering what comes next. Liz Letsoalo did the opposite. In late July 2018, fresh from leaving a mobile salon business she’d co-founded
with two of her best friends, she didn’t wait a single second. She drafted a rough concept, decided on a name, started a social media page, told as many people as she could about this new venture she was starting so she could be held to account, and threw herself into the research work needed to get products ready.

That urgency tells you everything you need to know about the founder of Masodi Organics. This wasn’t someone dabbling in entrepreneurship or testing the waters. This was someone who’d been grappling with an existential question her entire life: what am I meant to do with this one precious life?

“I have always struggled with the existential question and how it translates into what I ultimately do with my life, especially in the context of work,” Liz explains. It’s this struggle, this refusal to simply accept a predetermined path, that led her from Tzaneen to
Johannesburg, from industrial engineering through three multinational companies to building a haircare brand that’s redefining inclusivity in the South African beauty industry. The journey from there to here wasn’t about following a dream. It was about carving out a path. That urgency, that refusal to let the fire cool, speaks to something deeper than ambition. It speaks to purpose. “My heart was still left with passion for the beauty industry,” she explains. Even though the mobile salon venture with her two best friends hadn’t worked out, she believed she had an opportunity to contribute towards its advancement, transformation and hopefully refinement.

A Name That Carries Weight
The name Masodi isn’t a clever portmanteau or a made-up word designed to sound exotic. It’s Liz’s mother’s name (Mmasodi, with a double ‘M,’ passed down through generations in line with family tradition). Her mother was named after her paternal aunt, and now the brand carries that legacy forwards. When Liz talks about why she chose the name, her words carry a weight that transcends business strategy.

“She’s the most impactful woman in my life,” Liz says of her mother. “She is the embodiment of purpose, passion, consistent servitude and a beautiful joyful spirit that connects with everyone with incredible sincerity.” In an industry often criticized for superficiality, there’s something profound about building a beauty brand on the foundation of someone who represents those values. It’s a reminder that what we put our names on—or our mother’s names—matters.

The First Sale and the Feeling That Never Fades
When Liz describes her first sales, her voice takes on a quality that suggests she’s not just recounting a business milestone but reliving a moment of pure validation. “It’s this blend of absolute thrill like you’ve just set off on a rollercoaster and not sure you’ll come out alive,
paired with this deep sense of gratitude and humility,” she explains.

The customers weren’t strangers scrolling through an online store. They were her sisters, friends, acquaintances who saw her advertise on social media and believed in what she was building. She packed each order in a brown bag with a tag written “Masodi” on it and delivered them herself in her car. “It was a huge honour for me,” she recalls. And then she adds something that reveals everything about why Masodi has continued to grow: “As unbelievable as this may sound, I still feel the same way today when I get a sale. I’m still in awe and in deep gratitude.” That feeling, that sustained sense of wonder, is rare in entrepreneurship. It’s what separates people who build businesses from people who build brands that actually mean something.

The Data-Led Heart
Early Masodi was scrappy in the way all new ventures are. Liz started with five organic products: Whipped Body Butter, Whipped Hair Butter, Black Soap Shampoo, Coconut Oil, and Castor Oil. The organic route wasn’t born from trend-following but from practicality (it
was the safer option given her limited resources and industry experience at the time). But here’s where her engineering background becomes impossible to ignore. As the brand evolved, Liz made a decision that would’ve terrified most founders: she discontinued the
entire organic range. Why? Because the data told her to. Because the beauty consumer had evolved. Because the blending of science and natural ingredients had proven more effective for the concerns her customers actually had.

“We are a data-led business and rely heavily on that for our product development,” Liz explains, describing a process that starts with either data or a general observation indicating a widespread concern. From there, it’s broad problem-solving, prototyping, R&D work,
formulation, testing, and ultimately launch. It’s methodical. It’s unsexy. And it works. Yet she’s quick to acknowledge the tension between data and instinct. When asked what advice she wishes someone had given her before starting, her answer is revealing: “Good work on not compromising on fact-based and data-backed decision-making in business, but rely on your intuition a lot more, it’s a strong asset you have.”

The Products That Change Lives
If Liz could only sell one product forever, she doesn’t hesitate: either the Hairline Fortifying Serum or Root Stimulating Serum. The choice isn’t about profit margins or market size. It’s about impact. “Hairloss and/or a receding hairline impacts people’s sense of self in ways only someone who’s experienced it can empathise with,” she explains. These concerns are often tied to massive life-changing experiences (cancer treatment, childbirth, stress, hormonal changes, health issues).

The reviews and messages of gratitude from customers who’ve used these serums have been astonishing to her. And in an industry often criticized for making empty promises, there’s something powerful about a founder who measures success not in units sold but in
lives changed. “They’re something I’d never want to deprive people of ever,” she says.

Redefining Inclusivity
Walk into most beauty retailers and you’ll see inclusivity framed as a single universal solution—one product that claims to work for everyone. Masodi takes a different approach, one that Liz believes represents a conversation the industry desperately needs to have.
“Hair care product ranges can and should be inclusive to create a shared experience across different textures,” she explains. But here’s the nuance: inclusive doesn’t mean every product works for everyone. It means the range is broad and deep enough that everyone can find products that work for their specific concerns.

The Masodi Hair & Scalp Care Range includes over 18 products, from which each hair texture can choose 10 or more. Some products are formulated broadly; others target texture- specific issues. It’s inclusion through specificity rather than homogenization, and it
represents a level of thoughtfulness that’s rare in the industry.

The Business That Holds Up a Mirror
When asked how building Masodi has changed her personally, Liz’s answer defies the typical founder narrative of transformation and reinvention. “I like to believe it hasn’t,” she says, before clarifying: “What I believe it has done is to really put in front of me a clearly
polished mirror to reveal more of who I am to myself.”

It’s a distinction that matters. She’s not claiming the business has fundamentally altered her core self, but rather that it’s magnified what was already there whilst allowing the supporting aspects to flex and form as circumstances require. There’s a self-awareness in that
response, an understanding that entrepreneurship doesn’t create character but reveals it. And when it comes to imposter syndrome, that plague of high achievers everywhere, Liz has an interesting take. “This is something I don’t struggle with in my business,” she states plainly. Her reasoning is characteristically practical: businesses are tangible, almost intuitive.

When something doesn’t make sense, she finds someone or somewhere to get answers. Plus, her work experience has exposed her to multiple businesses across sectors, creating a confidence that comes from having seen something similar before. She usually tells her team, jokingly: “Remember we make and sell hair serums, when we start feeling lost let’s just remind ourselves of that.”

The Vision That Burns Truer

From the beginning, Liz intended for Masodi to be a global brand. Not eventually. Not someday. From day one. “I knew it was possible, I had seen it with my own eyes, and I knew I had it in me to do the same,” she says. That vision was partly due to her innate passion
and ambition, but also because she’d had the privilege of seeing how good it can get through other multinational brands during her corporate career.

The difference now? “That vision burns true to date; it in fact feels more truer, more probable and more possible than ever before.” She’s never come close to shutting down. Not once. The thought never entered her mind, not even during the financial uncertainty, not even when her runway was running thin and she considered going back to formal employment. Even then, it would’ve been to keep Masodi alive, not to shut it down.

What would make her walk away? Only three things: if she believed her mission as leader was achieved and someone else could offer more value; if it required her to consistently deviate from her core values; or if she lost the fire and sense of purpose. Short of that, she’s in it.

The Legacy Beyond Products
The youngest of five children, raised in Tzaneen in a household full of high energy, open conversations, and joy, Liz brings that same energy to how she thinks about legacy. At a personal level, she hopes her impact lies in how her family, friends, and broader community have been influenced by her thoughts, questions, and the generous exchange of ideas they’ve shared (how that’s shaped their life experiences and perspectives and influenced how they show up in the world).

But at a practical level, her view is beautifully humble: “I believe that legacy can lie in the secrecy of experiences and time. If something I have done or said tangibly changes something for the good or bad in the world, whether I’m aware of it or not, that is my legacy. I
hope at the end of it all it is net positive, the details of what that was and how it will be remembered don’t matter much to me.” It’s a perspective that makes sense coming from someone who named her business after her mother—someone who understands that the most meaningful impact often happens quietly, in moments we don’t even recognize as significant until years later.

What Comes Next
When Liz describes where she sees Masodi in the future, there’s no hesitation, no false modesty. “I’ve always struggled to not see a grand possibility for what can become of Masodi,” she admits. At each stage of the business, she’s spoken about it with deep respect
and admiration, and that reverence, maybe because it’s her mother’s name, maybe because of the work they do, simply doesn’t allow her mind to think of an alternative world where things are impossible.

She sees Masodi as a brand people look to when they want assurance that their hair and skin care concerns will be genuinely solved. A brand that ignites hope in people on the verge of giving up on their hair, skin, or themselves. A brand that creates meaningful products through science and nature’s best ingredients, engaging with its audience with sincere warmth and care.

As Masodi continues to grow, as more customers discover products that genuinely solve their concerns, Liz remains grounded in what matters: family, friends, passionate conversations, and the simple joy of creating something meaningful. She empties her cup
through play, especially racquet sports, and finds herself through unconstrained laughter with the people who anchor her to who she is.

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And when she needs to remember why she does what she does, she doesn’t have to look far. The name is right there on every product, every package, every piece of communication that goes out into the world.