Founder · Creative director · Compulsive business builder
I have always been building something.
I’m Maxine, the founder of Cultish. I build brands for businesses that want to be recognised, remembered and chosen—not politely filed beside everyone else in the category.
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The part I actually care about
I like the bit before it looks good.
I love good design. Obviously. But I am far more interested in why somebody notices one business, trusts it, talks about it and chooses it again.
That is why Cultish does not separate strategy from the creative work. I want to understand the offer, the customer, the tension and the sharpest truth at the centre of the business—then make every word, colour and click prove it.
I am people-obsessed, commercially nosy and incapable of leaving a weak idea alone. It has turned out to be a useful combination.
The scenic route to Cultish
A suspicious number of creative careers.
None of this was a neat five-year plan. Every chapter taught me something I now use to build brands.
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01Kindergarten
My first questionable business model.
My parents bought the sweets. I divided them into smaller packets and sold them back to family members. The supply chain was generous. The instinct to package, position and sell was already there.
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02Age 15
I started photographing weddings with my mom.
That became my own successful photography business. It taught me how to direct people, find the story quickly and make a feeling visible—usually while a wedding timeline was quietly on fire.
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03The theology chapter
I nearly took a very different route.
I studied theology and planned to pursue a master’s degree in cult studies. I never finished that path, but my fascination with belief, identity and why people gather around an idea never left. I am still a devout Christian. The brand name’s full-circle moment is not lost on me.
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04The photography years
The camera took me further than expected.
I photographed weddings internationally, was featured by 30 Under 30 Wedding Planners and was flown to Victoria Falls for work. I loved creating the world around an image just as much as taking it.
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05After my second daughter
I changed pace without giving up the work.
A high-risk pregnancy made photography’s pace impossible, and afterwards I did not want to keep leaving my babies. Children’s book illustration became the full-time plan. I have now illustrated nearly twenty books.
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06Now
I finally admitted branding was the thing.
Logos and websites had been the “side work” throughout every creative career. What I actually loved was building the whole business idea: the strategy, the language, the identity and the experience around it. Cultish is where all of those threads finally became one job.
Seven months. Many terrible names.
It took me longer to name Cultish than I care to admit.
Before Cultish there was Studio413, Fourie, Yatelier and almost every other name under the sun. I spent seven months trying to name the business.
Then I found the word cultish on a list of slang Gen Z was apparently using. It landed immediately because it described exactly what I wanted to make: bold brands with a clear point of view—brands that give the right people a reason to notice, choose and keep talking.
I am not interested in manufacturing mindless loyalty. I am interested in the positive psychology of belonging: a strong idea, expressed clearly enough that people recognise themselves in it.
Off the clock. Allegedly.
A full house and absolutely no spare time.
I am a homeschooling mother to two girls, a devout Christian and the person attempting to maintain order among three extremely committed dogs.
I live on a South African farm with my husband, who is both an avid farmer and an amateur MMA fighter. He also joined a reality show, so we are slowly becoming local television celebrities. At present, my grandmother remains the core audience.
Girls I homeschool
Dogs with opinions
Books illustrated
Reality-TV-fighter-farmer husband
“The goal is not to appeal to everyone. It is to become impossible for the right people to overlook.”
If that is what you want for your brand, I can help.
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