The Bruinou Podcast Ep 4 - Beyond the Headlines: Journalism, Trauma & Belonging with Vauldi Carelse

In The Bruinou Podcast Episode 4 we meet Vauldi Carelse and go Beyond the Headlines to discuss Journalism, Trauma & Belonging.

Ryan Swano 9 November 2026, 12:26

Beyond the Headlines: Journalism, Trauma, and Belonging with Vauldi Carelse

What does it mean to tell other people’s stories … and what does that ask of the person doing the telling?

In this episode of The BruinOu Podcast, Robyn and Candice sit down with journalist Vauldi Carelse, whose career has taken her across South Africa, East Africa and the Middle East, working in newsrooms including Sky News, the BBC and CGTN.
But this conversation goes beyond the bylines.

Vaudi Carele on being rooted in ancestry, culture and place

Vauldi reflects on growing up in Graaff-Reinet, on crossing the railway tracks between different worlds, and on the early experiences that shaped her understanding of race, belonging and identity. She speaks about being Coloured as something rooted in ancestry, culture and place – something that has at times been carried quietly, and at other times proudly.

There is also memory here: family homes full of children, six o’clock news that demanded silence, pickled fish and hot cross buns at Easter, aunties who are not always simply aunties, and the kind of kinship where, somebody will always know where you come from.

Vauldi also takes us inside the emotional reality of journalism: what it means to enter spaces of trauma, to listen without extracting, to recognise when a question should not be asked, and to hold onto yourself in an industry that can scrutinise how you look, sound and belong.

It is a conversation about witnessing, reclamation, home and the responsibility of storytelling.

And underneath it all is a reminder: where you come from shapes you, but it does not have to limit where you can go.

About The Bruinou Podcast

First came Bruinou.com, then we brought you Bruinou TV.
Now it is our pleasure to introduce you to The Bruinou Podcast.

Bruinou.com and Bruinou TV have been creating space for Coloured South African voices, culture, creativity and community for years. Today, we’re proud to be working alongside sisters Robyn & Candice as collaborators and partners in their new creation, The Bruinou Podcast.

Presented and produced by Robyn in Birmingham, UK & Candice in Johannesburg, RSA, the podcast builds on that connection in a new way: through conversations that preserve our stories, memories, experiences and the legacies we leave behind.
Co-creator of The Bruinou Podcast, Candice Klein-Mutendi is also a content contributor on our website.