The Weight of Separatedness: A Conversation with Wendy Alexander

It was a quiet afternoon when I sat down to talk with Wendy Alexander via the internet call, but nothing about our conversation was quiet. Her voice carried decades of experience—layered with pain, resilience, and an unmistakable spark of determination. In the space between her words, there was a hum of something rare: clarity that only comes from walking through fire and finding your own way out.

Wendy grew up in Cape Town, South Africa, during the ruthless and dehumanizing era of Apartheid. To hear her speak of that time is to understand how deeply systems of injustice can mark a life—and how powerful the human spirit can be in defying them.

As a young girl, Wendy tells the story of being on the beach—a rare moment of childhood freedom—when she was suddenly confronted by "black shoes." That’s how she remembers the police officers who came, uninvited and unrelenting, to enforce the brutal logic of Apartheid. She was tracing the frame of a cop with her eyes while playing ith her brother in the sand—simply playing, when this man descended, yelling, threatening, reminding her in no uncertain terms that her presence, her body, her skin, were not welcome in that space. She didn’t yet know the full word—separation—but she felt it settle into her bones.

That moment, and others like it, became cornerstones of Wendy's understanding of the world. She was growing up in a place where everything—schools, sidewalks, restrooms, even the air it seemed—was divided. And not just divided, but charged with fear and violence and a cold kind of cruelty that teaches children very young who is allowed to belong, and who is not.

But Wendy didn’t stay where that world tried to place her. In fact, she’s made a life of stepping beyond the lines drawn for her.

Becoming Wendy

What makes Wendy Alexander such a remarkable person isn’t just what she’s lived through—it’s what she’s done with it.

She went on to become a successful corporate talent, speaker, and global connector. She built her own business and created Happy Career Hub—a space that helps others do the same. But none of it came easily.

Wendy has been a single mother. She's known what it’s like to carry the weight of responsibility alone. She's known setbacks that could have shattered her—but didn’t. Every job, every challenge, every obstacle that was supposed to stop her ended up becoming another layer of her foundation.

What struck me most during our conversation was her ingenuity. Wendy has this incredible way of taking whatever she’s been given—even if it's scraps—and building something meaningful with it. Whether it was navigating complex immigration systems, or starting over in a new country, or breaking into industries that weren’t built to welcome people like her, she did it all with sharpness, strategy, and soul.

The Cost of Courage

Listening to Wendy, I kept thinking about how courage often has a cost. It’s not the glamorous kind of courage we’re sold in movies. It’s the daily kind. The kind that shows up in silence, in the small decisions to keep going, to speak up, to push forward when nobody’s clapping.

Wendy spoke candidly about her early experiences with being made to feel “separate.” Not just as a girl on a beach in Cape Town—but later, as a woman in boardrooms, business circles, and bureaucracies. Separatedness became a kind of theme, a challenge she had to outgrow again and again.

And yet, she’s never allowed herself to be defined by it. In fact, it’s made her more inclusive, more driven, more empathetic. When she helps others now—through her coaching, her mentorship, and her speaking—she draws from the deepest well of lived experience.

She’s not guessing. She knows.

What We Can Learn from Wendy Alexander

In a time where the world feels more fractured than ever, Wendy’s story reminds us that separation is not the end. It’s a beginning—if we let it be.

We can learn from her courage. We can learn from her unwillingness to shrink in the face of exclusion. We can learn from the way she’s turned every hard thing into a tool—not just for herself, but for others.

Wendy teaches us that resilience is not some fixed trait. It’s something you build. One step at a time. Often in the dark. Often without applause.

She also shows us what real success looks like. It’s not just titles or income or visibility. It’s integrity. It’s purpose. It’s lifting others while you climb. And that’s exactly what she’s done.

If you want to learn more about Wendy Alexander and her work, I encourage you to visit her website: https://happycareerhub.com

And to hear our full conversation, you can watch my interview with Wendy on YouTube.

You’ll hear the full depth of her story in her own words—and I promise, it’s a story you won’t forget.

Until next time,

Matt Pierce