Master the mind to finish strong
Nearly two decades, Dr Keitumetse “Tumi” Mashego has championed self-mastery as both a personal discipline and a professional calling. Her story reflects the power of the mind to transform adversity into purpose, performance, and lasting impact.
I am Dr Keitumetse “Tumi” Mashego, a Black South African woman born in Polokwane, and the daughter of two academics whose love for education shaped my life from the very beginning. My father earned his PhD in Zoology in 1982, and my mother is a professor of Clinical Psychology who uniquely combined psychology with mathematics.
I grew up in a home where learning, discipline, curiosity, and excellence were non-negotiable. I have two siblings, both in science fields, and together we were raised with the understanding that education is both a privilege and a responsibility.
Being African, to me, means resilience, purpose, and responsibility to community. I carry with me the pride, values, and work ethic inherited from my parents and ancestors, lessons of perseverance, leadership, and service. These foundations continue to shape how I see the world and how I show up in it.
I have spent 19 years in the field as a Clinical and Sports Psychologist, working with diverse clientele across individual, organisational, academic, and elite sporting environments. I run a part-time private practice that I established in 2006 and am the founder of RebaOne Wellness.
I am also a performance and mindset life coach, senior lecturer, wellness and skills workshop facilitator, and a high-performance team development specialist. My work has taken me onto local and international platforms from corporate events and conferences to radio, television, and academic spaces.
I believe I was born and called to do this work. I serve my Creator through my gift. My journey has been shaped not only by academic training, but by lived experience navigating race, language barriers, age, perfectionism, burnout, emotional abuse, and autism. These experiences forced me to do the inner work so that I could truly hear my clients and show up for them authentically. I intervene not only from theory, but from the place of personal overcoming.
I started school at the age of four and matriculated at sixteen. I was also a competitive athlete running the 100m, 200m, and 400m, and playing provincial netball. In February 1998, I broke three Limpopo provincial athletics records in one day. Sport taught me early lessons about discipline, resilience, and the power of the mind, lessons that would later define my professional path.
I initially thought I would become an optometrist, but during my first year at Rand Afrikaans University (now the University of Johannesburg), I changed direction to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Human Physiology. This decision was influenced by my love for psychology, my observation of my mother’s passion, and my dream of working with athletes as a sports psychologist.
The journey was not without challenges. I navigated race and language barriers, studying mathematics in Afrikaans, and often being the youngest in academic spaces. At the age of 20, I became the first student to graduate from RAU with the newly introduced degree in Human Physiology and Psychology, graduating with both my undergraduate and honours degrees on the same day.
In 2003, I was accepted into the professional Master’s programme in Clinical Psychology at the University of Limpopo, one of only eight students, and the youngest. In April 2005, I qualified with a Master of Science in Clinical Psychology at the age of 23, becoming one of the youngest clinical psychologists in South Africa. By May 2006, I was a registered independent clinical psychologist and had founded RebaOne Wellness.
That same year, I self-published my memoir, Trapped in Love, which chronicles my journey of healing from emotional abuse.
Early in my career, I experienced severe burnout. Rather than allowing it to define me, it became a catalyst for diversification and deeper purpose. I pursued further certifications in Sports Psychology, AIDS Risk Management, and Industrial and Organisational Psychology.
I expanded my work into wellness facilitation, lecturing, organisational interventions, athlete performance support, and training future psychiatrists and clinical psychologists.
In 2012, I completed an MBA through Tshwane University of Technology and received an award for excellence in the Human Resources module despite having no formal accounting or economics background.
Motivated by my own burnout experience, I went on to complete a PhD in Consulting Psychology at UNISA in 2019, focusing on burnout among young Generation Y medical doctors in South Africa’s public health system.
Writing that book was both deeply personal and profoundly liberating. The story resonated widely and positioned me as the #FaceOfHopeAndHealing not as someone who had it all together, but as someone who chose healing and transformation. Since then, I have been invited to speak on numerous platforms, locally and internationally, advocating for mental health, self-mastery, and holistic wellness.
My career milestones span athletics, academia, entrepreneurship, authorship, and advocacy from breaking provincial sports records in 1998, to becoming one of the youngest clinical psychologists in South Africa, earning multiple postgraduate degrees, authoring a memoir, and partnering with institutions such as GIBS and JP Morgan on programmes like Victory is Hers, which provides psychological support and self-mastery interventions for women entrepreneurs and survivors of gender-based violence.
At the core of my legacy is self-mastery. I believe the mind is one of the most powerful tools we possess, capable of taking us beyond imagination if we learn to master it. As a former athlete, I have lived this truth.
As a psychologist, I teach it. As a human being, I continue to practice it daily. My work is centred on ending the stigma around seeking professional help and empowering people to take charge of their inner world so they can finish strong in every area of life.
One of the most defining challenges I overcame was emotional abuse experienced early in my career. Although the relationship lasted only a year, the psychological impact lingered for nearly eight years.
Healing required intentional work, courage, and honesty. Publishing Trapped in Love was part of reclaiming my voice and purpose. That journey shaped me into the clinician, coach, and advocate I am today.
My turning point came when I chose not to shrink in the face of burnout, doubt, or adversity but instead to step fully into my calling. Diversifying my practice, deepening my business acumen, publishing my story, and expanding into performance psychology were all conscious decisions to align with purpose.
If I were to summarise my career in one sentence, it would be this “Aim to master self in order to thrive in this life.”
I am deeply grateful to my parents, Professors Teresa Anne B. Mashego and Sevid N. Mashego, whose unconditional love, leadership, and passion for education shaped who I am. I am also thankful to Dr Thoriso Mashego and Mr Lebogang Mashego.
I honour my spiritual mentor, Ms Mohau Molepe, and all those who have supported, inspired, and believed in my voice including my clients, collaborators, platforms, and cheerleaders.
