John Klukas | The Legacy Project

Dr Marlene Wasserman is an internationally trained Clinical Sexologist & Couple and Sex Therapist in Private Practice in SA and New York and founder of the Dr Eve brand and enterprise. She is an Academic, Educator, Author of 4 books, a well known media celebrity on both TV and radio and a single Mum to three.

Dr Eve, Definition Of Success | Commonly the word ’Success” is associated with material wealth. People judge others as being successful according to external appearances and accumulation of, what I call, clutter.   Whilst material wealth may be an offshoot of people’s hard work, I don’t define this for myself as the goal or meaning of success. My definition of “success’ is “personal happiness”. It’s a very private feeling. Life is tough, so attaining happiness is a magnificent achievement. My definition has never changed. I’ve never strived nor been motivated to be successful or wealth driven. I am driven to be happy. I am proud that I have succeeded in making a difference to the lives of many people in South Africa and internationally.

I Am Driven By | Sheer passion and commitment to ensure the rights of people to happiness are met and that means that their right to sexual health, sexual pleasure and safety from violence are met. I am driven by the part of me that is a strong activist. I cannot tolerate injustice and prejudice and so am driven to educate as many people as I can.

The Magic in me may originate from | Hunger! I have been a single mom for 30 years so my “Magic” came from the need to be very creative to survive and feed and educate myself and my three kids . My magic is being able to optimise on situations, create opportunities and due to my ongoing intellectual curiosity, to be innovative and cutting-edge

A Key Talent |  Genuine passion for what I do
Hours and hours of work
Creativity – presenting unique ideas regularly whilst being loyal to my principles and my brand
Being constantly ‘academically rigorous’ so I remain scientifically informed
Strategically placing myself on multiple platforms to be able to reach as many diverse people as possible.
Having a strong international presence both academically and publically.
Surrounding myself with people who add value – both professionally and personally
Managing money well
Managing my health and well-being as a priority
Being very generous with the media – they in turn have been more than generous with me

How I Use My Mind | I am a therapist so I had to adjust my mind to become a business-person. And not only a business-person but also a media personality and a celebrity, plus manage my brand. I expanded my thinking by reading extensively across all genres, from business to brand management to financial well-being and from the get-go became very skilled on social media. I have gained really great skills!

Lessons I Have Learnt | Choose people well – both on a personal as well as a professional level. Relationships are the most significant determinant of happiness in your life. Trust your gut. Only surround yourself with people who serve you well, who add value to your life, and to whose life you wish to add value. My biggest regret is the amount of time and money I spent on people who misrepresented their skills. It was an expensive way for me to learn to become very informed about all aspects of my business so I knew what questions to ask these so-called “experts” and to know when they were or were not skilled enough to do what was required.

Dealing With Doubt | I am an entrepreneur. Daily I have to create my own income plus pay salaries. That is scary, as any entrepreneur will tell you. It pushed me into a strategy that I continue to use: plant many seeds and see what will come up. In other words I never put all my eggs in one basket. I Can’t say I ever had self-doubt – I was always very clear to me that what I was doing was really, really important and valuable.

Performing At My Peak | As I age this becomes more important to me than ever. I invest time into my health, mentally, intellectually and physically. Being a therapist requires hours and hours of sitting still in a chair in a therapy room all day. I excerise almost daily, choosing body movement – mostly dance, pilates and yoga. I live a very healthy lifestyle of no alcohol, no caffeine and no meat. I make time to read and most significantly to travel and engage in meaningful relationships .

Resources I Use To Stay Inspired | Vital to my well-being, I am a compulsive book buyer so have piles of books around me and actually also read them daily. My book choices are beautiful literature, complicated works of fiction, as well as academic journals and books. Currently I am training online in trauma work so I am reading extensively on trauma for my course. Daily I listen to a classical music lesson podcast. I am fanatical about classical music and opera so regularly attend performances and concerts, both locally and internationally. I am movie mad but only noveau movies. Lets say the cinema is my second home – documentaries, opera movies as well as complex art movies are essential to my well-being. And without a doubt the people who inspire me most are my children, their partners and my grandchild.