At the beginning of September 2023, Dr Judy Dlamini, the founder and chair of the Female Academic Leaders Fellowship (FALF), reflected on FALF’s progress in its pursuit of transformation in academia. Formed in 2020, FALF was an independent, registered, non-profit company that aimed specifically to empower black and coloured women from South Africa to progress into academic leadership at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). FALF had been instrumental in continuing the development of a pipeline of female academic leaders at Wits and intended to expand this initiative beyond Wits. But, one of Dlamini’s immediate considerations was to evaluate the impact of FALF. Had FALF been successful, she asked herself, in changing the faces of professors and senior academic leaders at Wits?