#BehindtheSelfie with... Tasmin Kingma

This week, we go behind the selfie with Tasmin Kingma, head of media at Hoorah Digital.
Kingma captions this: “Clients come before making sure my hair looks perfect.”
Kingma captions this: “Clients come before making sure my hair looks perfect.”

1. Where do you live, work and play?

Cape Town used to be Tasmin HQ, but I decided to make a change to Johannesburg. Great new experiences ahead!

2. What’s your claim to fame?

Yet to be found!

3. Describe your career so far.

It’s been fast paced and when I think back, I wouldn’t have expected to be where I am, now. My career ranges from starting in a tech ad-ops role to moving into programmatic when it wasn’t even a real thing in SA, building a successful programmatic trading desk in less than two years, experiencing and being part of a big corporate merger, and now having the privilege of being part of and helping to build a fast-paced startup with big vision.

4. Tell us a few of your favourite things.

Goats, nature, goats, anything that challenges the norm, travelling to places that make you feel uncomfortable, thunderstorms after a scorching hot day.

View this post on Instagram

I heart #goats

A post shared by TasminK (@tasmin_k) on

Did I say goats?

5. What do you love about your industry?

The moment you feel as though you ‘got this’ is the moment you plummet down again, realising that you still have a long road to go.

6. Describe your average workday, if such a thing exists.

I used to plan my days and weeks but stopped doing so as it’s impossible. It normally ranges from meetings (only the productive kind), to taking calls in Ubers on the way to clients, tech talk, performance talk, interviews, strategy for both the company and performance implementation, number crunching and dealing with the daily unknown.

7. What are the tools of your trade?

  • Marketing technology platforms
  • Smart people
  • Data
  • Research platforms
  • Logic

8. Who is getting it right in your industry?
Let’s first define ‘getting it right’ – to be good in digital takes a lot of hard work, constantly.

9. List a few pain points the industry can improve on.

Don’t be scared of technology and the power it holds. Data is important, not just the big creative idea.

10. What are you working on right now?

Working with our teams to build our office in Johannesburg, 2019 strategies, and I’m part of the new digital media team for Nedbank retail and business banking.

11. Tell us some of the buzzwords floating around in your industry at the moment, and some of the catchphrases you utter yourself.

Digital disruption – something I totally believe is true.

However, doing more of the same or just following the things we know doesn’t qualify as disruption.

12. Where and when do you have your best ideas?

When I don’t try to think about things too much. Random moments of zoning a bit, like on train rides and flights.

13. What’s your secret talent/party trick?

Depends where I’m at…

14. Are you a technophobe or a technophile?

If I were a technophobe, I’d be in the wrong industry!

15. What would we find if we scrolled through your phone?

Nothing strange, just apps organised in folders, lots of pictures of travels and super active chats. I always run low on battery.

16. What advice would you give to newbies hoping to crack into the industry?

Learn the basics of marketing technology first and the importance of data. Never think that you’ve learned enough.

Simple as that. Kingma confirms she’s an Insta girl. Her personal profile is @Tasmin_K, and you can follow @hoorahdigital for all their cool office pics and videos. You can also follow ‏Hoorah and Kingma on Twitter.

*Interviewed by Leigh Andrews.

About Leigh Andrews

Leigh Andrews AKA the #MilkshakeQueen, is former Editor-in-Chief: Marketing & Media at Bizcommunity.com, with a passion for issues of diversity, inclusion and equality, and of course, gourmet food and drinks! She can be reached on Twitter at @Leigh_Andrews.
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