We spoke with her to find out more about her background, what she does in her spare time and what she hopes for the future…
I am a strategic communicator: I help businesses to achieve their strategic business objectives by keeping employees informed and engaged.
Businesses have a lot of smart people with a lot of really smart things to say, and I help these people say it well, to the right audiences, at the right time. One of my favourite tools of the trade is storytelling. Storytelling is a universal language; we have been told stories since we were children, and they move us and inspire us to act.
An exceptionally independent and confident person, who is incredibly camera shy – taking this selfie can only be equated to climbing Mount Everest.
I am the last born of 13 children, and I was raised ‘free range’ in a village, running around and climbing trees. That is where my independence and confidence come from. My parents always trusted me to make the right decisions unsupervised and most of the time, I did. This trust exchange relationship defined how I have chosen to interact with others. I am a trusting and trustworthy person.
I wanted to be a doctor, like my father, only my father was not a doctor - he was a nurse. I only found out when I was between nine and 10 years old after I had stood in front of the class and shared with them my dream to be a doctor like my father.
The teacher started pummelling me with a million questions. I could tell he did not believe my father was a doctor. I got home and told my sister, who started to laugh while calling my brother. This is the day I discovered my father was a nurse.
In my defence, he was a man, and in those days male nurses were rare.
Being completely honest, by chance - or rather serendipitously. I did not choose the degree I studied, it was available, so I chose it. However, I love what I do so much that I think the universe chose it for me.
It is not an event, it is the day I realised I no longer had to fight to get a seat at the table where strategic decisions were made, and the chair was pulled for me.
This happened because I had worked hard to build trust in my abilities, and I had won the confidence of the organisation. In my role as a communicator, I never want to hear this is how we want to communicate, I want to hear, this is what we have to say, help us say it in the best possible way.
I like to take a drive to Magaliesburg, Hartbeespoort, or Muldersdrift on Sundays, and find a spot to eat, drink and meet new people. It is by far my favourite thing to do.
Listening to: Kendrick Lamar –Mr Morale & The Big Stepper
Rewatching: 30 Rock
Reading: As Nature Made Him by John Colapinto
I want to be happy, healthy and fitter. If I am still in corporate, I want to have climbed a few more steps. If I started my own business, I want to have hired some employees.
