Bridging the Gap

I grew up in Tongaat, a small town on the North Coast of KwaZulu-Natal. Coming from a traditional Indian home, the careers that were seen as suitable were either to become a Doctor, Lawyer, Teacher or Engineer. A marketing and advertising career was never seen as an option as it was believed it was a never a sustainable career with financial renumeration.

I chose to study a business degree and accidently fell in love with marketing by studying the marketing focused modules. Fast-forward several years, I could not ignore my inner passion and interest towards the diverse world of marketing and the vast prospects that shaped the industry.

In 1991, I moved to Johannesburg and landed my first job at M-Net as a production assistant. This was the beginning of a very exciting 22-year journey with the Multichoice Group, where my last position held at the group was Corporate Marketing and Communications Director. In 2013, I was appointed as the first female CEO for the VWV group and in March 2016, CEO of dentsu South Africa where I have spent the last 6.5 years at the global marketing and advertising agency.

Most recently, I have been appointed as the CEO of Publicis Groupe Africa effective from the 1st February 2023 where I will be responsible for all the operations of the organisation in South Africa and across the continent including creative, media, PR and influencer, production, commerce, data and technology.

Throughout my career, I have always pride myself on being a result orientated and authentic leader with a passion for diversity, equity and inclusion and building high-performance, diverse teams that nurture and cultivate our next generation of leaders.

If anyone knows me, you will know that I have a very strong passion for inspirational leadership, marketing, and women empowerment. My passion for women empowerment, mentorship and community upliftment was fulfilled by developing and launching the M-Net Cares brand which focused on early detection of breast cancer and literacy for previously disadvantaged students. At VWV, I launched the Phakama Women’s Academy which is targeted at final year marketing university students to equip and empower them for the corporate world.

In 2019 and 2021, I (together with the dentsu team) successfully launched Female Foundry in South Africa (a global, dentsu initiative) which has been established to bridge the gap in gender parity by offering experienced training and mentorship to empower and develop the skills of female entrepreneurs.

In addition to launching programmes professionally, I have always carried the personal belief and passion for upliftment in the marketing and advertising industry.

I currently sit as Chairperson on the Advertising Media Forum (AMF) board, I judge various industry awards and believe as a senior leader, I have the responsibility to encourage and advocate the marketing and advertising industry as a promising and exciting career to women and the youth of South Africa. Over the last two decades, I have been in many situations where I have been one of the few females around a boardroom table. The diversity of thought amongst different genders is crucial to create a balanced, collaborative, creative, successful and thriving workplace that not only breeds diversity but encourages women to have a voice and to be heard. However, giving more women a seat at the boardroom table is more than just creating diversity, it acts as an inspiration and creates a knock-on effect for other future female leaders to grow, aspire and to make a meaningful impact.

In additional to my professional career and growth, I have always struggled with juggling a healthy work-life balance. I adopted the attitude with my family that quality time is more important than quantity as well as being present in the moment whilst we create cherished and lasting memories.

I have chosen to carry the below saying with me throughout my journey and reminded myself of it many, many times when I lose sight of what is important.

“My career is a rubber ball, if it falls, it will bounce back, but my family is my crystal ball, and if that drops it shatters”

My career has not always been smooth sailing, I have, and hope to continue having, many highlights along the way but there are also countless learnings which I hope will inspire many individuals along their journey to success.

• Protect your crystal ball
• Embrace your inner tenacity
• Learn from your failures and never see them as a setback.
• Uplift and make a positive lasting difference to those around you
• Confidence and resilience will always be your biggest asset
• Remain authentic and have high focus on your moral compass
• Focus on sisterhood and open more seats for women around the boardroom table
• Make time to mentor others or seek a mentor to guide you along your journey
• Invest and embrace the value of networking as your network is your biggest net worth.

And lastly, success is one aspect, but significance is more important.