I have been married to my husband, Johann, for 15 years. We have three beautiful children, two boys with a princess in the middle, and live in the Northern Suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa. Being a mom has had a profound influence on my work and the person I’m growing into. I have come to know both the vulnerability and strength that parenthood and motherhood in particular holds. Being a mom keeps me on my knees.
In my free time you will find me with my nose in a book, eating popcorn in a cinema or enjoying the country life (I’m a city slicker with a heart for the country). I am proudly South African, but love to travel and meet people with different stories and viewpoints than my own. Having compassion with other people’s experiences and collaborating with them to co-create new meanings and understandings is what drives me. I love the unexpected and welcome novel ideas.
Professionally I served various influential companies, including Medi-Clinic, Life, Netcare, Toy Kingdom, Disney UK, Pam Golding Properties, Coca-Cola SA and many more as lead researcher and intellectual capital developer; relationship & experience manager; transformative engagement, communication and creative strategist; PR professional; EQ specialist; writer; marketing and brand director and business administrator.
My experience can be summarised as follows:
– BA in Public Relations. Currently busy with MA in Compassionate, Narratively Engaged (Patient-Centred) Healthcare
– 16+ years’ experience as marketing, communication & business manager on a national and international level
– Founded marketing agency and managed a team of 7, as well as its blue chip client portfolio profitably for 7 years
– Lectured marketing at the University of the Cape Peninsula to Second Year Marketing Students
– Did extensive research in both marketing to children, as well as the development of children. Author of a variety of well-publicized interviews and articles on the ethics of marketing to families with young children
– Established the Pam Golding Affordable Housing Marketing Department and developed the blue print for marketing & selling to the emerging markets in Africa and South Africa. Also contracted as Marketing Director for Toy Kingdom by Super Brands
– Established Love Alda Maternal Photography & Mentoring in 2013 and was appointed as a patient-centered columnist for Your Pregnancy. Founded the South African Birth Photographers Association (SABPA) with the aim to bridge the gap between medicine and the humanities
– Appointed as Origin Clinic and Carmien Rooibos’s birth professional of choice
– Developed an ante-natal video course “At the Heart of Birth” which aims to educate expectant parents on the importance of informed health choices in birth
– Obtained an average of 8.5 in IELTS (International English Language) English language proficiency for listening, reading, writing and speaking in 2017
For more you may visit my Linkedin Profile