Changing Faces: EA to First Rand Group CEO

So, where did you grow up?

I grew up in a township in the East Rand called Vosloorus.

What do you now?
I work as the Executive Assistant to the FirstRand Group CEO and the Head of the FNB Innovators Programme

What did you study and are you using it at all in your current role?
I studied Actuarial Science. I use the way in which I have been taught to think and solve complex and non-standard problems. Not so much the exact application of the technical skills taught.

How long have you been working and what do you miss about student life?
I have been working for 5 years.
I miss having that much free time!! I could have used it more effectively though.

Tell us about your work typical day.
I typically start my day with a bout of exercise (if I am not held hostage by my snooze button) and then head to the office and kick off my day before 7am
I get through emails and make final preparations for the day, which would have been started the night before. I attend a number of project meetings, management committee meetings and board meetings. I also do a fair bit of writing reports for different reasons and the research and reading that comes with it. No two days are the same.
My day usually ends at 6.30 and I head home for supper and do a last bit of work thereafter to prepare for the next day.

Do you encounter any challenges that specifically come with being a young black woman in corporate SA?
There will always be challenges, regardless of race, gender or any other factor on which people may use to discriminate against you.
What sets the ones who succeed apart from those who don't is how they deal with it

Taking what you've said in your previous answer into consideration. Can you give an example of one particular experience and how u think it could be countered/managed going forward? 
Years ago in my first management job, working for an older white male with invaluable experience, I sat in a meeting that I was chairing and the two other people in the room just never looked at me and addressed all their attention and questions to my boss. I was the youngest and only black person in the room. It was uncomfortable and didn't leave me feeling happy at all. I resolved then to always have my work speak for me as it could not be debated and had the ability to transcend prejudice. Recently one of those two people in that meeting, who have left the business had tracked me down on LinkedIn to keep in touch and work together in future as well as being one of the first people to congratulate me on recent promotion.

Three tips for people keen to join your line of work?
Be clear on what you want out of your career 
Be deliberate, don't be a victim of chance
Don't be afraid to float away from the norm and develop a unique set of skills