Something that really inspired you over the past year

 

This is hands down the people around me.

 

My staff, my family, my boyfriend. Even me! Just seeing how we adapt. I think much of it is a South African gene. We just get on with things. A pandemic? Its okay we have bills to pay. Looting? Lets pray for those in the area and rally around to get them food and provisions. No electricity? We have power banks and people up the road have a generator – oh and do you not know how to braai?

 

We just carry on going. We lift each other up and even drag each other when we need to. We cook meals for those who need it, collect food for the animals affected, donate to the charities most in need. Give up our professional time to assist businesses in need. Never really even thinking about how diminished our own cups have become.

 

And so as the slow down period of the year approaches, I urge you all to take a breath. To look at yourself and acknowledge how far you have come and what you have achieved. We are all so busy pushing for the next milestone and the next achievement that we forget to celebrate the every day ones. The small things we accomplish every day. just making it through this year, even this day, has taken some serious manoeuvring. I am proud of you. And you should be too. Happy holidays.

An obstacle overcome this year

 

When 23h59, 31 December 2020 rolled around, we all got to heave a huge sigh of relief as we bid a not-so-fond farewell to the year our lives changed forever.

 

Its over! We celebrated. Without family or friends, because, you know, COVID. Its all going to be so different next year! We laughed and felt overjoyed. Before 10, and sober. Because, you know, COVID.

 

And then…. 2021 came a knocking. With wave after wave. Loss after loss. Small businesses shut shop. Big businesses closed their doors. Mothers, fathers, frie4nds, sisters, brothers, took their last breath and had to be buried. Remotely. With no time or space for grieving. No comforting those they left behind. Because, you know, COVID.

 

Families were torn apart with borders being shut with no notice or warning. Some still having not been able to see their missing people nearly two years later. Nurses and doctors have sacrificed their mental health, their relationships, and often their lives in the scramble to help those infected.

 

I would say for me, the obstacle I overcame, WAS this year. it tried to knock us all down, but we have overcome and survived 100% of the days it has thrown at us. I am so grateful for all who have kept me company this year, and reminded me to keep getting up.

 

Now can we all sneak quietly into 2022 and not make any sudden movements please! Be blessed

How your passion became your business

  

I would say for me it was the other way around. When I was young, I wanted to be a lawyer. I have wanted to know WHY for most things in my life and was called argumentative. Turns out I actually just have a yearning for knowledge.

 

Unfortunately in high school I found it far more important to be popular than be a lawyer, or even get into university… oops. And so I studied a quick 6 month travel and tourism course and hey presto, my 5 year tourism career began.

 

I adored working with people. The clients loved me and my co-workers and I all got on like a house on fire. It was amazing. But I became a very young mom unexpectedly and I could no longer work the long hours required of me with the commute to Sandton daily. And so I left, for a temp assignment.

 

It was at my fathers company, and my mom worked for him. That was it. He had some temp staff in and out but they were the business. It has been around for 5 years when I joined. I understood none of what it did, and  had no clue about the clients. It wasn’t travel, that was for sure. It was boring, and very grown up. So many rules. Added to that, my parents and I had never got along. So it was NOT my dream job and sure was not conducive to a happy work experience for me. But it had been agreed that it was only for 6 months, and so I had this time to find another job, and get the hell out of dodge!

 

So six months came. I had only just started learning what the company did, and we had just won a really nice tender. We needed to recruit, we needed to train and we needed to get the work done. And so began a rollercoaster 20 year journey.

 

I fell in love with what I did. I fell in love with being able to grow people. Invest in them and watch them flourish. Or, tough as it was, I watched people who just weren’t the right fit, get bitter, get angry, and just not be able to leave us quickly enough. Tough lesson. Very very personal for me. But passion is messy. Its fiery. Its tears, and laughter, and fighting, and making up. VCA is my passion. It has consumed me and become my passion. My dad left the business 18 years ago and my mom nearly 4. I have paid money, bled, fought, and sacrificed for this company. And in return its fed me, clothed me, seen two children through school, and its still standing.

 

I am very proud of my journey, and when I actually stop and think about it, I am very proud of me. my passion is my business, and my business is passion.

Are you a glass half full or half empty kinda girl? Or is it sometimes half full and sometimes half empty?

 

I would love to say I am a glass half full kind of girl. I have read books, listened to podcasts, watched ted talks. I have practiced positivity, attracted the hell out of the universe. I have affirmed, I have afformed. And yet… if I am totally honest, every now and again the whole sky does fall. The stars and the moon even come crashing down.

 

The glass cracks the contents pour out and the end of the world presents itself. In that moment, there is no escape. There is no reprieve. There is no silver lining. All you can feel is your frustration. All you can see is your disappointment. And all you can taste is pain. And this is NORMAL. We are meant to feel our emotions. Every single one. for if we do not feel fear how will we know security? Or contentment? If we do not feel loss how will we know that we are feeling blessed and abundant?

 

We are meant to experience them all yet must be very careful not to dwell in the dark spaces. Get knocked over. Lie on your back. Feel the hurt and let the tears come. But then, see the stars above you, and know that only you can do this journey. Only you can reach for them. swing over onto your knees… and slowly get back up.

 

So lose the glass. Lose the measurements. Get in touch with your feelings. Know them. Welcome them. And when necessary, move through them

 

And be kind to one another

What's it like having a small business and having employees to look after?

 

When I was asked by Andile Masuku, of Its My Biz, this question, very wet behind the ears, the answer I gave was that its like running a household. Being the mom. Making sure that everybody has what they need to be successful, happy and thriving.

 

And I would say, 8 years on and a wealth of experience behind the belt, that this still stands true for me. Maybe it is because we are an SMME. Maybe its because we are a company of women. Maybe its because I am one of the office oldies. But whatever the reason, my role within VCA is the Mom. I motivate. I punish. I chastise. I reward. I advise, I comfort, I plan.

 

I have been a single mommy for 19 years, and possibly that’s why I identify so strongly with this role. Possibly that is the reason I give so selflessly and expect nothing in return. Because it comes so naturally. But I have worked at VCA for 20 years, and she has caused me immense pride, huge pain, and great loss. And yet such wonderful growth and joy. The faces in the chairs have changed throughout the years, the face looking back from the mirror has too, but my passion and my fire still burns bright!

 

Viva VCA viva!