Loeries Chairperson on her Plans to Empower Women

What does the role of Chairperson actually require?

Andrew Human, CEO of the Loeries, explained that it's my job to promote the Loeries and push creativity in every way. The four pillars of the Loeries are to reward, recognise, inspire and foster creative excellence. So when I took on the role, I decided to use the position to also stand for something.

When I was appointed last year, I spoke about the role I can play in transformation around women and race. I recapped my story about my beginnings in the industry and how unsavoury it was. I wanted to put a focus on young women in the industry as they're often not brought up to the right leadership levels and there's no connection between them and the senior leaders. That speech literally inspired the Open Chair initiative because I spoke about i spoke about how I wanted the empty seats in the auditorium to be filled by young women in future years and the importance of being able to pull a chair up next to someone in the office and ask questions. I don't think the industry is currently attractive enough for young women to feel like they can pursue careers in more senior roles, as ECDs and MDs.

I was allowed to bring two people onto the Loeries committee and I picked Jenny Glover (ECD at TBWA Hunt Lascaris) and Simone Bosman (EP/founder at Molo Sana Films) because I knew they would share my vision and together we officially launched Open Chair last week. 

(Pictured above L-R: Suhana Gordhan, Jenny Glover and Simoné Bosman)

How will Open Chair operate going forward?

We're going to do it four events per year, throughout South Africa. The main point of the event is to create access between senior people who have industry experience and younger people - who are either starting out following university; at the beginning of their careers; or even middleweight creatives. The idea is to be able to give them the mentorship they require through the format of speed dating.

Each event will feature a talk from an inspirational woman - last week's was led by Facebook Africa's CEO, Nunu Ntshingila, who was also the Loeries' hall of fame recipient in 2016.

The first event was beautifully-received and everyone responded that they wanted more of this sort of thing which suggested to me that a) it seem to be working and b) that it didn't exist before.

What else have you introduced since you assumed the role of chairperson?

I've also been looking at transforming the judging panels - not just by throwing a sprinkling of black people into panels but by asking agencies to submit names of people they thought would be competent at judge and who have been overlooked in the past. And there were a serious of "little victories" that I've been working on too. Like we introduced a judging brief, which asks juries to critique work that perpetuates racial, gender or cultural stereotypes. Awareness is hugely important in our industry - and although, it's been a collective effort from my committee, I definitely wanted to use the platform for this.

What sort of preparation did you have to do for the role?

The prep just required me to lean on the unofficial mentors I have in my life. I spoke to everyone I know that would add value to my decision to ask them their opinion. Should I take this role? What I should do with it? etc... I wanted to make sure I was ready.

Has being chairperson of the Loeries lived up to expectation?

It's exceeded my expectations completely. It's definitely not an easy task because it's taken place over my other job and everything I had to do took place after hours. It was difficult juggling my responsibilities but I kept reminding myself that it's a role that only lasts two years. I did ask Andrew (Human) whether I could leave if I didn't like it... but he said no!

What have you learnt so far?

A lot! Especially about how supportive the industry can be. When you express an intent or a vision that people resonate with, they will join you to offer enough support to make it a reality. That was a big learning curve as well as the logistics of planning for an event like the Loeries. It's been a big year but I'm glad I took it on.