Although I have always seen myself as gregarious, I never saw myself as a feminist. Now, after many years of exposure to a world of inequality, abuse and general misconduct by a patriarchal society, I have chosen activism over complicity. I am a feminist in training.
I have our national grocer, SPAR to thank for my new identity and invigorated behaviour towards making our diverse world a more equitable place, including combatting gender inequality. I was introduced to SPAR in 2017 by way of the SPAR Women’s Challenge in Tshwane where I was invited by Retha Ingenbleek, SPAR North Rand’s Sponsorship Controller, to emcee the start of the biggest and notably ‘most beautiful’ race I have ever experienced! Following my involvement in my first SPAR Women’s Challenge Race which included working side-by-side with famous JacarandaFM presenters and calling onto stage headline entertainers, such as Casper Nyovest, I became a full-fledged SPAR Brand Ambassador.
In my role as ambassador, my duties are as meaningful as they are fun. Most of all, I get to work with so many philanthropists from various sectors of society, including government, non-profit organisations, commercial businesses, media, other SPAR Ambassadors and beneficiaries who refuse to become idle expecting handouts, but who instead readily roll-up their sleeves to overcome adversity.
The majority of my work with SPAR, over the last five years, has involved the empowerment of women and children, engaging and motivating SPAR staff and fighting to end gender based violence. This marks my sixth SPAR Women’s Challenge (including three virtual races), plus Netball SA and USSA (for Netball) engagements, SPAR Botswana virtual talks for their Women 2 Women business breakfast meetings and numerous school engagements on behalf of the world class brand. The consistent objectives that weave themselves like a golden thread through all of my work with SPAR is the empowerment and enrichment of community. In today’s selfish world overcome by greed, I consider myself blessed to have a like-hearted warrior organisation that thrives on partnerships in the community on a local and national level to help South Africa realise its amazing potential.