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#WomensMonth: Meet Kara Gouveia, Homemation's marketing lead
26 Aug 2022
As the marketing and events manager for South African distributor Homemation, Kara Gouveia gets a thrill being surrounded by high-tech audio-visual and home automation equipment.
Kara Gouveia, marketing and events manager at Homemation. Source: Supplied
Gouveia has always been an avid music lover, so when her brother, Homeation co-CEO Daniel McLean, offered her the chance to lead the company’s marketing department, the career move was a no-brainer.
“I have always been in love with music and good sound. From a young age, I used to have massive speakers plugged into my radio or CD player and used to pump up the volume to energise me before the school day.”
Room for more women
Homeation supplies premium audio-visual and automation products to the South African and sub-Saharan markets from brands including Klipsch, Bowers & Wilkins, Polk Audio, Denon and Control4.
Certainly, the company lends itself to being described as a traditionally masculine working environment, but the innovative and ever-changing nature of the industry has deepened Gouveia’s appreciation for it.
“I love learning about all the new tech and equipment and, even better, experiencing it in our world-class listening and cinema rooms. The only problem is you never want to listen to music or watch a movie any other way! Once you’ve heard this level of quality sound from our leading brands it’s hard to appreciate any other poor-quality sound systems.
“We also work by the motto ‘work hard, play hard’ which is important for me in a working environment.”
She adds, “It is definitely a male-dominated industry, however, with tech being the way of the future, more and more women are becoming involved – not as much in the actual sales but in the form of female bloggers and influencers who all take an active interest in audio and home automation.”
Considering that women are a significant driver of household purchasing decisions and often take on the role of ‘homemaker’, Gouveia asserts that her industry could gain from having a greater female presence.
“With women being such an integral part of building a home and the interior design of it, I really feel it can greatly benefit the industry having more of a female voice.
“Gone are the days when a massive floor-standing speaker is just a black box. Today it is a work of art and enhances the interior design of the room, whereas before you would do everything you could to hide it away for aesthetics.”
Returning to events post-Covid
Steering all Homeation's marketing and event activities, Gouveia has her finger on the pulse of audio-visual equipment and brand trends. Describing her career highlights, she lists “organising big launch events for our resellers with legendary musicians and DJs to celebrate music and remember the core of what this industry is all about.
“This was especially poignant after Covid-19 and the move away from big events and celebrating sound and music. We are thrilled that music is back to being centre stage.”
When asked to share her top career tip, Gouveia states: “If the plan doesn’t work, change the plan, not the goal.”
