#BehindtheSelfie with... Lesley Waterkeyn

An active member of the Entrepreneurs’ Organisation, Waterkeyn is an awardee of The International Women’s Entrepreneurial Challenge Foundation. She will receive this accolade in November this year in Seattle, Washington.

Waterkeyn says, “Be all you can be, be extraordinary.”

1. Where do you live, work and play?

I live in Constantia, work at Colourworks and play on the road – I am currently training for the New York marathon!

2. What’s your claim to fame?

My energy!

3. Describe your career so far.

Extraordinary. I’ve loved every moment of it and I’m still loving it. From a small print shop in Rondebosch to an agency in Woodstock. What a jol!

4. Tell us a few of your favourite things.

My family, my boys, my husband, my staff, my company and definitely wine.

5. What do you love about your industry?

The creativity and the fast pace.

6. Describe your average workday, if such a thing exists.

It doesn’t. Every day is different.

7. What are the tools of your trade?

At heart I’m an entrepreneur, so understanding people has been one of the challenges.

8. Who is getting it right in your industry?

Lots of people, but some are also getting it horribly wrong. There are specialists and generalists in our industry, and the specialists are the ones who tend to get it right, more often.

9. List a few pain points the industry can improve on.

There’s not a lot of research and insights around the brand experience industry in South Africa.

10. What are you working on right now?

A lot! Integrating video and digital into our agency and scaling the business to include a Johannesburg branch.

11. Tell us some of the buzzwords floating around in your industry at the moment, and some of the catchphrases you utter yourself.

Innovation, insights, transformational leadership, diversity.

And we believe and use the catch phrase: “In a digitally obsessed world, we believe in the power of proximity."

12. Where and when do you have your best ideas?

During my quiet time, or when I’m on the road training.

13. What’s your secret talent/party trick?

That would be telling!

14. Are you a technophobe or a technophile?

Somewhere in the middle.

15. What would we find if we scrolled through your phone?

Lots of WhatsApp messages, lots of running pictures, videos of the entrepreneurs that I train and training apps.

16. What advice would you give to newbies hoping to crack into the industry?

Have a long-term view, build trust and deliver.

Lesley Waterkeyn

Louise Marsland  7 Oct 2015

Simple as that. Click here for more on Colourworks, here for Waterkeyn’s MyBiz profile and interact with her on ‏Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. You can also follow Colourworks’ Twitter and Facebook updates.

*Interviewed by Leigh Andrews.