#BehindtheSelfie with... Cassandra Gudlhuza
1. Where do you live, work and play?
I live in Centurion, work in Sandton and play in my kitchen.
2. What’s your claim to fame?
I used to be a well-known entertainment journalist and columnist.
Now I run my own communications and marketing agency.
3. Describe your career so far.
I have had quite an interesting ride so far. I have worked for mainstream publications; was part of the first team that launched Forbes Africa magazine; and went on to do communications and PR functions for VIPs and large organisations.
4. Tell us a few of your favourite things.
My kids, literature, movies, Champagne, cooking and spending time with my friends talking trash.
5. What do you love about your industry?
I love having the opportunity to contribute positively to a client’s business.
What I love even more is making their dreams come true and then seeing the appreciation in their faces. I love that the value that we add is something that is actually tangible.6. Describe your average workday, if such a thing exists.
Once or twice a week, I make sure to spend the entire day at my own office, so that my team mates don’t forget what I look like!
7. What are the tools of your trade?
A sharp creative mind. A healthy and updated black book of contacts, a resourceful “can-do” spirit and a healthy appetite for hard work.
8. Who is getting it right in your industry?
I am completely inspired by Sylvester Chauke of DNA Brand Architects.
I want to be like him in a few years.
9. List a few pain points the industry can improve on.
The demon of clients who have big demands on a small budget terrorises us all at one point or another!
10. What are you working on right now?
We are servicing the airports of the country, among our other clients, as well as working on a big national campaign that will make a very positive impact on society.
11. Where and when do you have your best ideas?
At night, in the silence before I get into bed.
13. What’s your secret talent/party trick?
I could be a comedian if I really wanted to. I am smart and very funny!
14. Are you a technophobe or a technophile?
Having been a journalist for 12 years, all I really knew was how to use Word and Safari.
15. What would we find if we scrolled through your phone?
Millions of my kids’ selfies. There’s nothing I can do to stop them using my phone to take selfies of themselves.
16. What advice would you give to newbies hoping to crack into the industry?
Focus on corporate communications instead of lifestyle and celebrity PR. Corporate comms is where you can find sustainability. Celebrities don’t have budget, and they have big followership numbers, which means they can do most of their own PR and communications.Simple as that. Follow Gudlhuza on LinkedInTwitter and Instagram; and Black Circle Communications on their LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram for the latest updates.
*Interviewed by Leigh Andrews.
About Leigh Andrews
Leigh Andrews AKA the #MilkshakeQueen, is former Editor-in-Chief: Marketing & Media at Bizcommunity.com, with a passion for issues of diversity, inclusion and equality, and of course, gourmet food and drinks! She can be reached on Twitter at @Leigh_Andrews.
