Subscribe to daily business and company news across 19 industries
×
Yolanda Lindeque-Strauss
Author and script writer at The Independent Writer
- Connect (Yolanda Lindeque-Strauss knows me)
- Colleague
- Weve done business together
- Weve worked together
- Met in person
- Interacted with online
- Classmate
- Friend
- Family
- Follow
Show profile Hide profileMotto: The person who says it cannot be done, should not interrupt the person doing it.
Starting with novels and magazine journalism readers said I should look into script writing because my style is visual. So I tried it and it's going great! Even my script editing has resulted in previously ignored films getting made. I was born in South Africa but grew up in Namibia and missed all the racial politics. But when we relocated to South Africa the kids (std. 7/grade 9) thought I was the first coloured in their school because of my tan, so they bullied me. After school I got psychological treatment to help me believe I'm not stupid. From there I did a secretarial diploma at a college that my granny paid for. My first official job with pension, etc. (not selling hot-dogs or waitering) was as a cashier. Then a job with less benefits but where I could gain office experience. The money wasn't enough to pay my transport so I got two more jobs to stay alive - at a casino (nights) and a butchery (weekends) and when the casino closed changed to being a bar-lady. I worked 16 hours a day, 6 days a week and then 8 hours on a Sunday yet still lived occasionally a whole month on 2 minute noodles. After that I was a junior PA for someone who spotted me at the bar and could resign all the other jobs. Finally normal working hours but the sexual harassment was so bad I resigned again a few months later. Luckily a friend told me about a secretarial opening in Pretoria. There I was fired 5 times but stayed because I had to pay the rent and buy food, and had no-one to help me. I just had to bite the bullet until I got another job. Eventually I did... As a dancing instructor where you got on the job training! But the money was peanuts and sometimes I would be the tea-lady to earn extra cash to buy food for the day... I've had plenty of jobs since then, lived in flats where I slept on the floor because I couldn't afford a bed and pay the rent at the same time. There were days when I had only 20 cents left for the rest of the month (which was luckily usually only a few days away) and would buy and apple and pray. Suddenly people would invite me to come for dinner, which was unusual (gotta love God). I've walked to work, cycled, took buses and taxis (unusual for a whity), have been divorced and is now married again (happily), worked for bosses of all cultures and races in SA and England (and trust me: integrity has nothing to do with culture or skin colour,) etc. And this isn't even half of it. My stories are as varied as my life. Need I say more?
Motto: The person who says it cannot be done, should not interrupt the person doing it.
Starting with novels and magazine journalism readers said I should look into script writing because my style is visual. So I tried it and it's going great! Even my script editing has resulted in previously ignored films getting made. I was born in South Africa but grew up in Namibia and missed all the racial politics. But when we relocated to South Africa the kids (std. 7/grade 9) thought I was the first coloured in their school because of my tan, so they bullied me. After school I got psychological treatment to help me believe I'm not stupid. From there I did a secretarial diploma at a college that my granny paid for. My first official job with pension, etc. (not selling hot-dogs or waitering) was as a cashier. Then a job with less benefits but where I could gain office experience. The money wasn't enough to pay my transport so I got two more jobs to stay alive - at a casino (nights) and a butchery (weekends) and when the casino closed changed to being a bar-lady. I worked 16 hours a day, 6 days a week and then 8 hours on a Sunday yet still lived occasionally a whole month on 2 minute noodles. After that I was a junior PA for someone who spotted me at the bar and could resign all the other jobs. Finally normal working hours but the sexual harassment was so bad I resigned again a few months later. Luckily a friend told me about a secretarial opening in Pretoria. There I was fired 5 times but stayed because I had to pay the rent and buy food, and had no-one to help me. I just had to bite the bullet until I got another job. Eventually I did... As a dancing instructor where you got on the job training! But the money was peanuts and sometimes I would be the tea-lady to earn extra cash to buy food for the day... I've had plenty of jobs since then, lived in flats where I slept on the floor because I couldn't afford a bed and pay the rent at the same time. There were days when I had only 20 cents left for the rest of the month (which was luckily usually only a few days away) and would buy and apple and pray. Suddenly people would invite me to come for dinner, which was unusual (gotta love God). I've walked to work, cycled, took buses and taxis (unusual for a whity), have been divorced and is now married again (happily), worked for bosses of all cultures and races in SA and England (and trust me: integrity has nothing to do with culture or skin colour,) etc. And this isn't even half of it. My stories are as varied as my life. Need I say more?
