What was your first job as a journalist?
I interned at a youth led media organisation in Johannesburg, Live Magazine.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Haha, no.
How is social media changing news?
Social media has made the audience less concerned with the story and more hungry for headlines.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
I mostly admire real ones but the one fictional journalist that I can remember would be William Miller from the film "Almost Famous".
What does it mean to be a journalist?
Putting yourself in someone else's shoes and crossing the borders between the self and how we relate to the world, in order to inform and inspire others.
What's the funniest news-related #hashtag you've seen?
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
Via email with a deadline and my remuneration.
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Mobile phone, Notebook, Laptop, any word processor available, Digital camera, Adobe Premier Pro, Lighthouse.
What's your favorite social network?
Twitter
Who do you wish followed you?
Zadie Smith
Why did you become a journalist?
To enlighten those who don't know about what is happening around them.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
We didn't have one but I did work for my University Paper as part of my Post graduate training at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
A story covering the way NGOs in the Cape Town Muslim community mistreat the people they're meant to help.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Pay very close attention to the issues you care about and ask yourself why it matters to the rest of the world. If you're not willing to spend days, months or years focusing on your area of focus you can easily just become another cog in the wheel, filling up space in the newsroom to reach an employee quota. Don't ever give up on the stories you believe in.
When's the best time to pitch you?
Any time, I always check my emails.
What's the best pitch you ever got?
To cover a story about African Female entrepreneurs.
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
Anything to do with the government.
What's your favorite drink?
Water
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
On the street, looking for an interesting person to strike a conversation with or outside looking up at the moon wondering about human existence.
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
The New Yorker
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
That it's soft journalism, when in reality it's the most important thing we need to know about other humans, real humans.
