My journey started, about 12 years ago, at Wits University where I received a B.Com Degree (majoring in Law, Business Finance and Economics), before moving to London were I acquired a Fashion Design qualification at Istituto Marangoni. During this time I took part in the Elle New Talent Competition in 2010, allowing me to launch my clothing label, Mabu49, at South African Fashion Week (SAFW), and then showcasing a second time at SAFW in 2011.
Belinda Bowling is an environmental lawyer recently based in Kabul, Afghanistan, where she lived for the past six years. Earlier in 2010, Belinda was acknowledged by the Afghan president, Harmid Karzai, when she was awarded the country’s highest civilian honours, the Order of Malalai, for the programmes she implemented to develop an Environmental and Natural Resource Management Capacity in the worn-torn country. Belinda studied at UCT, after matriculating from Roedean School, and she now holds a BA LLB LLM (Marine and Environmental Law). Belinda has made great strides forward as the United Nations’ Environmental Programme Manager.
Rosemary started at Roedean in 1947 after arriving in South Africa from England where she was born. Her parents were told that Roedean was the best girls’ school in the country! She went on to write her matric in 1956. After receiving an excellent education, and after making life-long friends at Roedean, she was accepted for Occupational Therapy at the University of Witwatersrand. After 3 years of studying at Wits Rosemary achieved her diploma in Occupational Therapy, which she was not allowed to receive until she turned 21, a year later!
Rosemary then left University and went on to work for two years as a qualified Occupational Therapist, before she met her husband Michael, an Electrical Engineer and also a Wits graduate.
When her third daughter started nursery school Rosemary converted her Diploma into a BSC Occupational Therapy. She was the first person to graduate with a BSC Occupational Therapy at Wits. This was because the C for Crouch was the top of the list of graduates! (There were only 5 of them). [Read more…]
Tanya matriculated from Roedean in 1993, and from Wits University in 1997 with a B.Com with distinction. Tanya joined Shell South Africa on its graduate programme, moving immediately down to their head office in Cape Town.
Thankful for the inspiration she received at Roedean where she learnt that a woman can do anything she puts her mind to, she cut her teeth in demanding sales and marketing roles in the tough world of oil and the mining industry. She seized the opportunity to relocate to London with her husband, Alex, in 2001. One job became six as opportunities sprang up to execute a ‘practical MBA’ across all facets of the oil industry, dabbling in sales in a mix of regional and global roles. Relishing the diversity of working across so many cultures, and thriving on the technical demands of each new assignment, Tanya spent 11 years in the UK.
Lauren Beukes attended Roedean school from 1986 through to Matric in 1993 Lauren says ‘I was lucky to have inspiring teachers like Miss Thorn, Mrs Edwards, Mrs Moelwyn-Hughes and the kick-ass librarian Mrs Todd in an environment that encouraged creativity and engaging in issues.’
Lauren Beukes is now a novelist, TV scriptwriter, documentary maker, comics writer and occasional journalist. She won the 2011 Arthur C Clarke Award for her novel Zoo City, set in a fantastical Johannesburg where guilt manifests as spirit animal familiars and dark things lurk beneath the surface of the pop music industry. Her previous works include Moxyland, a political dystopian future thriller set in Cape Town under corporate apartheid and the rollicking non-fiction, Maverick: Extraordinary Women From South Africa’s Past.