SHOUT OUT to Women doing it for other Women!

We often don't realise the impact other people have on our lives until it's well...too late. So I thought I'd take a moment to say a massive thank you to my first official employer and mentor @NickyKerr.

Thank you @NickyKerr

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity 9 years ago to work alongside you on some wonderful projects which really opened my eyes to the world of architecture and construction. I really enjoyed and learnt a lot from working with you.I remember getting such great exposure to ordering materials from suppliers, supervising construction on-site, paying staff, ordering grass (actual grass) and trees for landscaping and making sure that the fall of the gradient was correct #StormWaterCollection. So very grateful for that experience.You also opened my eyes to the possibility of actually working for myself, which honestly had never crossed my mind... somehow university didn’t teach me that. And now 9 years later, I actually am self-employed. (🙈 Shameless plug... #UrbnBluArchitecture)

I wish there were more women like you in the industry. I hope to someday pay it forward and mentor another young woman getting started in Architecture or Urban Design.

Had my journey taken another route, I don't know if I'd be where I am right now.

I feel like the one thing our varsities fail to teach us is the importance of a body like SACAP (albeit with all the problems professional bodies face). In as much as some people think it's a useless body, its quite important for one's future.I strongly believe we should be encouraged to register with them, even at varsity level. Otherwise, we are left in the weird rat race of always being an employee and looking for employment. There's nothing wrong with that (if that is what you have chosen), but having options is always better.Private companies are also complicit in this, by the way, they are happy to have you work for them as long as they can. I'm grateful that my employer saw this piece of information as critical and recommended that I register, and then also assisted me with the process. We need more humans like this.

Wrapping Up

So, to wrap up this blog post... Happy Women’s day to all of you ladies out there. Work on what you are working on tirelessly, don’t forget that you are capable. And don’t forget to help each other to get where we are going.- Nompilo