angrboda

Yesterday after work I met with the two directors of the model agency I was telling you guys about; the ones who are relocating their Africa head office from Cape Town to Jo'burg. (They also have an office in Switzerland, & another in New Jersey). We basically needed to meet one another face-to-face, to discuss the rationale behind their proposed joint venture & exactly what kind of role we saw me playing in the new business.

From our 1-hour chat over drinks on Nelson Mandela Square, what I managed to gather is that they are looking for an extremely trustworthy, reliable, & passionate person on the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) side of things. Not just an employee, mind you - but an active Partner. Someone who has as much dedication to the success of the business as they do; a stakeholder who is determined to slog it out in order to reap the rewards, but who is also a realist & willing to share the risks. I have assured them that if there is anywhere you are gonna make money locally right now, it's here in the City of Gold. Egoli is not called that for nothing, you know

I did ask, & was quite relieved when they said they don't need me to put in any capital. They just want someone with an impeccable work ethic, someone who will add great value to the company. This person should be able to hit the ground running, ie. already be reasonably well-connected, with polished & professional people skills - to be able to build & maintain a healthy client base amongst all the major key players in the Jozi marketplace - namely art buyers in ad agencies & commercial film directors. Also, they want to expand a lot on their Character board, as opposed to focusing solely on their Model board. (Characters are the "normal but unique" looking people you see in ad campaigns in Print & on TV). First & foremost, we need to make our presence known (massive PR campaign coming up...watch this space!), & make sure our agency is included on the mailing list for all briefs that get sent out to the industry.

They said they would get back to me sometime next week. Here's holding thumbs that they did indeed like me (ie. that it wasn't just my imagination), & that they can offer me a decent package!! A change in career is what I am really hungry for right now, & to be involved in something as exciting & creative as this would be truly awesome...

After that I raced through to the launch of a new hair & beauty salon in Parkhurst, which was great fun. Loads of free champers & cocktails (the pineapple & chocolate one with crushed ice was simply sublime!). Jennifer (one of my models) kept me company, & we had our picture taken a few times by a roving photographer, the results of which we were told would be appearing in the social pages of an upcoming issue of Style magazine. (Style is one of the publications I can definitely see myself writing for down the line).

Tomorrow night we're off to a cosy neighbourhood Italian restaurant for Ronwen & Colin's farewell party. The rest of the weekend will probably be spent glued to the telly, watching the F1 GP in China, & the 1st race of the new A1 GP season in the Netherlands. I've also got to do a whole bunch of filing I didn't have the energy to finish off last weekend

Have yourselves a good one!!