Tell me about your job as a marketing director. What does your work day involve?
By day I am an internal marketing specialist to an advertising agency, a unique role. Joe Public United, the brand and communication agency, is my client, while I "advertise" the advertiser. This means I work across the marketing spectrum to raise the profile of the agency. I make sure we position the brand correctly in the market for prospective clients. My team and I don swords (our pens), race our horses (media relations) and slay dragons (say no to bad creativity).
And working with hypnotherapy? What is that, and what do you do?
By night I use hypnosis, combined with therapeutic techniques, to practise hypnotherapy. The facilitator is able to suggest ideas, concepts and lifestyle adaptations, the seeds of which become planted in the subconscious mind. The conscious critical mind is "bypassed", so the individual can promote self-healing. Hypnotherapy aims to reprogramme patterns of behaviour within the mind, to overcome irrational fears, phobias, negative thoughts, physical ailments and suppressed emotions. I do this at my practice in Cape Town - The Wellness Space.
How, if at all, do the two jobs complement each other?
The dialogue of mental wellness within the advertising industry is one that is not often spoken about. It is a high-pressured, fast-paced environment that can be unforgiving.
The two are no longer mutually exclusive - we bring a lot of who we are into the workplace. Big business needs to accept that mental wellness is an investment in their people who ultimately help to grow their business. I believe there is space in corporate wellness for a very effective outcomes-based modality like hypnotherapy.
If you had to choose one of your roles, which would it be, and why?
Hypnotherapy - because I believe you can make a long-lasting and effective change across a range of personal challenges such as phobia, stress, anxiety, sports performance, creativity, internal conflict, physical ailments, writer's block and public speaking.
What are some of the things people have asked you to help them with in hypnotherapy?
None of it very unusual, so far - fear of heights, insomnia, night terrors, post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety.
What did you want to be when you were a child?
An actress - I got over it when I realised I couldn't deal with the lack of privacy.
What do you find most meaningful about your work?
Marketing matches hypnotherapy in that they can both find unique ways to juxtapose ideas and thinking where you can be innovative and creative.
What is the best piece of career advice you have received, and who gave it to you?
A business without purpose is no business at all. Pepe Marais, group chief creative officer at Joe Public United...