I am passionate about Youth Development and building future leaders. I have mentored and coached youth in various roles in my career from interns at a commercial station to student news reporters at a campus radio station. In my role as an academic at the University of Witwatersrand, I mentored young community news reporters and newsreaders who participated in the local news course that I facilitated. At Cape Peninsula University I mentored young students from being student reporters into successful careers in newsrooms and in the media and communications industry. Outside of official roles, I have also played the mentor and coach role to various young people at different stages of their career. Most of the young people I have worked with continue to rely on my guidance and advice long after our initial mentor – mentee relationship was established.

I have also built curriculum to help young people navigate difficult issues like diversity and social justice as well as active citizenship for schools and non-governmental organisations. I also coach school teachers and academics on building relevant and socially-just curricula that centre student access and needs for academic success, and academics on using technology and other pedagogic interventions to engage students. I have also published academic journal articles on co-creating with young people and curriculum development for Universities of Technology (UoT) and traditional universities.

As co-founder of the Decolonising the Curriculum movement at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), I recognised that educators need assistance with curriculum development and began facilitating transformative workshops and developing academic interventions for schools and universities. Working with academics in CPUT’s Extended Curricula Programme for the Architecture and Interior Design course, we built a two-day bus tour of diverse Cape Town areas including Ndabeni, Langa, Pinelands, Bonteheuwel, Gatesville, Athlone, Hout Bay, Hangberg and Imizamo Yethu, and engaged students on the history of the areas in walking lectures that led to conversations about apartheid spatial planning and its effect on present day communities.