Hi, my name is Refilwe Rakgomo and I was born and bred in Rustenburg, North West Province in a small village called Chaneng. I grew up as a child that was hard working when it came to academics and enjoyed the spotlight through activities such as drama, debate, reading and doing presentations in schools.
When I was growing up, I initially wanted to be a broadcaster – either for TV or radio. These were things that I really enjoyed so much that I went to study communications science at the University of North West. Little did I know that the communications industry holds much more career paths than I had thought. During my second year at the university, I was introduced to public relations and what it is all about and I remember thinking ‘Wow, okay this is something I’d like to go into’.”
I started working in communications through volunteering in a youth organisation while I was at university and also offered my social media skills to manage my sister’s décor company. This gave me an opportunity to develop my skills while also gaining work experience.
After graduating, I then received a work opportunity as a PR and communications intern here in Joburg, Randburg to be specific, and have since worked my way up to become a public relations specialist. I like to call myself ‘The PRPlug’ because I’m the plug to everything PR and communications. What was more interesting, and cooler, was that I actually ended up working with journalists, broadcasters – basically media professionals.
Storyteller, reputation management, image shaper, communication, social media, press coverage – these are some of the words that best describe what public relations and communications is.
As a PR and communications specialist, I help companies and individuals tell their unique, cool, and interesting stories. All of our public relations and communications efforts are directed toward helping brands to share their incredible company news, values, and initiatives that they are passionate about and help them spread that passion.
What I love about my job and the industry I’m in is that it’s very fast-paced and energetic, you don’t work in one certain industry. So you’ll find that you work with clients or people in different industries – it can be the manufacturing, entertainment or even tech industries. There’s always something new I am learning and that helps in broadening my knowledge about things.
I also get excited to meet and work with different people (companies and brands) that are passionate about what they do, their stories, their brand, and their journeys.
As a PR specialist I have had to adapt to a new way of working and coming up with innovative ideas for social media marketing campaigns. It can be exciting and challenging at the same time.
My advice to young people that would like to get into the communications industry is to never wait until you finish your degree to start applying what you’ve learnt. Start where you are, with what you have. The coolest thing about our generation now is that we have unlimited tools to create something, anything. Take a chance and offer your communication services to a local NPO.
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