Lindi Sirame: It star ts with gratitude and continues with success
Her freelance career taught Lindi not to allow others to place her in a box and that excellence is achievable regardless of the box others want to squeeze you in. “Freelancing means that home loans are extremely hard to come by, you have to take care of retirement savings, life insurance, disability insurance, medical aid and your taxes yourself – you yourself take care of all those things that full-time employees tend to take for granted. It requires taking responsibility for your own life and finances. Working as a freelancer is to see yourself as a small business, which is exciting but can be very hard at the same time. However, if your aim is to strive for excellence, you’ll always be giving your best, she says. “You don’t have to be perfect. There are people out there who might listen to my bulletins or watch what I do and think ‘she’s not perfect’. And while indeed I may not be perfect, I do strive for excellence. Every time I open my mouth, read the news or do a report, I want to be excellent. I aim to empower my audience and hope that the work I do will not only inform but also inspire those that receive it. This is what I want my legacy to be.” Lindi Sirame holds a BA Journalism from the University of Johannesburg.
the wrong reasons; and the income gap between male and female employees in similar positions in the same industry is still there. So, in some cases, you have to really give your all to be taken seriously and in others set up boundaries and build walls. Lindi learned very early in her career to always respect her audience. Never think that you know more than they do. This is very important, especially when you are delivering important messages about, for instance, the Coronavirus. You have to address your audience in a manner and language that they fully understand. That way your reach more people with important information, she says. Lindi, who hails from the tiny village of Mukula, outside Thohoyandou in Venda, and was raised by her grandmother who worked as a domestic worker in Bramley, Johannesburg, is humble about her success. “It took me a while to realise that I had to live a life of gratitude. I always want more, no matter what I achieve. To be grateful for the little things. To remember where I came from, how I was raised, and where I am now. It is having a family of my own, to be able to provide for them, for the home loan that I can afford because I am employed. That gratitude, having something to be grateful for, that is where success lies.” Working as a freelancer, as many people in the media world do, means there is less certainty career-wise. A freelancer is only as good as the most recent work they did.
Lindi Sirame identifies two defining moments that catapulted her forward in her career as a radio news anchor and producer, and TV presenter. She can be heard as news anchor and content contributor on Metro FM’s afternoon drive time show, The Kings Suite, between 15:00 and 18:00. The first defining moment came when she was offered a permanent job at YFM three months into her internship at the radio station’s Y Academy. “To be offered a contract while working as an intern was unheard of but the editor said he needed a news reader and a journalist and had made up his mind to hire me.” The second defining moment was when YFM gave her the opportunity to produce and host an election show. “To be a young journalist and booking guests like Mmusi Maimane was huge for me back then. He arrived and I could see he took me seriously. The show gave me an opportunity to include young leaders for these conversations – and there we were – a group of young people sitting around a table discussing the future of our country and what we would like to change.” As in most other industries, a woman has to work twice as hard to make it in broadcasting, says Lindi, but when you are young and female you can make that three times harder. The stumbling blocks are many. “Older, more senior male colleagues may doubt that you know enough; male studio guests have asked for my number for all
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