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Karien
South Africa
Afrikaans, English, Dutch
South Africa
Rhodes University, South Africa
Journalism and Media Studies
Accuracy, Adventure, Attention to Detail, Communication, Creativity, Excellence, Flair, Integrity, Knowledge, Originality, Quality of Work, Sense of Humor
Photography, Running, Travel
I wanted to be an Olympian. So inspired by watching every minute of the 1992 Olympic Games on TV, I decided I was one day going to get there. It turned out it wasn't as an athlete but rather as a journalist. Four Olympics later, I am still just as passionate about telling the stories of these amazing humans, and I have also diversified into other areas such as editing and travel writing. I still have the same love for writing, finding the real story and also the attention to detail to edit others' work.
Editing, Writing
Writing/Editing
> 10 Years of experience
Communications/PR
3 - 5 Years of experience
Contract
Yes!
- October 2012 – Present: Working as a freelance journalist, sub-editor, and media consultant. Contracts included working for the World Professional Powerboating Association, as well as media consultant for South African Sailing, and writing regularly for Run 4 Your Life (in Australia) and Foschini SportsClub Magazines. Additional contract with Supersport.com as an online sub-editor and Kwese TV as a script writer for a daily news show. Also recently contributed as a local guide for Google’s Touring Bird travel app and website: touringbird.com.
- January – September 2012: Worked as a writer on the official daily programmes/magazines for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games (with Haymarket Publishing). Responsible for a third of the Olympic and a third of the Paralympic sports, this role involved generating original story ideas, interviewing top international athletes from each of the sports and writing news stories and cover features for the 16 Olympic and 11 Paralympic 68-page programmes, sold at each of the Games venues.
- April 2008 – December 2011: Started as PR Executive and then promoted to Senior Communications Manager with Promoseven Sports Marketing in Dubai, taking a lead role in the PR campaigns and media relations for the Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens from 2008 to 2011, Dubai Football Challenge 2009 (AC Milan vs Hamburg) and the Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009, FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships 2010 and FINA/ARENA Swimming World Cup 2011. This role also involved creating social media campaigns, writing and production of promotional material such as tournament programmes and website content. During this time I also completed various freelance assignments including covering the Beijing Olympics for the Mail & Guardian (South Africa), serving as Photo Manager at the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy, covering several Dubai-based events for Associated Press (AP) and working for SuperSport’s Blitz channel during the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
- September 2007 – April 2008: Various freelance assignments in Dubai and abroad, including covering the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 and the Under 19 Cricket World Cup for the official International Cricket Council website as well as the World Netball Championships for several newspapers and SA Sports Illustrated magazine.
- May – September 2007: Sports reporter for Gulf News, Dubai.
- March 2006 – April 2007: Various freelance contracts, including working for Swimming South Africa and several South African newspapers such as the Mail and Guardian, The Citizen, The Daily Sun, The Sunday Sun as well as the SA Press Association (SAPA). During this time I relocated to Dubai where I did freelance work for several publications including Hotelier magazine as well as for the International Cricket Council and acted as media liaison for Delwood Sports Marketing for several major sporting events.
- October 2005 – February 2006: Sports reporter for Nova newspaper – a new daily tabloid initiated by Media 24, which unfortunately stopped production in early 2006.
- November 2002 – September 2005: Sports reporter with The Star/Independent Newspapers Gauteng. Covering a wide range of sports, I was responsible for writing reports and features for several titles including The Star, The Saturday Star and The Sunday Independent as well as sister newspapers in Cape Town and Durban.
- November 2001 – October 2002: News reporter at Britain’s top track and field magazine, Athletics Weekly. This position involved interviewing top international athletes, writing features, news stories and covering major athletics events in the UK.
- January 2000 – 31 May 2001: Journalist at African Enterprise. Responsibilities included writing reports, taking photos and producing promotional material. Life skills training and organisation of events in a multi-cultural context, were further aspects of this position. During this time, I travelled as part of a youth sports development team to the Olympic Games in Sydney, to conduct a series of coaching clinics.
- May – November 1999: A variety of temporary positions in London. These included conducting market research for Niketown, stewarding at several international sporting events eg. Cricket World Cup and working at the Rugby World Cup '99.
- December 1998 – January 1999: Press photographer at The Natal Witness in Pietermaritzburg as part of a university work experience programme.
Experience
