6 THINGS WITH PHINDILE MAKATANE

Thursday, May 12, 2016

6 THINGS WITH PHINDILE MAKATANE

A couple of weeks ago I received a call from Phindile Makatane, a financial consultant from an Insurance company. Normally when one receives such calls first instinct is to say “No thanks bye” but out of curiosity I agreed to meet up with her. After scheduling and rescheduling for a almost a week we finally met up on campus and had a chat. Before the meeting I thought we were going to talk finances for a couple of minutes and go our separate ways but it didn’t work out like that. Her warm and lively personality made it feel like I was catching up with an old friend. The conversation moved from work to school to personal life.We started talking about fashion and how Jo’burg changed our perspectives when it came to styling and creativity. During all this fashion talk she mentioned that she is a freelance stylist, amongst other things. This really drew me in.. After finding out that she has worked with artists like THE SOIL for a couple of years now I got curious as to how a financial consultant has somehow found a niche for herself in the fashion/beauty industry without compromising one or the other. Her life story is just one that I feel I needed at the time.

Being in a Science degree and also being passionate about fashion just felt a big conflict to me so having direct contact with someone who is actually doing it opened my eyes a little to what is out there. She kept on stressing the fact that you can really do both if you want to. I decided to probe a brain a little afterwards and asked her a couple of questions (fangirl moment) for the blog and here we are…

When did you start taking styling/fashion seriously and what’s the story behind that?

I started taking it seriously when I got approached by the guys from The Soil back in 2010 to join in the team and come style them for their shoots and gigs. The story behind the styling formulated when I grew in the fashion of vintage and retro wear back at UJ, when I was doing my second year.

As I was browsing through your page I noticed quite a number of vintage pieces, where does the love for vintage come from?

I believe I generally have a 1960’s soul, from the music I listen to all the way to my dress sense and also my love for antique furniture etc. It is mostly influenced by that era. So loving vintage was sort of inevitable for me to get hooked on.

You have mentioned that you have worked with the acapella group, THE SOIL, for quite a number of years now. How has that experience been and which other artists would you like to work with?

Working with The Soil,was such an incredible experience for me.When I met the guys they were also in a phase of finding their look as a band so being part of that emerging phase and growing together is a bond that I will treasure for a while. I still do consult with guys from time to time so we’ve become really good friends.

Having to juggle your work life at PPS, your businesses on the side and also have a social life can’t be easy. What keeps you going?

I feel like the things I am interested in are interlinked. They are somewhat related in a way that with PPS I basically get to help people with their financial planning and I think that when you have a good financial plan you’ll be able to be a good entrepreneur and be able to be independent and work independently. And just good people skills, it’s very important that I had to adopt that and I think I am generally a people’s person.

Time management also plays a great role in all this because normally I leave my house around 5 AM, get to work around 6 (cause I live far), start working and see PPS clients around 10. When I am done with that I can go home and start working on my creative stuff or go do my styling gig. My time is flexible though so I can always juggle both my work and my businesses on the side. With social life, I am not very big on turning up. I love going to dinner and live band performances and my work is social in a way so that’s why I don’t out of my way to “socialize”. When I meet with my artistic friends yes we do talk about artistic things but monetizing their acumen and their craft is very important, so if I didn’t have the discipline and the knowledge from PPS I wouldn’t be able to have such conversations

5 things you can’t live without

prayer

eyeliner

phone

laughter

and a good wardrobe

words you live by

There’s no painful situation that lasts forever, so best you just laugh at your problems because what’s the point of sulking. Just always remember that you are going to get through it (whatever it is) and that things are going to get better. Whatever is happening now there is a reason why it’s happening and it’s preparing you for a better position in life. For example when I was working at Forbes, it was tough because I was in a space where yes I was working for a great company but I was not happy, I wasn’t passionate about what I was doing. YES I was getting paid but it wasn’t even enough so I was broke and unhappy but that prepared me for a lot of moments that came after. During that times at Forbes I also learnt that rather do something you are passionate about and be broke but you are going home happy, fulfilled.