Eclipse Communications Women Serving Their Communities

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This Women’s Month, Eclipse Communications celebrates four of its female employees who, beyond the phenomenal work they do during office hours for Eclipse Communications, are providing an invaluable service to the community in their personal time. They are a shining example of truly living the company’s ethos, “Guiding your Growth” in their private and personal capacities.

In keeping with Eclipse Communications’ commitment to providing a best-in-class service to its clients, employees are hired for the unique skills they bring to the team and also for who they are as people. Their personal attributes are equally important as the skills they employ in their roles at the agency, as this truly aids in guiding the growth of every client.

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As Senior Content Manager for Eclipse Communications’ Netflix team, Thembe Mhlaba skilfully oversees the AfricaOnNetflix, Youtube platform and assets. Her day-to-day role involves community management of videos, scheduling asset roll-outs, guiding and approving assets that will be posted, and the general upkeep of the channel. Not only is she a highly regarded member of the team, she also involves herself in several projects after hours.

Thembe is involved in VAX Live 2021, a Global Citizen/Youtube campaign to raise awareness about the inequality of the COVID-19 vaccine distribution. Thembe’s role in this initiative is to provide a South African perspective on how the country is faring compared to other countries, to understand what can be done better and how misinformation causes hesitancy. 

To highlight the purpose of this cause, a group of vaccinated healthcare workers were treated to a concert and other activities to celebrate being able to once again meet, hug each other, and enjoy being together.

"Earlier this year, I also had the opportunity of meeting former United States First Lady, Michelle Obama. I was involved in ‘Advocating for Girls’ Education’ through the Girls Opportunity Alliance in a YouTube documentary which featured the former First Lady, as well as American actress Liza Koshy, Indian YouTuber and actress Prajakta Koli, and myself"

The three visited China, India and Namibia, respectively, and spoke about ensuring that young girls get the education they need in the communities where the Girls Opportunity Alliance is active. (www.obama.org/girlsopportunityalliance/)

Most notably, Thembe also won a Daytime Emmy 2021 Award for her part in #CreatorsForChange Girls’ Education on YouTube.

Not only full-time, permanent staff are valued for their contributions at Eclipse Communications, and Amanda Mdloyiya bears testament to this. As she serves her six-month internship in the Consumer & Lifestyle business unit, she has become an invaluable part of the team. When she’s not updating media lists, and making follow-up phone calls to media, she’s sending out media releases and responding to emails. She assists her senior colleagues wherever she can, and tries to learn something new every day.

After hours, Mdloyiya is involved in the Ubuhle Besizwe Community (Beauty of the Nation) Network, which is a non-profit organisation providing education, skills, welfare, and a sense of belonging to disadvantaged children in Khayelitsha, Cape Town.

The NPO aims to educate children between the ages of five and 14 about fire safety, personal hygiene, reading and writing, and physical education through sport. When possible, the children are taken on educational tours around Cape Town.

“Due to the COVID-19 lockdown, we have turned our attention to feeding children and families in the community. We have been providing cooked meals to over 150 families per day since the end of April 2020, using financial and food donations from concerned Capetonians.”

Some of her tasks are to assist with admin, cooking, and securing more donations and sponsorships.

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Account Managers like Thembela Mbatha understand that they play a pivotal role in servicing the agency’s clients. From heading up influencer campaigns to getting the best and most authentic content for her high-profile clients like Lanzerac Wine Estate and Cape Union Mart, she enjoys adding value where she can. She’s also passionate about how the communications industry is constantly evolving.

A most meaningful and impactful influencer campaign that Mbatha has recently worked on is the Gillette Venus #MySkinMyWay campaign. She comments, “I got to work with amazing people and truly cared about the message conveyed in the campaign, which was to empower women from all walks of life to celebrate what makes them different. Campaigns such as these are truly important to me.”

Mbatha has her own Instagram page which focuses on reviewing children’s books. @afro_mom_reads discusses the books she reads herself and those she reads to her four-year-old son. She wants to teach kids to read at least 100 books before they start school.

Mbatha believes that reading is a positive activity, especially during the pandemic and lockdown.

"If my page can get at least a few moms to join a library or purchase books for themselves and their kids, I will have reached a good part of my goal.”

Having been born into a family that is passionate about education, reading is important to Mbatha. Books were her toys, even before she could talk, so she believes that teaching people about the value of reading is her calling.

 
Eclipse Communications is passionate about its ever-increasing design team and the incredibly creative work they craft for clients. A new member of this team is Mbhali Manzini, a Senior Designer who already says she feels at home at the company. Mbhali is proud of the fact that she’s the only female on the team and hopes to open doors for other women to join. She adds, “I take great pleasure in crafting the best creative solutions for our clients and helping to solve their design challenges.”

In her personal time, Manzini recently created a passion project called ForMe.ByMe, which is a series of personalised illustrations that promote self-love and appreciation. The drawings are printed onto personalised posters, phone cases and T-shirts

“In today's world where we are quick to idolise others and forget to appreciate, embrace and celebrate ourselves, I want my illustrations to be an inspiring reminder to love ourselves,”

 She also had the privilege of showcasing her work at the Design Indaba Conference and Sasol National Exhibition 2019.

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Eclipse Communications honours these four women and all the women at our agency who make a valuable contribution to our business and our clients every day, and who extend their skills and personal talents and passions to their communities and to society as a whole.

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