My Entry for #SantamWOTF

Hello Professor Thuli Madonsela, Dr Dulcy Rakumakoe, Nondumiso Mabece, Dawn Nathan Jones, Suzy Brokensha and Mbali Soga.

Yep, I know, I already filled in the entry form, buuut...👀

I like to talk, a lot, so I of course had more to show and tell than the entry form would allow 😉

I'll keep it quick, I'm Makayla,

I started a handmade jewellery business at 16, selling accessories at school market days, to fellow students, and then to family and friends over WhatsApp and basic Social Media. As I got closer to matric, and had learnt more about marketing, I decided to use social media a bit more to market my products and I built a basic website. Through marketing my little jewellery business and my jewellery bsuinesstaking a knock during the pandemic, therefore freeing up my my time and creativity, I fel in love with marketing.

I didn't study (as soon as I started, the pandemic hit, and my course wasn't offered online) so I took it as a sign and kept going, I have taught myself much of what I know and I found mentors along the way who were kind enough to share what they know.

What my business (and me) offer

Strategy led creative 🎨

We're a team of creatives, but as much as we're all about exciting,

attention-grabbing content, we're also about strategy.

Content Creation Brand Strategy Campaign Management

Branding Social Media Events Content Paid Ads Photography

and sooooo much more!

You may be thinking, okay...digital marketing, a kind of common and obvious idea, but we are trying to reach the untapped market.s There are smaller agencies, catering to smaller businesses, and massive decades-old agencies catering to the billion-rand-businesses. We're the agency that can do it all, we work with small businesses who need the high-quality help at an affordable price, we work with medium-sized businesses who have the bigger-but-not-billions budget and we aim to work with some more of massive brands (this will take some advertising, which we think some financial-input and publicity can assist with.)

We also adapt towards the trends, and steer away from being like many other agencies, for example, quality video content is now a big deal, and we foresee that it will be for a long time so we've upgraded our equipment, including a cinema-line camera and we are shifting our focus to this medium, while keeping our other services running at the same time.

Our agency offers everything digital marketing, we're the Jack of all trades (I'm Makayla Jack, get it😉) and honestly, despite the age-old saying, we think we're mastering them all. At Socialite, we also know how to adapt to trends in marketing, and in our client's sectors, staying ahead of the game.

We go the extra mile, I don't believe in doing something 100%, I believe in 110%, and I think that it comes through to those who have worked with us (see a few reviews below)

Some Client Feedback

Marlize, Down to Earth

"Working with multi-talented Makayla at Socialite Digital has been such a pleasure and a breeze! Not only does she always deliver exactly what is required, but often intuitively goes beyond to create more value for us and our customers. Socialite Digital has been the most easy-to-work-with and effective social media and digital marketing agency we have partnered with. We highly recommend them for their excellent service and high quality work!"

My Biggest Success(s)

Over the first half of this year, we've achieved multiple goals that have shaped our business going forward:

Business has grown so fast over the last few months that it became financially viable for my partner to quit his full-time job and join our agency permanently as creative director. He is an award-winning designer and so this was a big deal for us and has levelled up our business.
We recently upgraded our content creation equipment to a cinema-line camera and many other things that has and will still assist us in creating game-changing content.
The company has grown enough, financially, for me to part ways with projects that were hindering my mental health and performance, and have made space for projects that offer my team growth and also allow me to growing a bigger team of young, eager-to-learn individuals. This has most likely, been my biggest success, being able to walk away and decide where I want to focus and spend my time.
One of my more specific successes is working with a new international podcast, a podcast for Women of colour, aged 24-44. We're working on growing their community and start conversations. We worked on their account from the beginning, which was February this year, and now their page is thriving and we even have videos going viral organically, with our latest video currently trending with almost half a million views on Instagram and over 100k views on TikTok,, and it's still growing, gaining traction of Hollywood celebs, politicians and more, thanks to content to well-rounded strategies.
We recently got to film a beautiful video for an Orphanage, this was organised by their sponsor and we were able to film a beautiful video appealing to people for help and raising awareness of what goes into running an Orphanage. We count this as a success as we want to spend more time helping raise awareness for important matters.

My Biggest Hurdle(s)

As many other business owners will surely agree, the list of hurdles could go on for a while, but I'll try and keep it quick 😅

Saying yes to everything and working at other people's prices instead of my own prices: This sounds cute in theory, like my hurdle is that I'm kind, but that's not where I'm going with this. Saying yes to everything meant months (okay, years) of overworking, feeling taken for granted and dealing with anxiety. I have since stopped saying yes to every project, sticking to my rates and prioritising mental health and optimal performance.

The biggest hurdle, is running my business with a heart condition. Don't get me wrong, my heart condition hasn't been life-threatening and it doesn't affect me every day, and so I don't aim to seek too much sympathy for this, but the physical symptoms I experience when overworked and anxious, can make things a little harder, and of course isn't great for my health. I also don't get to consume any caffeine or energy drinks when I am too tired to finish my deadlines, due to my heart condition, so I only have my faith and will-to-go-on to get me through my deadlines.😅

Jokes aside, I'd like to prioritise my mental and physical health, and I believe with some financial input and publicity of my brand, I'll be able to grow my team bigger, to ensure I'm performing optimally.

Success in the next 3 years

Other than the obvious goal of growing my business, to me, success in the next 3 years, is to be able to give back.

I want to start a menstrual health drive, that assists less-fortunate girls/women without menstrual care.
I would also like to be more active in raising awareness for our youth who are struggling to get their basic needs, such as food, toiletries and education.
I want to be able to share what I know and hopefully inspire others interested in entrepreneurship and the digital space.