One must imagine Sisyphus happy (or: I'm looking for new opportunities)

LinkedIn is not a natural space to me. I am intensely committed to advocacy and activism, critical of our global economic norms, and suspicious of inauthentic networking language. In contrast, discourse on this platform is frequently performative and individualistic, with discussion on how to genuinely improve our world often cynically weaponised as a way to sugarcoat more immediate financial interests.?

At the same time, I am equally unimpressed with young progressives whose ideological commitments sometimes see them siloing themselves off from the world that exists in front of them. To me, being an activist means wanting the world to change in big ways. To approach this task strategically, we must not only think about what world we would like, but also what world we have, and then, especially, what the most effective steps would be to get from this world to that one.

In the world we currently live in, a lot depends on one’s occupation. This is how we sustain ourselves, how we spend much of our time, and thus often also where we challenge ourselves to grow and develop. I have always rejected the notion of identity being a singular concept. Unconsciously, one way this has manifested is in my work often being unusual, interdisciplinary and freelance. If identity is plural, it makes sense that our work should also be.

What this all means is that wanting to exist in today’s world — and, indeed, wanting to change it — demands of us that we think seriously about our work. I have often done so, philosophically, but generally been reluctant to assign too much of my time to the formalities of the traditional working world. My work is not my life. There are more important things.

But today what I see is that I can also do a better job of engaging and grappling with those more important things through more intentionally locating myself within the industry norms of the status quo. Thankfully, for me, that status quo appears to be in a very dynamic space at this moment in history, where it is increasingly not the case that people with complex interests and skillsets are required to reduce themselves to just one thing for the purpose of their work.

I have packed bags at Pick n Pay, coached chess and debating, written and edited features and interviews for prestigious publications. I have taught Philosophy at the University of Cape Town, co-developed sophisticated tools for data analytics, coached professional esports teams in Manila and Mumbai, and consulted on multi-million dollar event organising. I have done all of these things very well.

Over the past five years I have freelanced as a Data Analyst for Henley & Partners, and over much of that period of time have been the primary person responsible for maintaining the integrity and accuracy of the data curated for the Henley Passport Index. This means a lot of creative research about foreign policy updates and careful consolidation of data, to derive insights through analysis. During the same period of time I have also freelanced on various other projects, ranging from operating live datastreams, to running ethics training workshops, writing analyses, and consulting on strategy, research and development.

I am currently on the committee for the Observatory Civic Association, where I am primarily responsible for working with local vulnerable communities toward a substantive, healthy, socioeconomic and spatial justice for all. Over the past year I have also been extremely involved in activism in solidarity with Palestinians, particularly through a group called South African Jews For a Free Palestine.

I am also part of a team working on developing a community-based mental health initiative to pilot in Observatory. This is a topic I feel very passionate about. As an individual I have been in a productive therapy space for almost 15 years, which has taught me probably as many invaluable skills as any formal education ever did — of course, it is impossible to avoid that these sorts of opportunities are simply not available to all.

I have recently completed a Masters in Public Health, for which my dissertation — publication pending — focused on measuring changes in suicide rates in South Africa during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in relation to associated alcohol ban periods. If you want to understand the kind of nerd I am, I also spend a lot of time reading Philosophy of Psychiatry, because I think properly grappling with key mental health challenges we face as a society requires carefully thinking about how to best conceptualise them to begin with.

So to sum up: I have superb strategic, analytical and communication skills and am very comfortable working with quantitative or qualitative data. I have excellent experience in community organising and team leadership, and I am a very fast and interested learner. I have strong moral convictions and believe that human existence is a fundamentally collective exercise, with all of our safety, security, health and flourishing depending on each other’s.

I am trying to think of ways that I might apply my mind to work which captures some of these aspects of who I am and what I am good at. If you are reading this and thinking you might know just the thing, lets have a chat!