From boardrooms to big screens: Women redefining leadership

IN THE global tourism and film industries, leadership has too often been framed by the male gaze. Boardrooms, budgets, and big-picture decisions have historically been the domain of men, leaving women to navigate not just career paths, but cultural expectations and systemic barriers.

- DAILY NEWS REPORTER

Yet, in KwaZulu-Natal, two dynamic leaders are rewriting the script.

One of them is Jackie Motsepe, the Chief Operations Officer of the KwaZulu-Natal Tourism and Film Authority (KZNTFA), and the other is Mpho Mbuli, the organisation’s Head of Destination Marketing. They are not simply participating in the industry - they are transforming it.

Women's Month is not just a time to applaud individual achievement; it is a moment to interrogate the structures that shape women’s careers, celebrate the progress made, and examine the work still to be done.

In the intertwined worlds of tourism and film-industries that sell both experiences and stories-representation at the leadership table is not a nice-to-have, it’s a necessity.

Tourism and film are both storytelling enterprises. They sell narratives-whether those narratives are about a sweeping beach along the KZN coast or a gripping drama set against the province's mountains. But who decides which stories get told?

Who determines which landscapes are showcased, which cultural moments are amplified, and which communities benefit from the economic ripple effect?

For decades, these decisions were made by men. The result was a limited worldview-one that sometimes sidelined the very voices and perspectives that could have brought greater depth, authenticity, and economic inclusion.

Motsepe and Mbuli are part of a growing cohort of women executives who are shifting that dynamic.

Motsepe’s career arc reads like a masterclass in strategic progression. Armed with a BA from Sunderland University in the United Kingdom, she fortified her leadership skills through advanced programmes at Wits Business School and the Gordon Institute of Business Science.

From her early days as Brand Manager at the SABC to her tenure as Head of Marketing and Public Affairs at the National Film and Video Foundation, Motsepe has built a career at the intersection of creativity and commerce.