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Writing Her Way To Success: Meet Lee-Ann Mpofu
Lee-Ann Mpofu is a young sports journalist on the rise. Her adaptability, and forward-thinking nature ensures she stays up-to-date with the relevant skills for her career path, a characteristic she shares with other New Professionals. Following a car accident that ended her sporting aspirations, Lee-Ann transferred her passion for playing sports into writing.
Lee-Ann’s eagerness to stay ahead led her to pursue the University of Cape Town Feature Journalism online short course. Aiming to polish up on her existing writing skills, Lee-Ann found that she gained a new set of storytelling techniques altogether. “Writing can do so much for a person, I feel I have become a better person since I discovered that I could put words together and create stories out of nothing.”
Finally registered for my Feature Journalism course with UCT and @getsmarter 🙌. Starting in March. Super stoked 👌 #AcademicExcellence 👑
— It’s Lee-Ann M⚽👠 (@TheeMissLee) January 5, 2017
As a working Journalist Lee-Ann has to write in ways that consistently capture the interest of her publication’s readers, skills she’s learnt to harness through the Feature Journalism online short course.
And just like that UCT @getsmarter is done and dusted 😥🙈. Wow it’s been a hectic past few months & the final was handed in today. Wow! 🙏 pic.twitter.com/81dZ39AHTY
— It’s Lee-Ann M⚽👠 (@TheeMissLee) May 16, 2017
Constantly upskilling herself has given Lee-Ann the opportunity to stand out from the crowd in the male-dominated field of sports journalism. She believes that her success comes down to her resolve to setting and achieving her goals.
“It can be tough for women in sports reporting as it’s a male-dominated industry, but women are increasingly stepping up to the plate.”
Lee-Ann describes receiving her certificate from leading university, UCT, as a proud moment in her life and encourages other journalists to pursue this online short course.
Thank you @getsmarter for this opportunity. All those hours and hard work now look like this. One in the bag 😬💪😥 pic.twitter.com/PJ0P1zYSxX
— It’s Lee-Ann M⚽👠 (@TheeMissLee) July 4, 2017
In July 2019 this courses’s name was changed to Feature Journalism to better optimise and align the course content to industry demand.
“It was a great feeling when I received my certificate. It was an achievement I could tick off on my list.” Regarding her experience with GetSmarter, Lee-Ann says the online learning platform gave her the opportunity to “have it all”. She was able to work, complete her studies, and still have time for her personal life.
“It’s important for a person to equip themselves with every possible skill they can acquire when given the opportunity.”
Ever the New Professional, Lee-Ann is seeking to transfer her skills into radio and TV journalism and looks forward to taking another online short course with GetSmarter in the near future.
Here is a timeline of Lee-Ann’s key career moments:
Want to perfect your feature journalism skills like Lee-Ann?
Download a course prospectus to find out more.
