The Flow Communications writing studio has expanded once more with the addition of journalist Bianca Bothma. A BTech Journalism graduate of Durban University of Technology, Bianca joined Flow on November 1, 2010, after travels through China, Cambodia and South Korea over a three-year period, interspersed with freelancing stints back home.
Bianca is a former student of CEO Tara Turkington; since her student days Tara and Bianca have remained in contact, but the timing was never right for her to join the company.
“I was working at Art for Humanity, a non-profit organisation in Durban and then I went overseas. A few months after I got back Tara phoned me with an offer. I saw Flow as a great opportunity so I accepted,” Bianca says.
She now works on a number of projects at Flow, including writing for the Maropeng Visitor Centre at the Cradle of Humankind; Waterford Kamhlaba, a school in Swaziland; and the Catholic Institution of Education. She loves working on Maropeng projects in particular as she is challenged to learn more about fossils and the origins of humankind.
How does she feel about the work so far? “Flow is an exciting place to learn new things and I see great potential for diverse multimedia content,” she says.
Bianca, who is also studying toward her master’s in dramatic arts at the Wits School of Arts, says it’s important for journalists to diversify and expand upon their skills. “As a journalist I need to be able to write, take pictures and shoot and edit video. Gone are the days when a journalist only needed to write.”
It comes as little surprise then that Bianca experiments with documentary video and stop motion animation in her spare time. In future she would like to go on more international adventures: travel more, learn new languages and document her experiences visually.
Always up for a challenge and not shy of adventure, Bianca is a great addition to the Flow family: “Being new here means I have a lot to learn and I love this,” she says.