When Kate Rau and I go to the garden for the interview that will ultimately inform this blog, she sits down comfortably on the grass and says, “Let’s do this, skattie.”
And so our interview begins.
Kate is the most recent, most bubbly addition to Flow’s writing team, joining the company in late November as a media developer.
She’s worked for a number of magazines, having started out as a freelance journalist and worked her way up in the industry, becoming an editor of ARENA, Wits University’s forerunner to the WITSReview, at 24.
So far her days at Flow have been spent managing the Gauteng Tourism site, launched this Monday, December 13 – and she has loved every minute of it.
“I love writing about my province,” she says, and feels right at home at Flow Communications. “I knew when I first walked into Flow that I wanted to be here. I don’t know how, but I just knew.”
Being a part of the Flow family means, quite simply, “awesomeness”. “If such a word exists,” Kate adds. “I love the people I work with and I believe that I joined at an interesting time; lots of things are happening right now.”
Asked what the transition from print to online has been like for her, Kate responds: “The shift from print to something that I feel is living has been great. I think web is the way forward and Flow is certainly on that same path.”
Journalist Bianca Bothma describes Kate as a woman with wonderful energy and exuberance: “She brings a lot of enthusiasm to the studio, and she is always full of laughs and is a great party buddy.”
Freelance writer Sarah Key also admires Kate for the energy she brings into the writing studio, calling her “a dynamo with loads of energy and also the ability to focus and apply herself”, adding, “She has a great work ethic. Her fun-loving approach is infectious and she is an asset to the writing team.”
Kate sees a future for herself at Flow, saying she wants to grow with the company and “go with the flow”.
“I see value in the company and its people. I see myself here in the long run.”
Kate was born and bred in Johannesburg but lived in Réunion for a while, the French island in the Indian Ocean, on an apprenticeship awarded to her by the French government.
Flow welcomes this free-spirited lady to the family.