By Ettioné Ferreira
Old Rhodian and JMS alumna, Tanya Accone has received a Distinguished Old Rhodian Award this year at the Old Rhodian Awards luncheon, held on 27 August at Rhodes. Accone won numerous academic awards during her studies, including the Fulbright Scholarship which allowed her to do her post-graduate studies in the United States. She has also served as a trustee on The Rhodes University Trust in the USA since 2003 and has raised awareness and funds for previously disadvantaged students in the Eastern Cape to attend university.
Tanya Accone with Chrissie Boughey (DVC: Academic & Student Affairs at Rhodes) during the Old Rhodian Awards
Accone grew up in Lady Selbourne, Tswane in the Apartheid era. She says, “Surrounded by a sea tall reeds and bush it was fairly rural; we never got a tarred road to our house in the 29 years my family lived there. We were one of the dozen or so Chinese families to receive permits for what must surely have been the tiniest group area under Apartheid! It was also next to the electoral district that gave the ultra-conservative Herstigte Nasionale Party their single seat in Parliament.”
After graduating from Rhodes in 1993, Accone went on to become an Assistant Editor of Safety Management, a trade magazine for a year. The magazine focused on occupational health, safety and environmental issues. She covered various industrial related news, she remembers, “It was a wonderful job -- I got paid to sate my curiosity about so many things: How are cables made? Bottles? Pharmaceuticals? Our money? What's it like to work in the deepest mine in the world? Or travel between three cities underground through the extensive ski-lift type system? And then I also got to examine reader submissions including photos, of the gnarliest workplace accidents. We would choose one to be featured every month. Based on its frequent recurrence, let me advise you to never skimp on the weights on construction cranes, because it will crush you, every time.”
Speaking to two sisters about how they access health care in Karamoja, Uganda, 2012 Photo_UNICEF2012Dyer
In 1996, Accone completed her MA in Communication at the American University in Washington. She went on to work at The Washington Post for a year as Online Producer. Accone returned to South Africa thereafter and worked at Avusa Media from 1997 to 2000 as Internet Editor. From there she started working for MWEB which is part of Naspers. At MWEB she worked as Executive Producer until 2001 when she found an opportunity at UNICEF as Communication Specialist.
Talking about the life-saving impact of technology when applied to support mothers and infants on CNBC's TechBusters with presenter, Toby Shapshak, a fellow Rhodes University JMS graduate.
“I'd had an incredible time as part of the executive team, scouting new business opportunities across sub-Saharan Africa and implementing an aggressive business development plan to establish multiple companies in multiple countries. In that process, I'd also become keenly aware of how the same technology could bring massive opportunity to the most marginalized people. So when I saw the advertisement for a role to put together an internet strategy for UNICEF, it seemed like the universe was conspiring with me. I have rarely regretted the decision -- except on days when I think of how nice it might be to live in Cape Town full time and have business meetings around a picnic table in the Winelands,” she says jokingly.
Talking about entrepreneurship, social enterprises and why doing good is good business in Tokyo, Japan, 2016.
She now holds the position of Senior Advisor on Innovation and the Deputy of UNICEF’s Global Innovation Centre in Bangkok, Thailand.
Accone takes a positive approach to job opportunities saying, “my father’s career advice was this, and I follow it to this day: ‘If one day you discover you’re not enjoying what you’re doing. Stop. Change. It’s never too late to try something else, something that you’re going to do for almost every day of your life should be something fulfilling.’ So I've followed my heart in a "take this job and love it" approach and I have loved very different things in every job that I've had. The real impact on lives -- whether children or in the workplace is a common thread between my first and current roles. Pushing the boundaries and being first in where media and technology could go was incredible exciting when I was part of the team that built WashingtonPost.com, and similarly strategising, implementing and iterating what the internet could be for The Sunday Times.”
The most inspiring person I have and will ever have the honor to meet, President Nelson Mandela on his visit to The Sunday Times newsroom in 1997, where I was Internet Editor.
Even through the various adventures and visiting various countries, South Africa still has a place in Accone’s heart, “East, West, home continues to seem best. The people, culture, diversity, and astounding natural beauty of the place I call home is pretty much unmatched,” she says.
United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, visiting the UNICEF innovation team in New York in 2015. Photo: UNICEF/2015/Nesbitt
Her message to aspiring journalists at Rhodes JMS:
“Make sure that you root your learning in practice. It is incredibly competitive market out there, especially internationally. Students in high school and especially in university are aggressive in seeking way to prove they have skills and know how to use them. Internships, chances to demonstrate and build up a body of experience is essential. (Shout out -- creating content that helps Rhodes promote its work is a great place to start.)”
UNICEF has partnered with China's leading university, Tsinghua University, to create a joint Innovation Centre for Children in Beijing. Here with a number of the key people who are part of this initiative from the Academy of Arts and Design.