ABERDEEN NEWS — Sive Jacobs from Aberdeen is currently studying towards an honours degree in Media Studies at NMMU, after completing a three-year BA degree in Media, Communication and Culture in 2016.
This year she is appearing as a guest presenter on Bay TV on the show Big One p and hopes that her story will inspire other young people from Aberdeen.
Sive, whose mother Kholiwe Tinus is a senior teacher at Luxolo Intermediate School, attended crèche in Aberdeen and then started at Union Prep School in Graaff-Reinet in 2002. She matriculated in 2013 at Union High School.
She has always been interested in the media. She recalls watching the news as a young girl because her mother would switch on to Morning Live: “I would wonder whether the news reader was looking at me or not - I would hide just to see whether her gaze would follow my movement”. Despite suggestions from her teachers that she should continue her studies in art or train as a teacher, Sive decided that she needed adventure and to be creative after the routeing of school, and applied to NMMU for a Bachelor’s degree.
At university Siwe joined the Drama Society, appearing in several productions, and also attended writing workshops, mainly for poetry. At the end of her second year, she received the Golden Key International Honours Award.
In 2016 she joined Madibaz Radio as a co-producer and co-presenter. She has also written for an online student herald called Res Herald. In 2016 when the Fees Must Fall movement resumed she ended up, in her own words, “being in a dark cloudy mindset”. She saw a post from Bay TV saying they were running auditions for a presenter, she applied, and after three auditions was accepted.
At the first audition, she was given a script and had time to prepare for the auditions, which she says was not as overwhelming as she had always imagined it would be! She was called again and had to take her CV, and at the final interview, the head of content Mfundi Makana and two other media staff were present. She was told that Bay TV is the first community television station and therefore she would not be paid. “Money didn’t matter. I needed to feel like there is hope for me, for my dreams - especially with the #feesmustfall protest happening. I was hungry,” explained Sive.
This enthusiastic young lady is determined to make her mark and would like to be a role model for students in Aberdeen. “Media controls the minds of people and being in that powerful spotlight comes with great responsibility. It’s there to teach, inspire and build societies. Fame does not matter. Positive influence does!”
Big One Up airs on Bay TV from 4pm till 5pm on channel 54, frequency 735.25 MHz.
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