For Faheem Chaudhry, being fascinated with the human experience has always been part of who he is. This curiosity about the world led him to study politics, philosophy and organisational psychology before enrolling in Marketing and Advertising Communication at Red & Yellow.

This set Faheem up for a brilliant and award-winning career at leading global advertising giant M&C Saatchi. By 29, he had become Partner & Managing Director, in charge of M&C Saatchi Johannesburg, where he led the business through four and a half years of hyper growth – making it the most profitable in the company’s history.

Faheem has also worked with a broad range of organisations, from the world’s fastest growing brands to exciting start-ups, new political parties in the global south, royal families in the Middle East, and the highest levels of government in the west. He’s twice been invited to address the United Nations and has won over 50 local and international awards, from Cannes Lions to Fast Company.

His top career moment include hiring over 100 people for M&C Saatchi during the pandemic, leading the iconic Nando’s advertising account for four years, and being elected Jury Chairperson of the Financial Mail AdFocus Awards for 2022/23.

In 2023, Faheem chose to pursue a lifelong calling to become an entrepreneur and is currently involved in a range of companies in the role of founder, director, adviser and investor.

Sbu has worked as Group Head for Joe Public and Creative Director at Ogilvy, before cofounding his own award winning, one hundred percent black owned agency The Odd Number. Under his leadership, The Odd Number was named South Africa’s Independent Agency of the Year at the 2024 Loeries.

Since kicking things off in 2015, The Odd Number has been racking up awards at all the major South African shows, including two Grand Prix wins at The Loerie Awards for Africa & the Middle East. The agency’s work has also made waves internationally, scoring recognition at D&AD, One Show, and Cannes Lions. In 2021 and again in 2023, they were ranked the top Mid-Sized Agency.

Sbu’s talent hasn’t gone unnoticed either. In 2018, he was voted the most admired Executive Creative Director in Johannesburg, and in 2019, the second most admired in all of South Africa. Fast forward to 2023, when we was named Creative Leader of the Year by MarkLives.com.

Sbu’s influence goes beyond The Odd Number; he was elected Chairperson of the Loeries Africa Middle East for 2023 and has judged at big international shows like The Cannes Lions, The Dubai Lynx (as Jury President), and The One Show Awards. Known for his go-to phrase, “nothing wrong,” Sbu’s all about finding solutions through creative insight.

Steph van Niekerk is the Executive Creative Director at TBWAHunt Lascaris, having studied Copywriting here at Red & Yellow.

With over 20 years in top South African agencies, Steph has racked up an impressive list of awards, from local wins to international honors. She’s scored multiple Gold Cannes Lions, snagged South Africa’s first Gold One Show Pencil for TV and Cinema, and won three back-to-back Grand Prix awards at the Loeries for Branded Content, Radio, and Outdoor.

Blending her experience from both traditional and digital agencies, Steph brings platform-agnostic storytelling to life, creating work that always captivates, entertains, and leaves a lasting impact.

But her influence doesn’t stop at her creative work. A respected voice on the awards circuit, she’s judged locally and internationally at events like the One Show and Cannes, served on the Loeries Committee, and now sits on the Creative Circle. She’s passionate about nurturing young talent, making sure the industry stays sustainable and inclusive for the future.

Some of Steph’s favourite career highlights include being listed as the number one Creative Director and Writer in AMEA in 2019, and winning three consecutive Grand Prix awards in two years. For Steph, the biggest inspiration comes from seeing the young people she works with grow into creative powerhouses and leaders in their own right.

Juliet Harding, popularly known as Jules, is a Red & Yellow alumnus who has put her advertising studies to use when it comes to her thriving career in music. Jules is the co-creator and lead singer of one of South Africa’s favourite bands, GoodLuck.

GoodLuck began as a collaborative side hustle for Jules and her partner Ben Peters. GoodLuck started as a love for electronic music, and has grown into one of South Africa’s most loved music acts. In fact, back in September 2015, GoodLuck opened for Pharrell Williams during his world tour, and has gone on to perform with Clean Bandit, Jungle, and more.

The band has since released four charting albums, has won the South African Music Award for Best Pop Album, received countless more nominations and had had 11 top 40 number 1 hits across radio.

In a recent Red & Yellow Masterclass, Jules and Ben discussed how they’ve used advertising to stay on top of the industry. They unpacked everything from marketing decisions like intentionally adding blue extensions to Jules’s hair, to how it has been to overcome the challenges associated with being a woman in a male dominated industry.

Jules’s career is its very own career masterclass in professional branding and her work continues to inspire those entering the world of music and beyond.

Graduating from Red & Yellow in 2010, Moemise Kekana launched his career at King James Group Cape Town. After almost a decade – and, in his words, more coffee than is medically advisable – Moe rose from intern to Loerie Grand Prix-winning Creative Group Head.

In 2020, Moe joined The Odd Number, then moved on to Joe Public as Creative Director in 2022. Outside of agency life, he launched The Man Who Isn’t There, a passion project blending his love for Ndebele and traditional African art with a strong entrepreneurial drive. This solo venture lets him dive into illustration, custom industrial design, and even partner up with Greenpeace Africa for his first artist collaboration. The Man Who Isn’t There snagged impressive rankings too – 15th in the Middle East & Africa at the Loerie Awards 2023 and 10th in South Africa at the Pendoring Awards 2023.

Moe’s won his share of awards, but for him, they’re more than just trophies – they open doors. Doors to opportunities like mentoring up-and-coming creatives, sharing insights through guest lectures and chats, delivering the commencement speech to Red & Yellow’s Class of 2019, and leading a young team that went on to win the Young Lions award, both locally and at Cannes. And, of course, creating art that’s traveled to places he hasn’t yet visited. These moments are what he’s truly proud of.

Martin Magner is one of those rare creatives who is the embodiment of the term multidisciplinary. Since studying Art Direction, Advertising and Graphic Design at Red & Yellow, he’s gone on to co-found the New York based agency Sounds Fun, where he works as Chief Creative Officer.

Martin is a Grand Prix-winning GCD with a seriously impressive list of honors: an Adweek Creative 100 honoree, a Business Insider Rising Star, #28 in The Drum’s 100 Best CDs on the Planet, part of The Drum’s Future 50, a Cannes and Drum Awards juror, and #15 Creative Director in the world according to D&AD in 2023. His globally recognised work brings value while adding a splash of color to the world.

Martin loves where culture and tech collide and is on a mission to make the emerging tech space accessible to everyone. By blending his favorite things – pop music, social media, chaos, reality TV, fashion, art, and more – he brings code to life through culture. Living as a multihyphenate and international pop sensation, he believes in trying everything at least twice. His playful, bold spirit comes through in all his work, making life feel like an experience.

Known for his daring, experiential projects on brands like Coca-Cola and Adidas, Martin designs worlds for people to dive into and connect with on their own terms. His work thrives both online and offline, creating memorable experiences that leave a lasting impression.

In her role as Executive Creative Director at Ogilvy SA, Camilla’s work with client AB InBev took home not one, but two Golds at the esteemed Cannes Lions International Festival for Creativity in 2023.

Camilla studied the Advanced Diploma in Copywriting at Red & Yellow. After years of working on TV ads, print, and radio campaigns for big brands like FNB, MTN, and Coca-Cola, she found herself drawn to the more experimental side of advertising, where the focus was on changing behavior through creative, customer-centered journeys.

This shift was a game-changer. She started creating innovative solutions to tackle business challenges—like building a real-life website on a 2km cycling track for Toyota RAV4, transforming a non-profit into a media agency to feed hungry kids for PSFA, and even urging people to “say it with a cactus” during Netflorist’s drought campaign.

Along the way, she’s picked up a collection of awards from Cannes Lions, Loeries, Bookmarks, Webbys, D&AD, FWA, and One Show. Plus, she’s served as a judge for Cannes, Loeries, Dubai Lynx, Creativepool, and Bookmarks, and holds seats on both the IAB and Creative Circle councils. In 2020, she was named one of Creativepool’s Top 100 Industry Influencers.

This year, Camilla was announced as the Ogilvy global creative lead for Unilever, a move that has taken her career to London.

Veli Ngubane is a Red & Yellow alum who’s redefined what it means to lead with purpose and passion in the advertising world. As the Founding Partner and Chief Growth Officer at AVATAR Agency Group, Veli has spent over a decade building South Africa’s largest black-owned advertising agency. His journey has been one of bravery, innovation, and a strong dose of faith – all key ingredients in his entrepreneurial playbook.

One of Veli’s standout moments came when AVATAR won ABSA as a client, launching a campaign that reshaped the bank’s presence across the continent. Seeing the fruits of his hard work on display at Jomo Kenyatta Airport in Kenya was a surreal reminder of just how far he’s come. Veli’s advice to future trailblazers? “Be your authentic self; the industry needs you, not a version that you think people will accept.”

Cait studied Marketing and Advertising at Red & Yellow. An entrepreneur and disruptor at heart, she co-founded and holds the position of director at one of South Africa’s new favourite brands, Grumpy Snacks, with her partner Tim. 

Cait has put her practical education and Commercial Logic & Creative Magic secret sauce to work. Grumpy Snacks is a premium-accessible snacking brand that focuses on developing better-for-you snacking options. Cait and Tim began trading in August of 2020, in a challenging business environment due to the pandemic lock downs, but overcame hurdles to supply products to various channels throughout South Africa. Today these include independent and major retail, hotel chains, airlines, schools, canteens and events.

Cait’s proud of creating something, through a combination of miracles, luck, and hard work, that people actually want. “Consumer demand can be elusive – a lot of things have to come together – and I am really grateful that we seem to have captured a bit of it,” says Cait.

Some of her favourite career moments include being called up by LYFT airline three months after launching Grumpy Snacks, where the company wanted them to be their primary snack supplier, being called up by Vida e Caffè to be amongst the first branded products they offered, and their our increasingly successful rollout into Checkers Western Cape.

Kirby Gordon is the Chief Marketing Officer at FlySafair and a proud Red & Yellow alumnus who completed the Advanced Diploma in Marketing and Advertising Communications in 2006. Over his nine years with South Africa’s largest low-cost airline, Kirby’s guided FlySafair to soar to a 67% market share in the South African domestic market. Under his leadership, FlySafair has kept its cost per acquisition low and its net promoter score impressively high – a true testament to Kirby’s knack for data-driven strategy and his commitment to understanding customer needs.

With a passion for blending traditional advertising with digital marketing, Kirby’s mission is all about making each ad cent count, using insights and innovation to keep FlySafair at the forefront. He’s also a forward-thinker, eager to integrate AI into marketing and customer service to stay ahead in a fast-changing industry. Add in his PR and crisis comms skills, and you’ve got a seasoned spokesperson who’s been the voice of FlySafair for nearly a decade. Kirby’s work is proof that marketing is as much about science as it is about creativity, and he’s flying high on both fronts.