Deshnie Govender

Marketing & Culture | Ex CMO L’Oreal, TikTok, Diageo, ABinBev | Chair: IAB Bookmarks | Judge: Effies, Loeries | Speaker

[Deshnie Govender @thatdesh]

Had the pleasure of hosting @davido at our TikTok offices today. All the best with the drop. Epic 🔥loading with @AsaAsika #lifeattiktok 📸 @artvillain

[Deshnie Govender @thatdesh]

Friend, let me tell you.

For every mentor and cheerleader I gained in my career, I also met bullies, opportunists and shape shifters.
The higher you climb, the more people reveal themselves.

One thing about growth? It will expose who actually wants to see you win. #careeradvice

[Deshnie Govender @thatdesh]

April closed with a personal milestone,
first exit. I sold my culture platform.

What it reinforced:
Pitching isn’t just about ideas.
It’s a data game. And a people game.

Whether it’s a job interview or investment, if you can’t read the room, you don’t close.

[Deshnie Govender @thatdesh]

Feed your feed. Looking to follow fresh voices of those working in marketing, entertainment & creator economy across West and East Africa.

[Deshnie Govender @thatdesh]

Lesson 3: Being non-traditional is only an advantage if you integrate it
📌 I’ve never had a linear career and for a long time, I wondered if that would count against me.

It turns out, it only does if you treat your experience like fragments instead of a system.

Each chapter taught me something different:

Tech taught me speed. At TikTok, we reached 1 billion users in under five years. Momentum matters and so does learning fast when things break.

Premium spirits across Africa, built through distributor models, taught me the value of trust over control.

CPG and luxury are teaching me the art of scale with intention while building a brave and strategic team geared to recruit the next-gen consumer.

[Deshnie Govender @thatdesh]

Becoming a CMO at 40 meant integrating lessons from TikTok, Diageo and now L’Oréal.

Speed. Scale. Restraint.

Here's a thread of lessons that shaped me. #Africa
https://t.co/iVsprVD2SG

[Deshnie Govender @thatdesh]

Lesson 2: Titles don’t transfer context. People do!
📌 A senior title doesn’t automatically explain how you think. Every new environment comes with its own power dynamics, cultural codes, and definitions of impact. What worked in one system won’t land the same way in another even if the title looks bigger.

I’ve learned to spend less time proving and more time listening, especially early on. Credibility compounds faster when curiosity comes before certainty.

[Deshnie Govender @thatdesh]

Lesson 1: Your past success can become your comfort blanket. When you step into a new role, you naturally bring your “kit” with you. The frameworks that worked, the language you perfected, the way you learned to win in certain rooms. That’s not the problem.

The problem is when that kit turns into a comfort blanket.

[Deshnie Govender @thatdesh]

The problem with drawing a line in the sand is that it can so easily fade away.
Without follow through, even the clearest boundaries will blur.

[Deshnie Govender @thatdesh]

You can’t expect someone to level up just because you crash-landed into their orbit. Growth takes time and grace. Vulnerability is meeting people where they are, not where you wish they’d be.

[Deshnie Govender @thatdesh]

@Afrihost is anyone avail to help on a Saturday? It’s urgent …

[Deshnie Govender @thatdesh]

Ego will slow you down. It’s ok to be vulnerable and ask for help when working on a passion project or side hustle & balancing a 9 to 5.

Think of your passion project like driving in F1, you’re in the seat, steering the vision, but even the world’s best drivers don’t change their own tyres or fix engines mid-race.

That’s what the pit crew is for. Outsourcing isn’t weakness, it’s strategy.

It means knowing your zone of genius and trusting others to handle the rest, so you can keep your eyes on the podium

[Deshnie Govender @thatdesh]

I’ll never understand how some people on this app will go out their way to reply to a comment with hate especially when their full profile is so easily searchable. Yes, it’s funny for the moment and you have something funny to share in the group chat but the digital log lasts forever. I pity these people, same with high school bullies - instead of taking the lesson they mask insecurities with cheap humour.

[Deshnie Govender @thatdesh]

What’s the circuit breaker?

As marketers , our job isn’t just to ship campaigns & be the budget bestie.

It’s to ask the uncomfortable question in the room.

For every great idea your agency lands you have to think and ask and prep (as if it were fact) for the worst case scenario.

We HAVE to take the romanticism out of the idea for just a short moment to consider what’s the potential circuit breaker.

Safety preps you for scale.

[Deshnie Govender @thatdesh]

The worst thing you can do in your 30s or 40s is damage your professional reputation.

From greed to tardiness, these habits work against your personal brand.

Think 🤔 so it doesn’t stink.

[Deshnie Govender @thatdesh]

WAYS of working is as important as the final result. Getting to the finish line with burnt out energy & half baked ideas is manipulation not collaboration.

[Deshnie Govender @thatdesh]

People who operate differently get different results. @StevenBartlett

Net Net
If you’re working in marketing, just try doing things different whilst keeping the business objectives aligned. Trust me, we need to change up the next 50 years of what marketing excellence looks like.

[Deshnie Govender @thatdesh]

There is someone out there doing 10x better than you - not because they are smarter than you, but because they say NO more often.
@GadzhiIman

[Deshnie Govender @thatdesh]

People can only meet you as deeply as they met themselves
@melrobbins #truth

[Deshnie Govender @thatdesh]

Pour selectively.
Don’t water everything.