I am writer, researcher and a creative director first before my entrepreneurial activities. Everything I do is a result of my ability to see connections and relationships between things. This results in having a lot of ideas, and as time goes on, you fine ways to commercialize them, hence The Brand Studio (TBS) was born, out of the love of seeing ideas as brands, businesses or IP come to life. I am Nelson Moropana.
Nelson Sehorane Moropana. Nel is the nickname. Sehorane is my grandfather’s name that was passed down to me. It means a wealthy person in terms of knowledge, wisdom and probably material things. This alone is a motivation to stay above in anything and everything I do. The pressure to keep up is necessary although it backfires at times.
0744567604
Nelson@thebrandstudio.co.za
Where are you from, are currently and are headed, both personally and professionally?
I’d like to think I’m from a dark place professionally, I went into business straight after my internship so you can imagine the dilemmas I went through. A few of my businesses failed but here I am, still going at it. I am a survivor of storms, and now a refugee and a slave to my own work. My work is my first priority these days and this is because I have neglected myself and my work, helping other people or businesses grow, for far too long. When you do this, your own development gets compromised, thus the storms come.
Headed currently? Hmm..I have been redeveloping how I work through The Brand Studio. At TBS we invest in a lot of intellectual property. This is more of my own personal philosophy that I once preached in my first ever book, “The Paradox of Prosperity”. In summary, in order to have a lush field full of plenty – to prosper or flourish as the girls put it – you must plant as many seeds as opposed to fighting for handfuls of dust. The future is now, and since I don’t think there will ever be a better time to invest than in 2017, I am planting more seeds through research and development (R&D).
What did you study and what were your motivations behind it?
I studied Film and Television at UJ. I was raised by a TV under the supervision of my grandparents. Noticing that my family lived elsewhere, and I on the other hand stuck with older versions of parents, the tv became my companion. YOTV presenters (Sade, Carly and CC) became my friends and of course how can one forget crazy Raven on That’s So Raven(That girl was my crush, lol).
Fast forward, I have been a photographer since I was 13 which exposed me to the world of imagery, to accidentally sharing lunch with YOTV presenters on production of YOTV summer splash. I think I was 15 at the time.
I have been in my field, I live it – it’s not something I chose, but rather a life I have lived since.
Who/what inspired you to embark on this journey and why?
I can’t say straight up. There’s a lot of people whom I look up to. For me, it was more of hoping to share the same experience I had watching films.
Movies and characters changed me. After every movie I had watched, I always came out a better person- like I had lived another life, of purpose, of power, of inspiration and I too wanted to create the same experience for people.
That alone was enough for me to get in this field.
Words of encouragement for our readers and anyone who may be considering following the same career path.
I know one thing about life thus far and that is, we see things different, we see and we can create beauty. This is one true definite trait in our creativity industry. To create new things.
We can make, create and bring to life things no one has ever seen. That which we create is a gift to earth and a definition of what life is.
But somehow, to bring these things to existence, we are met with a certain resistance, of society or the systems we live in. These systems insists on making us the same and reducing us to other people’s levels when we know we differ.
So, It is important to recognize these patterns because they can almost break you. You must persist, constantly, until your gift to the earth is rightfully accepted. Otherwise, we would never have seen your Michael Jacksons, Dj Kens, Lauren Hills and all of the things they brought that we deem precious today.
Now for some fun!
What has been your favorite moment/greatest achievement thus far, in 2017?
I have a few but at the moment my favorite has to be the rebranding of Campus TV (CTV) – another IP from The Brand Studio.
Campus TV, formerly Campus Media (UJ) was founded by myself in 2010 during my junior years as a film club.
It was run by me alongside my peers, Lebo, Josh, Molefe, Alice, Jeff and it was the coolest thing ever!
After that, we passed it onto the new students. More guys ran it, from Innocent Mabuza, Melinda Motaung Kananelo Rantso and Precious Manaka.
This year, we wanted to bring students even closer, chaired by Katleho Selwadi – the CTV brand on campus is responsible for things such as events coverage, film screenings as a whole lot.
At the moment it now has executive team, a content team (that focuses on writing and reporting) and an online team that focuses on online presence of the brand.
It’s always thrilling to bring students on board, their energy is amazing and very inspiring. (Got me missing my campus days 😭)
There’s a whole lot planned for CTV but I just don’t want to get ahead of myself for now.
We are currently in the roll out of the digital platforms and ensuring that we are engaging and producing content that’s fresh and relevant.
You can follow @campustvsa on twitter and Instagram for more.
What is your favorite movie/book of the year or what are you looking forward to seeing this year?
Book, it has to be Tools of Titans. I am not even done with it but so far, maaaaan!
What would your first act as President of the RSA be?
I would free education.
Lastly, which cartoon do you think today’s kids missed out on? Be honest; you know we 90s kids had gems!
Definitely The Simpsons! Before Mnet became DSTV, The Simpsons played at 6 just before the signal went off at half six. Though still relevant today, the Simpsons took away the image of perfection out of my mind and help me appreciate things as they are.
Not everything is perfect – the Simpson family alone is a complete mess, from Homer to his son Bart, no one is perfect, and you know what, that’s ok. That show made it ok. And I loved the Simpsons for that. I wish today’s kids could understand this.
That’s it from Nelson! We’ll be keeping up with him throughout his wonderful and enlightening journey!
#MoneyMondays #ManGeniusMonday #TheMondayMan
