Why Siwe Lawrence’s ‘Good Life Soundtrack’ Goes a Long Way

“The most interesting people are the ones who are interested,” has been Siwe Lawrence’s motto throughout her career. Growing up dancing, loving the arts and baking treats in the kitchen, she would go on to leave creativity behind and become a chartered accountant, eventually finding her way into the creative industries by accident. However, Siwe’s experience in the financial sector prepared her for what would become her career path, as she now takes on the role of senior strategist at M&C Saatchi Abel.

“Born in Durban, raised in the small town of Empangeni in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, I was a happy-go-lucky kid who had a full childhood,” she says, thinking back to her younger self and reflecting on where she thought her career would lead her. “I was always exploring and quite a daring kid, climbing trees and building forts. I sketched a lot and I was always curious. I actually thought I’d become an architect or astronaut!” 

When she wasn’t out exploring, Siwe spent her time dancing as both a classically trained ballerina, and in other genres too. With this as one of her hobbies, she also had passions with which she occupied her time. “I loved arts and crafts and baked a lot,” she adds.

Though she identified as Zulu from both of her parents, growing into adult life, she wanted to know more about any niches that she should be embracing as part of her culture. “I am Zulu from both parents, but an interesting family tree exercise that I have been doing identifies some coloured (multiracial ethnic) and Sotho (from Lesotho) heritage as well.” And with some further digging, she found out even more: “My mom’s lineage is the royal Ngwane chieftaincy that dates directly back to Shaka. So, I suppose in terms of influence, it has put me in a position to be open-minded when it comes to people’s backgrounds, whilst also being proudly Zulu.”

As she’s grown up, the loud and extroverted personality that Siwe had as a child has mellowed with her evolved understanding of people and cultures. She explains, “I’ve definitely become more introverted and extroverted in certain moments. My closest friends describe me as calm and considered, while being assertive and bold in the things I do. I love banter and can be quite quick-witted” 

So, when it came time to choose a career path, Siwe chose to study accounting at Rhodes University in her native country, and by 2016, she’d become a qualified chartered accountant. “I learnt skill sets, grit and resilience that come with that specific qualification,” she says, “I arrived in Joburg and knew that I had to somehow find my way into the creative space. Fast forward I moved from being a financial manager at an agency into strategy.” 

But let’s take it back a step - her first role in the creative industries was as a head of finance at an audio production company. After moving to FCB she decided on a more creative path. “I honed my craft in the agency where I made my transition, and often say that I learned on the (finance) job to be a creative strategist. When I finally started as a junior strategist, it was really about soaking in as many things as possible.” That’s when she learnt the lesson that would take her through her career: “The lesson of staying curious: the most interesting people are the ones who are interested.”

Becoming a junior strategist, the first project Siwe worked on was an Old Mutual funeral product brief. “I had re-articulated the emotional benefit of what funeral cover is (a promise kept) and for the first time, I got to see how a rich strategic territory can genuinely excite creatives.” As more briefs came her way, there was one in particular that was significant and that was a premium banking campaign for Absa titled, ‘Get a better perspective’. She remembers, “I got to fully lead a brief and build relationships with senior clients. It was a fully integrated campaign as well so I really saw the process from a 360 point of view.”

In the process of working, Siwe learned more about herself through her work - finding what keeps her going and excited for more projects. “I love interrogating the human experience and looking for different ways of seeing and articulating the same thing. Mike Abel [exective chairman of M&C Saatchi Abel] always says, ‘make the familiar, unfamiliar, and the unfamiliar, familiar.’ And I think the reward of that is when someone realises that they haven’t thought about it that way.” 

Tackling inefficiencies within the creation process and grappling with the lack of recognition that strategists get has been a tough challenge to overcome, but Siwe wants to combat this by achieving a “stand-out creative and a distinctive strategy style that anyone can identify if they went through a deck.” Touching on the relationships between creatives and strategists, she explains the blurred line which often causes friction between the two aspects of the process:

“Who leads, and when and where? Does the creative process actually start in strategy or only after the creatives are briefed? Secondly, it’s the lack of strategic input in the creative process/ideation, with effectiveness being at the centre. Currently, effectiveness is a bit of a buzzword, but it is so important to bring it back as a guiding light for the work that we do. At the end of the day, businesses seek creative solutions to move product and profit, but also to make a sizable impact. I often think the strategy is the custodian of that and even more so when it comes to making creatives care about effectiveness just as much. Creativity for just creativity’s sake can only take a business so far.”

Using her development time intentionally, when looking to upskill herself, Siwe keeps her podcasts varied and ensures she’s learning throughout the process. She’s recently graduated from a ‘Leading Women Creating Change in the New World Order' programme programme from the ACA and says, “what gets me excited is the overt investment in women-led leadership in the industry.” Having previously quoted him, it’s no surprise that she looks up to Mike Abel - something she explains: 

“His brazen bravado of building an agency from the ground up and the passionate creative he still is after all these years.” She also looks to one other, “Es Devlin is my favourite design-thinker and stage designer, and her creativity has designed stages for Kanye West and Beyonce and that’s pretty bad-a**.”

While taking time away from work and spending time on herself, Siwe works out, watches online content and loves being in studio sessions. “Music and food and anything that requires me to conceptualise and curate something creatively eg. an event” is where her passions lie. She continues, “I really enjoy the podcasting wave that is currently out there, I get a lot of intellectual stimulation from some of them and I can watch for hours.’ Hustlers Corner’, ‘Podcast & Chill’, ‘The Penuel Show’, ‘Know For Sure’.”

Her ability to get through it all boils down to three things: “Definitely my faith (I’m Catholic), the excitement of opportunity, and my late dad and my family. A good life soundtrack also goes a long way: ‘Dreamworks’ by AKA.”