Basking under the glisten of her success: Black girl magic
By: Wendy Mbiko
The girl didn’t know it was impossible so she did it; we are limited not by obstacles in a journey to our goals rather by our own mind set; thinking it cannot be done even before we attempt anything.
Mokgethwa Florence Meso (27) an international award winner born in Kgokong Ga-Mamabolo was led by curiosity into engineering and her ambition couldn’t let her be packed and label in one box so she also ventured into entrepreneurship working her black girl magic.
The journey to getting here wasn’t all roses, Mokgethwa is the eldest of 3 children and was raised by her grandparents because her parents worked far from home, being raised by her grandparents didn’t make her undisciplined rather it motivated her to make her family proud.
She matriculated at Botsholla Secondary and went on to study metallurgical engineering at Vaal university where she completed her Btech in 2014, during her years of studying she recalls having failed 70% of her modules at one point because she couldn’t cope with the work load but she picked herself up from her failure and graduated.
After graduating she completed her training at Anglo Platinum which led her to later finding employment at Vesuvius. Being the youngest black female in a male dominating industry and giving orders to people twice her age at times challenges Mokgethwa, but it’s a career path she chose therefore she is taking the good and the challenges that comes with it.
She has proved that she is a force to be reckoned with by achieving many accolades already. In 2016 she had one of her projects published in Physical science journal at the University of Malaysia; she also won an award for the best practical solving project which was held in Milan Italy where she was competing with 7 European countries.
In her company she is the first to bring it home, as part of the prizes she had to choose a charity of her choice which will receive a lump sum and she chose Pontsho ya Lesedi which was started by Pontsho Mamabolo an organization that deals with the needs of the community but mostly collects sanitary towels for girls in need.
Before the year ends she will bag one more award for having led her team to excellence, the award ceremony will be held in Austria next month.
With all these achievements Mokgethwa has all the reasons to be a bragged but her family keeps her grounded and pushes her to break through many more barriers. She mentors young girls including her sister, it is never too late for anyone to achieve goals or dream new dream.
She is reminded of that every time she thinks of her mother who is currently working towards completing her honors. Mokgethwa is also in the property business with her cousin and they own one buy to let and are currently working on getting the second.
“don’t give up quickly, there are many possibilities young girls need to stand up and seek help and don’t forget to sell themselves someone out there is looking for someone like you” said Mokgethwa.
She also completed a degree in project management in Unisa last year.
You can interact with Mokgethwa on social media: Facebook: Mokgethwa kgadi Meso Instagram: mokgethwa_m and for personal interactions she is open to guiding anyone via email: m.mokgethwa@gmail.com .
