Odette Schwegler on how her work finds her
EMMARENTIA – Media giant Odette Schwegler speaks about her career and is based in Emmarentia with a love for the suburb's family friendly atmosphere.
Odette Schwegler was born in Montreal, Canada, and grew up in the South of Johannesburg. Schwegler has been based in Emmarentia and the director of Tin Soldiers, a documentary feature film which covered the stories of people living with fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP).
The director has been in the media industry for just under two decades and has worn many hats throughout the trajectory of her career which included entrepreneur, senior researcher, producer and most recently director. Schwegler recalled her journey into the film industry as a gift which was disguised as a catastrophe.
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“The journey towards tertiary education was a challenge and involved holding two jobs and countless waitressing shifts. It taught me perseverance, resilience and mostly humility. The work we do today in this industry is often difficult with seemingly ‘impossible’ hurdles to overcome, most especially when it comes to raising the funds needed for our productions. But those lessons in perseverance, resilience and humility guide me through each and every day. Somehow we make it.”
The Rhodes University graduate obtained her Bachelor of Journalism and Media Studies (Hons.) degree in Broadcast Journalism and then began her career in the SABC newsroom. Since then she has amassed an impressive collection of accolades such as being listed in the 40 most influential people in South African media under 40 in 2013 by The Media magazine.
As a successful woman in the media industry, Schwegler has admittedly faced all the ‘usual challenges’.
“I just made a conscious choice not to let that consume me, but to rather rise above and just be better. Often times, it takes the woman to be the better man. I made a conscious choice to just be better.”
Schwegler has been continually motivated by her husband and four kids, who she referred to as her ‘light’. The content specialist’s favourite part of life in Emmarentia were the parks, birds and the fact that it has been a special space which has been where her kids have grown up.
Tin Soldiers premiered for the world on 5 October at Hyde Park Nu Metro.
Fact Box: What is fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP)?
FOP is an ultra-rare disease in which muscle and connective tissue, including tendons and ligaments, are gradually replaced by bone. Frederick Kaplan, the founder of FOP Research at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine used to refer to FOP as ‘the Mount Everest of genetic skeletal disorders’.
Source: Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva: the struggle of finding a cure for the extremely rare disease: https://www.scitecheuropa.eu/fibrodysplasia-ossificans-progressiva-rare-disease/95706/
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