JHB West - July 22

A second
chance
Failure. Rejection. Bullying. Most of us have experienced
one of these at some point in our lives. Marika Opperman
certainly did. But like a phoenix, she kept rising from the
ashes. And today, at 41, she is a mentor, content creator,
influencer, property specialist and model.
Red hair. Freckles with pale skin. And
the longest legs in school. Marika
Opperman was often on the receiving
end of bullies. But after school, things
changed quite quickly for her. She
set off for a gap year in London, set
aside the bullies’ comments about her
looks, and went for plenty of castings.
There were many no’s, but eventually,
she got a call back to appear in a prefashion
week show for a hair brand.
Success! Being tall, and having red hair
and freckles was the look the fashion
world wanted.
“I worked in housekeeping as well, so
I joked that I pretend to be Cinderella,
cleaning rooms and then off I go to
a star-studded show. All of this gave
me the confidence I so needed. And
raised to always be on the lookout for
business opportunities, I started to love
doing more than one thing at a time.”
When she returned home to SA, she
worked in the hospitality industry for
many years, her modelling career firmly
on the back burner. A horrific accident
followed, in which she fractured her
back. She miraculously recovered fully
recovered, but another severe setback
and trauma awaited her – as a young
mother of two kids she got divorced.
“Urg, failure stared me in my face. There
was one specific day when I woke up
and thought that I simply cannot deal
with this anymore. I must either just
accept my circumstances and walk
around with a label around my neck
which weighs very heavy, or I must
stand up, dress up and simply move on
and fight against my struggles. Obvs
the latter won!
“A dear friend and kykNET presenter of
Tyd met Aleit, the late Aleit Swanepoel,
and myself joined forces on stage,
where we did a series of motivations
and inspiring talks. This gave me extra
oomph to try and win the Mrs SA
pageant. I did not make the top 50. I
failed again ...”
But after a couple of months, Marika
was offered the opportunity to come
back into the pageant. Although she
didn’t win, Marika received the Woman
Empowerment award and this year she
is one of the mentors for several of the
women who is part of this competition.
“Don’t laugh, but I didn’t have an Insta
account until two years ago. Hashtags
and captions had me like ‘wait, what?’
But the competition required us to do
social media tasks and I went all out,
did a lot of research and equipped
myself with the necessary skills.
#Proudmoment and I’m glad to say it
paid off.”
It did indeed. In a big way, Marika got
offered ambassadorship for Lamelle
Research laboratories, Skin Renewal SA
and more great brands – and creating
content nowadays is second nature to
her. Plus her modelling career is also
booming, thanks to her being a whizz
on social media. This all shows, that
you are never too old to start or learn
something new.
“Living your passion or following
your heart doesn’t always bring the
bacon home, so a lot of us need
another outlet. But so many women
my age feel that it is too late to start
their own thing or to try something
new. No, it is not. We all have talents
and strengths we can use to create
something incredible. Maybe you
can bake like Cake Boss, crochet
the most beautiful items or create a
masterpiece out of junk.
“Gone are the days where you are
expected to do only one job. We are
mothers, wives, and business owners,
manage several jobs, hustle hard and
rise to the occasion. There are different
reasons - some financial, others as
a hobby or a drive deep down that
pushes you to do more. We
are so worthy and capable of so much
more, if we only
trust ourselves”.
In between everything else, Marika
does motivational talks and social
media workshops for women, to show
them the ropes and teach them about
content creation. She is also involved
in women empowerment workshops
and boot camps at Shekinah in Mabula
where women go on a retreat in the
bush to find their sunshine again.
Taking a breather is very important to
her and she does this by having a glass
of red wine with her husband, Louis,
spending time with her kids,14-year-old
Esti and 13-year-old Tommie, shopping
for succulents, learning to play golf or
cooking up a storm - did we mention
she is a qualified chef as well?
One thing is for sure, Marika is a multifaceted
woman but believes she still
has new goals to conquer. Her dream
is to host a TV show focusing on
empowering women and attaining
equal rights for redheads, who
according to her, will one day rule the
world. You go, girl!
Catch Marika on Minki’s show, Via,
DStv channel 147 this month where
she will be chatting about her Lamelle
ambassador journey.
Follow @marika.opperman on
Insta, @MrsMarikaOpperman
on Facebook, or pop her a mail
for more info on her workshops,
canellaproductions@gmail.com
10 Get It Magazine July 2022