We warmly welcomed former Smile 90.4FM news anchor, reporter, and journalist Lizell Persens to speak at assembly on 12 September 2025. Mrs Rankin introduced her, as she was a past pupil of hers from Bergvliet High School. She elaborated upon her career that she is a former TV and film producer and manager, production manager, online senior student advisor at Vega School, and online content creator. Lizell challenged the audience to think what they thought of when they heard the term ‘media practitioner’, adding that her giving this speech was a complete role reversal since she is accustomed to being on the other side – capturing the story, listening, observing, and writing down her interpretation. Lizell shared her story of growing up with little to none resources in a poor area; loving to sing, dance, and do art; and wanting to be someone.
Lizell outlined her career journey – working at ‘Top Billing‘, becoming a production manager, and culminating in working for the top radio stations in the country. She shared that sometimes telling the truth and telling the story means risking it all. She attributed her success to her self-belief that she could do anything, and her strong belief in God. She advised pupils to remain humble so that others can see their potential, sharing the story of herself when she was in Grade 8 and Mrs Rankin asked her to write a poem. The poem was entitled ‘Till we meet again’, which is ironic since she was reunited with her teacher at assembly. At the time, Lizell was not interested in being a journalist, viewing it as “boring”, but Mrs Rankin recognised that she had a passion for writing and recognised her worth. Further to this, Lizell reinforced the idea of cherishing and valuing everyone “because you never know who might be calling in 10 years, or 20 years’ time”.
She encouraged pupils to embrace their individuality – “When you feel that you are different or you are an outcast, that only means that you were merely born to stand out”, and to share and own their own truth. From a journalism point of view, she encouraged pupils to speak to and treat every individual equally. She acknowledged that there were highlights and lowlights as a journalist; but likened this to all careers – “No job is going to be perfect in this world.” She added that at the end of the day, it was worth it. Responding to an audience question about if orals at school assisted her afterwards, she relayed the importance of developing self-confidence and how to master public speaking so that one can address not only an audience, but also communicate better in normal relationships.
