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For these high achievers, school isn’t everything
For Darren Morris, the founder and chief executive of Lucky Hustle, a multimillion-dollar advertising agency with an international footprint, school was a struggle. His story is just one of many of those who flourished outside of the school system.
After his father left, Morris was raised by his single mother and attended a private Jewish school with the help of the Chevrah Kadisha. “I struggled to find my feet and fit in as I sucked at sports and at academics,” he says. There were also vast economic disparities between him and his peers. “So, I said to myself, ‘One day I’m going to change my destiny and I’m going to do whatever it takes to live life on the other side of the fence.’”
Yet his marks were a problem. “I almost failed every subject, and I didn’t get a university pass,” says Morris. “I still had this dream, but was conditioned at school to think that if you don’t become a doctor, accountant, or lawyer, you’re not going to be anything.”
It was at school, however, that he learned how to hustle. “I never had cash to go out on the weekend, so a friend and I started a tuck shop collection and delivery service where we were often told to keep the change.” He also took multiple weekend jobs to make ends meet. “I learned from a young age that if you work really hard, you can make money.”
With financial support from a friend’s father, he attained a diploma in business management, and his hardworking nature and innate creativity led him to advertising. When he got an opportunity at an advertising agency, he worked for free, but soon made a major deal for the company and was officially employed. After a few years of experience in various agencies, he started Lucky Hustle, a name that reflects his personal journey.
“I started in 2021 as a team of one, but I knew that working harder and longer hours than anyone else would separate me from those who had more advantages than I did,” he says.
Today, the company has more than 20 permanent staff, operates in South Africa and the United Kingdom, and serves local and international clients including the likes of MTN, Coca-Cola, and Huawei. “I completely changed my life,” he says. “If you don’t do well at school or come from money, don’t give up too soon because if you work harder than anyone else, the magic will happen.”
The founder of Free 2B Me Music, composer, recording artist, and Grammy Awards voting member, Breindy Klawansky, has achieved considerable success in the music industry. Yet she took an unconventional path to achieving her dreams. Leaving school in Grade 11 to study at a Jewish seminary in England, Klawansky didn’t matriculate. “I was completely disinterested in school,” she says. Yet upon her return to South Africa, she knew she wanted to pursue a music degree.
“When I decided that I wanted to study music, I had to find a way to get into university,” she says. She therefore completed her General Education Development (GED), an American high school equivalency certificate. While her path to admission to the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) was rocky, her acceptance letter to an American university helped her case.
Before starting her degree, Klawansky had to complete music theory courses, at which she excelled. “When you focus on something that you’re good at and you’re mature enough to know what you want to do, you give of your best,” she said. After her first year at Wits, she was admitted into the Golden Key Honours Society for finishing among the top 15% in music theory. “That was very exciting because the other students had all studied music formally in high school and I hadn’t,” she says. “It showed me that I could excel.”
Though Klawansky is proud of having attained her music degree, she believes that in today’s rapidly changing world, there’s no longer a set path to success, especially in the arts. “Being in the music industry is complicated and difficult,” she says. It’s about focusing on your strengths, building on each of your experiences, and persevering.
Through starting Free 2B Me Music 10 years ago, she has helped to teach the next generation about the power of music. Her biggest passion, however, is making music. As part of musical duo Breindy and Matt with her husband, she has been nominated for multiple local and international awards. “For me, being involved in music is everything,” she says.
Healthtech innovator Josh Lasker, the co-founder of Abby Health, hated the rigid structure of school. “You’re all going at the same pace, and it’s assumed you all have the same interests,” he says. “I wasn’t interested in anything I was learning, aside from business. It was just a grind. I also had an issue with authority, with teachers and staff dictating our every move.”
And so, at about the age of 16, Lasker left school for a few months and started selling leather bracelets he’d imported from China. Yet missing the school camaraderie, he decided to return and ultimately matriculated. “Scraping through was my mindset rather than getting top marks, and my results were average,” he says.
Yet Lasker always had a feeling for entrepreneurship and knew early on that the corporate world wasn’t for him. After a gap year through Europe, he became an ardent reader for the first time and completed a Bachelor of Commerce. After designing an app that didn’t take off, he began working on a neglected side project his father had started.
This became Abby Health, which provides self-service health stations designed to increase employee engagement in wellness programmes. “I handled the marketing and business development and leveraged my dad’s technical know-how.” Though it took a few years to gain traction, after the COVID-19 pandemic, the company took off. “My dad and I are 50/50 partners, and we’ve gone from three employees to 50.”
For parents, it’s not always easy when their child breaks the mould. Yet ultimately, success lies in recognising our children’s strengths, says educational psychologist Sheryl Cohen, who endorses the Grow Well SG (Singapore) approach to education. “It’s about a collaboration between home and school to build a supportive relationship for each child,” she says. “To see their strengths and build on these, and not just run from lesson to lesson to counteract weaknesses. Children who have parents who believe in them are set up to succeed more often than those who don’t.”
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