Celine Abrahams

Category
Sport

Age
26

Organisation / Company
gsport4girls
Website

Profile

Celine Abrahams, 26, is a gifted sport storyteller. She runs the all-women newsroom at gsport4girls, with the team delivering an average of 120 stories a month, and plays a pivotal role in closing the visibility gap, while ensuring increased mainstream media coverage of women’s sport.

This determined young leader believes in gsport’s vision and executes her multi-dimensional job as gsport content and sponsor relations lead. Since 2019, she has developed a host of skills that will stand her in good stead in the media industry.

Thanks to capacity-building initiatives by the South African Media Innovation Programme and hands-on training at gsport, Celine has built an impressive portfolio of work. Earlier this year, Celine covered her first World Cup when she joined the global media providing coverage of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, hosted on African soil for the first time.

She also participated in gathering global media for the first in-person #gsportGlobal gathering, in Gqeberha on 18 February, to close the gap between Africa and the rest of the world. In 2023, The Year of Women’s Sport in South Africa, Celine deserves recognition for her efforts to advance women’s sport.

List your educational background - qualifications and institutions?

• Sponsorship and Marketing, European Sponsorship Association
• Live Football Commentating, Broadcast Academy
• Journalism, Rosebank College

Any awards or achievements in your field?

Service Award, gsport4girls

One childhood memory that has spurred you to such levels of achievement?

Growing up in a family where both of my parents worked extremely hard to provide for my siblings and me, I learned the value of hard work from a tender age. I always understood that hard work pays off and I used that mindset throughout my schooling journey, where I would top the class every year and went on to become Head Prefect in my final year. I’ve continued to use this mindset from the first time I entered the sport media industry at the age of 19 and today, at 26, I manage an entire newsroom.

Advice to your younger self?

“Don’t be afraid to use your voice and stand out.” For years I worked around people who were older and more experienced and I felt like I didn’t belong because I was still up and coming in the game. I put myself in a shell and would rarely speak but at the time, what stood was the work that I was producing. At some point, I had to break free from that shell and now I am more open — something that I wish I had done earlier in my career.

What would you like South Africa to look like in five years?

I would like to see South Africa in an improved state in terms of the economy of the country, better and more opportunities for the youth and unemployed. I’d love to see equal opportunities for both men and women, especially when it comes to governance and leadership.