Pretoria Chapter Meeting

Dear Colleagues, Members and Guests

Be part of an exhilarating session where we obtain information on how to have more courageous conversations about the world of gender, diversity, equity and inclusivity?

Allow us to introduce our first speaker, Costa Carastavrakis, author, keynoter, entrepreneur, marketer, actor and comedian. His book was published in 2019 by Bookstorm and launched nationally titled, I am Costa: From Meth to Marathons. It details his life journey including his addiction to crystal meth and his recovery. Costa is a multiple IronMan endurance athlete who changed his life and is taking his message and transforming it into a speaking career. Costa owns and runs two RocoMamas franchises as well as running marketing consulting services for a boutique set of clients. His acting career has given him two roles on South Africa’s most popular soap operas – The River and Legacy on DSTV. He started his comedy career with his first appearance in New York in 2013. He has since enjoyed many slots at comedy clubs around South Africa and even Malaysia when he visited last year. He recently wrote his first one man show called Desperately Seeking Souvlaki which enjoyed a 9 show run in July at Theatre on the Square and the Redhill Arts Festival as well as his first European show in Athens in September.

Costa presents his new type of signature keynote. Part talk, part theatre with colourful displays and music moments mixed with humour and depth. The Shame Game shows with wit and sensitivity, deep insights from his own struggle with “othering”, drug and sexual abuse. It demonstrates how destructive shame is and how when we do it to others there can be no INCLUSIVITY.

Our second speaker, Liezl Thom will use her knowledge of the multiple brains to illustrate how we can combine intelligence of the gut, heart and head brain to live more authentically and congruently. Science is finally catching up with what we have colloquially known for ages: you have different “brains” located in different areas of your body – and they each have a unique function… The idea that we can “think” with our heart and make decisions from our gut has been part of the human expression for a long time – just think about the language we use: follow your heart or trust your gut. As the roles these organs play in our bodies’ intelligence becomes more apparent, we are getting a fresh perspective on the way we navigate the world.

Prepare yourself to challenge your thinking around diversity and inclusivity.

Don’t let this opportunity slip away! Be there!

Frans Nortje
Pretoria Chapter President