A shining light
Luzaan Pretorius was born and raised in South Africa, and has been working as a training development manager at BDO for the past six years.
Monique Adams
Luzaan Pretorius’s greatest fear is to live life without impact. She is a wife and a mother to her son and finds joy in sewing. Her admiration for people that can design and make their own clothing is something that will definitely come in handy with her unique style.
In the year 2014 she obtained her BA Hons from Filadelfia Training Centre in South Africa. “I always had an interest in psychology but realised early on that it held no space for theology and while I was interested in theology it had little space for science. I was fortunate enough to obtain my honours degree in a field that respected both practices,” Pretorius says.
During her third year of a bachelor’s degree, her academic institution invited her to join their academic support team, where she became the Academic Study Leader and mentor to all first-year (certificate) students across Africa.
She then joined BDO in 2015 as the personal assistant to the BDO partners, where she worked her herself up to the position of training and development manager within six years. Pretorius plans to obtain an honours degree in HR management, as well as a master’s degree and doctorate in the future.
“I definitely see myself as an academic, passing all four years of my honours degree cum laude and achieving 100% in my final year. I am currently working towards becoming a certified life coach, specifically to inspire confidence in our trainees whom I am journeying with through their academic, professional and personal lives,” she says.
Luzaan Pretorius was also ordained as a pastor by Filadelfia Ministries in 2015. Although she never studied to practise as a pastor, her passion was always for holistic development, counselling and teaching within the corporate sector.
The biggest part of her job is offering support, whether administrative, emotional, academic or practical. She works with young professionals who work and study simultaneously.
She also serves on various committees and task teams within the BDO firm, where they do anything from planning exciting functions and maintaining their social responsibility to ensuring their staff feels valued and cared for, especially during the current pandemic.
The biggest challenge in her career so far was waitressing throughout her studies, being a young mom and wife at the time. She expresses her gratitude with having a husband who supported her during everything and made sure to achieve her goals.
Her biggest career accomplishment to date is her team winning second place within the BDO network for their Advisors of the Future (AOTF) project, for which she was the project leader. Also, her team’s current project of expanding the BDO Namibia brand across the globe by developing the administrative departments of BDO into income generating service lines.
When asked what advice she would give to aspiring individuals, this is what she had to say: “Show up for yourself! You get to choose every day how you are going to live. Choose your friends and network carefully and live every day intentionally. Never give up on your goals. If the plan is not working, change the plan, not the goal.”
“Hearing people’s stories and seeing how they overcome it - that inspires me, the resilience of the human race.” – Pull Quote
Luzaan Pretorius’s greatest fear is to live life without impact. She is a wife and a mother to her son and finds joy in sewing. Her admiration for people that can design and make their own clothing is something that will definitely come in handy with her unique style.
In the year 2014 she obtained her BA Hons from Filadelfia Training Centre in South Africa. “I always had an interest in psychology but realised early on that it held no space for theology and while I was interested in theology it had little space for science. I was fortunate enough to obtain my honours degree in a field that respected both practices,” Pretorius says.
During her third year of a bachelor’s degree, her academic institution invited her to join their academic support team, where she became the Academic Study Leader and mentor to all first-year (certificate) students across Africa.
She then joined BDO in 2015 as the personal assistant to the BDO partners, where she worked her herself up to the position of training and development manager within six years. Pretorius plans to obtain an honours degree in HR management, as well as a master’s degree and doctorate in the future.
“I definitely see myself as an academic, passing all four years of my honours degree cum laude and achieving 100% in my final year. I am currently working towards becoming a certified life coach, specifically to inspire confidence in our trainees whom I am journeying with through their academic, professional and personal lives,” she says.
Luzaan Pretorius was also ordained as a pastor by Filadelfia Ministries in 2015. Although she never studied to practise as a pastor, her passion was always for holistic development, counselling and teaching within the corporate sector.
The biggest part of her job is offering support, whether administrative, emotional, academic or practical. She works with young professionals who work and study simultaneously.
She also serves on various committees and task teams within the BDO firm, where they do anything from planning exciting functions and maintaining their social responsibility to ensuring their staff feels valued and cared for, especially during the current pandemic.
The biggest challenge in her career so far was waitressing throughout her studies, being a young mom and wife at the time. She expresses her gratitude with having a husband who supported her during everything and made sure to achieve her goals.
Her biggest career accomplishment to date is her team winning second place within the BDO network for their Advisors of the Future (AOTF) project, for which she was the project leader. Also, her team’s current project of expanding the BDO Namibia brand across the globe by developing the administrative departments of BDO into income generating service lines.
When asked what advice she would give to aspiring individuals, this is what she had to say: “Show up for yourself! You get to choose every day how you are going to live. Choose your friends and network carefully and live every day intentionally. Never give up on your goals. If the plan is not working, change the plan, not the goal.”
“Hearing people’s stories and seeing how they overcome it - that inspires me, the resilience of the human race.” – Pull Quote
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