Sthu Zungu, the President of South African Tourism in North America, met me for a last second interview a couple of weeks back at a small-ish trade meeting in Beverly Hills. It was a last second opportunity that I wormed in between her other appointments.

Normally, I would cut down a general interview about a destination like South Africa down to 2-3 minutes, but I left this one unedited, because Sthu was such a pleasure to interview. I have always suggested to site owners to have an elevator pitch of 15-30 seconds about his or her company, products, or services memorized to rattle off at the drop of a hat. This advice comes from the numerous people I have interviewed in the past that needed a lot of “encouragement” to get information about their products out.

Not only does Sthu come prepared but she is pleasant, covers her topics both obvious and less so seamlessly, handles the loud speakers next to us well, is enthusiastic, makes her homeland sound incredible, important and exciting with good humor throughout. She also did this on short notice, in between appointments, and I had only had to ask one question. I love that!

This interview is about seven minutes, but I found it worth noting her many strengths as an interviewee.