Nicole Bessick has taken SA’s entertainment industry by storm! She is an acclaimed Actress & Celebrity Boxing Champion that bulldozed her way onto our screens and has made a name for herself among the country’s most dynamic artists in the SAFTA award-winning soapies Binnelanders and Broken Vows and the Netflix hits Savage Beauty and Black Mirror to name a few.
She is known on social media for her roaring activism for women’s rights and notable presence in speaking out against gender-based violence. Over and above her time spent in the boxing ring and intentionally taking on empowering roles on screen, Nicole has joined the fight for gender equality in a more deliberate way. She launched her own NGO called The Fight For Good Foundation – South Africa’s first ever anti-GBV initiative that takes women from victim to warrior in 12 weeks.
One of her NGO’s most acclaimed projects was an Instagram series called “16 Facts for 16 Days” which was made in celebration of the 16 Days of Activism. The 4-part Instagram series addressed 4 of SA’s most pressing GBV matters: How to Get a Protection Order, How to Report a Rape, How to Report Sexual Harassment in the Workplace and How to Protect the Children of GBV Victims. The main aim of the Instagram series was to provide the women of South Africa with practical legal advice that they could use without a lawyer and without money. The initiative was hailed online and in the press for the real-world effect it had. Women all over the country have accredited the Instagram series as quite literally having saved their lives.
Her efforts earned the starlet her rightful place as a nominee in the inaugural DStv Content Creator Awards’, in the Cause Category for the individual making meaningful content with real-world impact. The awards entries and deliberation took place for 14 weeks with 36 judges.
“Standing on the frontlines of the war against GBV isn’t easy, so receiving feedback like that, and of course the nomination from DStv, makes it so much more special,” says Bessick. “I wanted to arm and empower women with access to the inner workings of how our legal systems work. It was the perfect merge between my time spent at law school and my abilities as a content creator. The real-life impact the campaign had, floored me. Countless messages and testimonials from women all over the country crediting #16FactsFor16Days as having saved their lives, was so incredibly humbling.”
The DStv Content Creator Awards will be held on Saturday, 10 September in Johannesburg, where all the winners will be announced. Voting closes on 25 August.
