South African-born entrepreneur and marketing professional Tash-Mika Naidoo, currently based in Lisbon, is making her international performance debut in Once Upon The Air, an acrobatic theatre production premiering in Portugal this December. In this Q&A, she discusses her creative evolution, what inspired this exciting new chapter, and the message behind the production.
1. What inspired you to leap from marketing to performing on an international stage?
It’s not so much a leap, to be honest. I’m a marketer by profession, and aerial arts have been my hobby for the past three years. I created this project to bring those two worlds together, because I usually exist separately within each.
Once Upon The Air allows me to apply everything I know about storytelling, creativity, and brand building, not just in creating the show itself, but in building, growing, and shaping the brand behind it. So while it might look like a big shift from the outside, for me it feels like a natural evolution of how I tell stories.
2. How does Once Upon The Air reflect your personal and professional journey?
Once Upon The Air is really the point where my personal and professional worlds finally meet. In my professional life, I’ve always explored different industries. I’ve worked within alcohol, skincare, influencer marketing, agriculture, events, tech/SaaS, and now, a live theatre production!
I’ve always believed that great marketers can see the bigger picture of any business, irrespective of industry, and craft a strategy by taking the time to understand the target market and the nuances that shape their world. Personally, I’m quite similar. I believe in dreaming big and doing things that feel a little scary or unexpected.
3. What was the biggest challenge in co-creating and producing your first theatre show?
The biggest challenge so far has been planning and executing with a very small team. There’s so much to manage from casting, rehearsals, and wardrobe to set design, narrative, and final routines, all while building a marketing campaign and driving ticket sales.
Because it’s a debut show, we’re creating everything entirely from scratch, without an existing library of images or footage to draw from, which makes the process both exciting and demanding. I’m really grateful to the Mika & Co Creative design team, who are incredibly skilled and have been bringing this world to life so beautifully.
4. How do you balance being both a businesswoman and a creative performer?
I consider myself more of a businesswoman than a serious performer. While I am a trained aerialist with a small role in the show, the true showstoppers are the incredible circus artists I’ve cast, performers with many more years of experience on rope, straps, silks, and hoop.
That said, no matter how busy my schedule gets in the marketing world, I always make time (almost daily) for aerial training. It’s the part of my life that gives me immense energy and fuels my creativity in everything else I do.
5. What lessons from entrepreneurship helped you succeed in the world of acrobatic theatre?
Persistence has been the biggest lesson that carries through both entrepreneurship and acrobatics. In the aerial world, just like in business, you have to keep going for your splits to finally straighten, your routine to come together, or that one trick to finally click.
Persistence is everything. Innovation, too, plays a huge role. In business, you need to think outside the box and do things differently to stand out, and that’s exactly what I wanted for this show. I believe Once Upon The Air is a first for Lisbon, and I’m so excited to introduce it to the city.
6. Can you share a moment during this project that truly pushed you out of your comfort zone?
Stepping into the world of live theatre as a show producer has been a huge leap outside my comfort zone. While I’ve marketed and executed numerous events in the past, including for Corona (AB InBev) through their PR agency CSA Global, and even starting my career on the Top Gear Live South Africa marketing team, co-creating and producing my own original production is entirely new territory.
It’s one thing to market someone else’s vision, but bringing my own to life, from creative concept to casting and execution, has been both challenging and incredibly rewarding.
7. How has living and working in Lisbon influenced your creativity and perspective?
Hugely. Living and working in Lisbon has exposed me to people from all over the world – from marketers and creators to aerial artists who’ve trained and performed across Europe. The level of talent and individuality here is incredible; every artist brings their own cultural and creative influence to their craft.
It’s inspired me to keep learning, explore without limits, and dream bigger with every project I take on. Lisbon has truly expanded my creative perspective and given me the courage to build something entirely my own, especially because so many people around me are doing incredible things too.
8. What message do you hope Once Upon The Air sends to women pursuing their dreams?
I hope it encourages women to pursue the things that feel impossible to dream bigger and think beyond the box. It might sound cliché to say, “believe in yourself,” but it’s true. A year ago, I would have thought this entire venture was unthinkable, yet through courage and faith in myself, I changed my perspective. We truly can do anything we set our minds to, and sometimes, all it takes is one brave decision to prove that to ourselves.
9. How do you stay confident when starting something completely new?
In any new venture, I make sure I do the groundwork to fully understand what I’m tackling, and I always try to leverage the knowledge and resources of people who are experts in that space. That prevents a lot of mistakes. Being teachable is hugely important, too. You need the willingness to learn, the humility to accept that you might make mistakes, the self-belief to know you’ll overcome the obstacles that arise, and the determination to keep going.
10. What advice would you give to young women who want to merge art and business?
Go for it. Your talents are gifts that are meant to be shared; otherwise, what’s the point of having them? You don’t have to stay within the confines of what everyone else is doing. Find a gap and fill it. If you don’t have the funds yet, start networking, write proposals, and look for opportunities to get support.
In my case, I could’ve settled for smaller gigs around Lisbon, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, but I wanted to create something with more impact. It was clear there wasn’t anything quite like this show in Lisbon, so I decided to make it happen.
11. How do you define success for yourself now, after this milestone?
Success, for me, is being able to pursue and scale ventures that are genuinely exciting and fulfilling. Whether it’s a marketing client or an audience member at my live theatre show, success means exceeding expectations and delivering an experience of true quality through my work.
12. What’s next for you after this incredible debut?
As I continue working with my marketing clients through my agency, Mika & Co Creative, my hope fingers crossed is that Once Upon The Air will go on to tour across Europe. It would be incredible to share this show with new audiences in different cities.
Once Upon The Air is an original acrobatic theatre experience inspired by fairytales, created and produced in Lisbon. The show reimagines timeless stories through acrobatics, music, and light, inviting audiences to rediscover the magic of imagination.
