People of Vox: Spotlight on Kaylen Pillay
At Vox, we believe our employees are the beating heart of our company, with merit and value built into all our available positions. In this edition of People of Vox, we meet Kaylen Pillay, who works as a Procurement Team Leader in Johannesburg. He combines the practicality of finance and procurement with the enthusiastic observation of someone who is also a writer and a student of human behaviour.
Kaylen wears many hats, and all of them represent different facets of his personality. He’s a Procurement Team Leader at Vox in the Johannesburg office, a current Honours student in Psychology, a published writer on workplace culture, and a committed volunteer with the ‘Food for Life’ charity in Midrand.
But let’s start with his work.
Kaylen explains that procurement is about making sure the business has what it needs, at the right time, to facilitate downstream processes including operations, service delivery and customer service. “Procurement involves a significant amount of problem‑solving, supplier relationship management and risk mitigation,” he explains, “especially when requests arrive late or processes don’t always run to plan.”
His journey to and within Vox has been a story of steady growth, people‑first leadership and ongoing service. Kaylen grew up in Durban in a Hindu home, where he says that humility and service were foundational concepts in his upbringing, and this has permeated much of his personality and his operations, both inside and outside work.
We find out more about Kaylen and his ongoing positive nature and drive to assist people.
Learning Accountability from Tills and Warehouse Experience
Kaylen’s early career didn’t initially indicate a pull towards procurement and in fact, after high school, he first studied video technology and IT before finding himself increasingly drawn to the finance arena. His first roles were humble and practical, including working behind a till, doing stock counts in warehouses and learning the basics of ordering and forecasting.
Kaylen notes: “My early career was shaped by a willingness to learn, work hard and make the most of every opportunity. forward, I took on work that had very little to do with where I am today, or where I actually wanted to end up. But because it paid the bills, and saying no wasn’t really an option for me back then, there were stretches where I was juggling more than one thing at once just to stay afloat.
“So it wasn’t a straight line, you know, with a clear plan behind it. It was showing up, doing whatever needed to be done and trusting that it would eventually add up to something.”
Some of his early roles included working as a financial controller within a logistics business before moving to a telecommunications company. Here, a multifaceted warehouse role exposed him to procurement, purchasing and accounting, and these steps eventually led to his procurement leadership role within Vox.
“In one of my previous roles I was required to handle significant amounts of cash manually,” Kaylen recalls, “and the amounts were generally very large – for example, handling amounts of between R300,000 and R400,000 in cash was not uncommon. I had to count it meticulously and make sure it balanced at the end of the day. If it went short, you paid for the shortage!”
Finally Arriving in His Work Happy Place
Having started to put out feelers for a new job, Kaylen received a WhatsApp message one day – from the person who was to become his current line manager – that would prove to be a life-changing moment. A conversation via video call led very quickly to a job offer, and Kaylen started working as a Procurement Team Leader in August of 2023.
He notes reflectively that his early experiences were to prove useful in his new workplace: “Three years ago, I stepped into an industry I wasn’t very familiar with – and carrying more curiosity than confidence! – and I found that my previous experiences definitely helped me to build the soft skills of accountability, careful record‑keeping and calm under pressure that helps me today in the procurement and wider finance arena.
“At the same time, I would also like to give a huge amount of credit for my professional growth to the leadership I found at Vox, and particularly my line manager, Lizette, who hired me and who leads with empathy, patience and authenticity. She has an incredible ability to see potential in people and create an environment where they feel trusted, supported and empowered to grow. What I will remember most is feeling supported, trusted and encouraged to become a better version of myself, both professionally and personally.”
For Kaylen, Vox as a company is not merely an employer; it’s a community where trust, mentorship and the chance to grow all matter enormously.
“I’m genuinely proud to call myself part of Vox,” he affirms. “I love Vox’s culture and feel really lucky to be part of it every day. What keeps me here are the people, the industry, the learning opportunities and the general vibrancy that is such a key element of Vox.”
One of Kaylen’s stand-out memories is a team-building occasion that took place at the Johannesburg Zoo in July 2024, and which brought colleagues together beyond email threads and Teams calls.
“We all embarked on a treasure hunt and after we received our clues, we went around the zoo in their golf carts unravelling the puzzles, having great fun! Having so many colleagues together, face to face and enjoying themselves, reminded me how much heart there is behind the business,” he smiles.
Academic Pursuits: Bringing Psychology into the Mix
As if his working days aren’t busy enough, Kaylen is also currently studying part-time though the University of South Africa (UNISA). He balances his full‑time job with working towards an Honours degree in Psychology. Here, he’s continuing his studies from the BA degree that he completed previously, and from which he graduated Cum Laude with a truly impressive academic record: 22 distinctions across a total of 30 modules!
As a result of his excellent marks during his BA majoring in Psychology and Communication Science, Kaylen was awarded a merit full bursary for his Honours degree, which he is due to complete next year. “I’m deeply grateful to the university for investing in this next step in my journey,” he says.
His motivation for studying Psychology is a positive one: “I want to use my writing and my voice through the lens of Psychology to better understand people and help create healthier, more effective workplaces,” Kaylen explains. “My Honours assignments often grow out of lived experiences, community service or reflections on workplace life; they become part of my personal narrative as well as my academic output.”
He’s particularly interested in workplace culture and also writes about this theme away from his Honours studies. “I publish articles with various publications from time to time,” he says. “My niche is workplace culture, with a particular interest in how organisations can create environments where people feel respected, supported and able to do their best work.”
Service Beyond the Office: ‘Food for Life’
Kaylen believes that his Hindu upbringing has guided much of his thinking and his ongoing desire to assist people. He notes: “Looking back, I can see how much of that early grounding still shapes how I try to show up at Vox today, in service of the people around me.” It is also why he gives a lot of his time to charity.
Outside his work and studies, Kaylen volunteers with ‘Food for Life’ in Midrand, which is a kitchen that serves meals to underprivileged and disabled children. The work is deeply personal to him. “Helping them to a warm meal and watching a smile break across their face is something that grants me more than any professional achievement ever has. The experience of serving has taught me additional gratitude and humility.”
You can click here for more information about ‘Food for Life’ in Midrand – a branch of Food for Life SA, which in turn is an affiliate of Food For Life Global, the world’s largest vegetarian food relief programme.
For Kaylen, the volunteering is a long‑term commitment: he wants to keep showing up for the organisation and the people it assists for many years to come.
Editor’s Note: And speaking of showing up: Kaylen wrote some beautiful notes when preparing for his ‘People of Vox’ interview. It seems only fitting to now hand over to him directly for an elegant and eloquent conclusion to his story (or maybe it’s better to say ‘his story so far’).
In His Own Words
This August marks three years at Vox for Kaylen, and he says it’s a milestone that makes him pause and reflect.
He clarifies: “In 2023, I walked into an industry that was still new to me, carrying little more than curiosity, a willingness to learn, and a belief that every opportunity has something to teach us. Looking back now, it’s remarkable how much can change in three years. There have been challenges, lessons, victories, mistakes and moments of growth that have shaped not only my career but also the person I am becoming.
“What makes my journey meaningful is not simply the length of time, but the people who have walked it with me. When I think of these three years, I do not first think about projects or processes. I think about conversations, mentorship, friendships and the countless individuals who have invested their time, knowledge and trust in me.
“Those are the things that have made Vox feel less like a workplace and more like a place where people genuinely want to see one another succeed. I’m grateful for what these three years have taught me, and I’m excited about continuing to build on that experience, take on new challenges and keep growing as a professional.”
Editor’s Note: And there you have it – another Vox hero telling their Vox connectivity story with warmth, humanity and gratitude! From his early-career warehouse cash counts to working on his UNISA Honours in Psychology, Kaylen today combines people‑centred leadership with ongoing community service, making the world in his particular orbit a brighter place along the way.
About Author
