I am yet to meet someone in Ad tech who planned on ending up in Ad tech, and this seems to be a running theme from the “women in Ad tech series. I finished up at university after studying post production of film and thought my heart was destined for the film industry, however, after a handful of internships, I came across a creative designer role at Adform, and that was it! 8 years later, I’m still loving working in media. From Adform I moved on to Teads, where I did lots of my failing and learning which has set me up for success in my current role at Captify.

Captify is the single largest holder of first-party search data outside of the walled gardens. My role entails running industry’s first search-powered Creative Studio, where dynamic data meets dynamic creative experiences–that consumers love. Our studio uses data or intelligence to not only inform interactive creatives, but to power mass segmentation and dynamic creative strategies, without massive production costs. When I started at Captify, nearly 3 years ago, I was brought onboard to build out the creative studio team. Now I have the pleasure of looking after teams of incredible designers and strategists in both the UK and US.

Aside from the pandemic, the biggest challenge I have had in my career is rapidly growing a team from scratch. It’s been a steep learning curve in ensuring the foundations are in place, hiring the right people whilst also keeping one eye on the end goal. It has taught me that it is okay to fail, but to ensure those failings are learnings.

I have been very fortunate to have had a handful of great managers that have contributed to my development in their own way; I can pinpoint things I have learnt from them that help me in my every day. I would of called out this particular manager regardless of the fact she is also featured in this series (which speaks volumes in itself), but Amy China-Wire coached me through my biggest learnings, taught me to listen more and pushed me to go after my goals. Without her, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

Do what you’re afraid to do.

The next time you want to cower, avoid, deny or look the other way, do the opposite. In these moments, it feels so much easier to back down, burrow in and build walls, but I remind myself that we are here to learn and grow.

Carve out time to reflect! We are all guilty of getting bogged down in the day-to-day. It’s often the case that we celebrate the big wins and then before you know it, you’re full steam ahead chasing the next goal. I find that looking back at my achievements gives me the biggest motivation to continue the climb. Seeing how far I have come proves to me that the hard work does produce results and it fuels my fire to keep going. Even the little wins, like going to the gym.

Charismatic, Enthusiastic, Ambitious

I feel we have only scratched the surface of data powered media. I’d like to see more predictive analytics platforms which will lean on machine learning to deliver ads. The next couple of years will see data and creativity building a stronger bond, which will elevate advertising. If the last couple of years have been about using data to reach people, the next will be about fusing it with creativity to move people.