How I Became ...

Phil's career has been an incredible rollercoaster ride spanning nearly three decades. Starting from humble beginnings as a writer, he has ascended to the position of Chief Executive at Ascential. Along the way, Phil has encountered numerous challenges and obstacles, but his unwavering determination and hard work have ultimately paid off. Today, he is not only a highly respected leader in his...

Mimi Turner likes to make complicated things simpler. Over a career of twenty years she has found out - often the hard way - that while the price to be paid for this process of reimagination can be painful, the results will be transformational and spectacular. Driven by a desire to connect on ideas, Mimi became fascinated by journalism during her time at university and eventually became a science...

Matt’s career started after leaving university and joining the company ‘Friends Reunited’, a new social media platform for connecting schoolmates. Wanting to expand into online dating, Matt was given a role in digital. With only having experience in digital marketing, this would be a challenge for Matt. Luckily, an employee there agreed to teach Matt all she knew for three months before having her...

Stephen’s interest in advertising came from his favourite subjects at school – art and economics – and so he looked for a career that combined the creative and the commercial. He also was an avid reader of the ads and used to make montages of the ads from magazines as part of his art course and this helped set his heart on working in advertising. Stephen studied economics and graduated in 1980, at...

Born in Toronto and growing up in Ottawa, by junior high Metz would soon be leaving her life in Canada to start a new one In Honduras. Moving to San Pedro Sula, a 12-year-old Metz would have to adjust to a new life. Not speaking Spanish, or knowing anything about the culture, the adjustment would be difficult.   After spending 5 years in Honduras, Metz returned to Canada to finish high school. Now...

Paul was just 14 years old when his father asked him what career he wanted to choose.    Having grown up beguiled by the jet set life depicted in Martini TV ads, Paul simply mentioned “Advertising.”    Other than having a liking for ads, Paul had no connection with the Ad world but he was determined to find out more.  Luckily, at the time, Watford College was unique in being famous for being a pla...

Raj Kumar has over two decades of experience in marketing, having been the Head of Marketing, EMEA at Experian, Head of Marketing, Europe at Nokia and numerous manager roles at Siemens. He joined Aviva almost 9 years ago as Global Head of Marketing Strategy and Planning. Raj is no stranger to transforming companies and was promoted to Brand and Reputation Director in 2017. Raj is now Chief Marketi...

The Story Dino’s career within the media industry has spanned over 20 years, working at established agencies such as MullenLowe and the7stars, Dino took his experience and founded his own agency – The Barber Shop. Before his successful career, Dino faced challenges trying to get into the advertising  industry. After countless rejections, Dino secured interviews and job offers with 3 renowned media...

The story… Growing up the youngest child, Sue learnt from a young age that hierarchy wasn’t for her, this later allowed Sue to break the norms within the workplace and try different approaches in order to succeed. In her teenage years, becoming an introvert meant Sue often felt quite lonely, concentrating on her studies and her love for history allowed Sue to focus on her techniques rather than ne...

‘Nothing is for granted’ – Andrew Dimitriou Leaving a dictatorship in Greece for Australia with nothing but the clothes on their backs, Andrew Dimitrou’s parents imbued in him the values of hard work and discipline that would shape his impressive and impactful career. Dismissing the modern notion of ‘work smart not hard’, Andrew worked his way to the top from the very bottom – an intern in the ver...

‘You miss one hundred per cent of the shots you don’t take’ – Wayne Gretzky  Narrowly avoiding a career in the local shoe factory after a presumptuous teacher discarded her dreams of becoming a barrister, Rowan Manning has built an impressive career with humour, honesty, and a core of steel. Suffering with imposter syndrome throughout her professional life, Rowan learned that throwing yourself int...

“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity” - Albert Einstein When Julian Douglas became president of the IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) that was the quote he chose to open his first speech with, and it was no mistake. You could say Julian has built his career off meeting challenges head on, and in doing so has built up quite the resume. In addition to being president of the IP...

Ibrahim Kamara’s career began selling Lucozade at school.   Now, he’s the co-founder and CEO of GUAP, a seven-figure company that can rightfully be described as the home of emerging creatives.   His early life was challenging, seeing his family go from financially wealthy to arriving home to see all their possessions outside on the street, when business took a turn for the worst and his parents se...

“I grew up in a place you would call very rough… where drugs and fights were part of day-to-day life.”   When he came to the UK, Serhat Ekinci was working in a coffee shop, unable to pay rent. Now he’s the Managing Director of Unite at OMG, which last year spent £15M on minority-owned businesses. “We went from a low six-digit to seven-digit numbers… when I first joined I never thought this was goi...

Planning the worlds 3rd largest sporting event during a global pandemic is no easy task. That's just one of the many crisis situations Craig and his team have had to manage. After the success of London 2012, the Paralympic movement and it's mission of changing the world through sport, was at risk of losing all its progress. Rio 2016 was close to collapsing...  With only 150k tickets sold w...

In 2020 Dentsu International, a global advertising group with 45,000+ staff and net revenue of $8.4bn were looking for a new CEO of dentsu X. Beth was Managing Director of gyro UK. A colleague recommended she applied. Her reaction? "They'll laugh if I apply" After speaking with friends, she changed her mind…. She entered her application on the final day. This would be her first role...

From intern to co-founder in 12 months. Her CEO with a six-figure salary offered her a job at the end of her internship. She politely declined. In that same meeting, he offered to start a company with her. She's now co-founder of The Elephant Room, a creative agency making waves of change through their One Month Mentor program created by Shannie. Topics discussed: Love for Jamaican culture Gro...