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B&T 30 Under 30 Awards

PRESENTED BY

ALWAYS ON.NEVER POSTPONED.NEVER CANCELLED.

Congratulations to the finalists of B&T’s 30 Under 30

Awards 2020!

From your friends at

5 Seconds of Summer “Wildflower”

editor’s letterI don’t think it’s an understatement to say that this little global pandemic of ours has changed just about everything. Worse, it’s even managed to get its dastardly crown of thorns into this year’s 30 Under 30 awards.

Undeterred, we’re soldiering-on with a wholly viral event for 2020. And, sadly, that does mean we all can’t all come together for the trophy presentation and speeches and down a celebratory bevvie or three on the dance floor. But by taking the event online we can still honour and celebrate the cream of the under 30s in Australia’s advertising and marketing industries.

Once again B&T was handed a formidable list of talent to choose from in some 10 categories ranging from technology to media to strategy and public relations; plus, everyone’s favourite – the always hotly contested People’s Choice Award. Even better, the whole thing is hosted by incredibly funny – albeit slightly sweary - guy and social media sensation, Nat’s What I Reckon. 30 Under 30 is one of the events the B&T team most looks forward to each year. A time to

celebrate and recognise young people who are driving the industry forward and will undoubtedly be sitting in the CEO chair tomorrow.

Refreshingly, 2020’s finalists prove to be a diverse, tech-minded and highly educated bunch with, I’m happy to say, the girls really dominating selection. As is the case every year with 30 Under 30, coming up with our finalists is never an easy task and we do thank everyone who entered this year and may not have been lucky enough to win a gong.

Lastly, a quick thank-you to this year’s sponsors who’ve been fantastic to work worth with and incredibly supportive given the circumstances in which we find ourselves. Namely chief sponsor Vevo and sponsors Boomtown, CHE Proximity, GroupM and MediaCom.

Thank you too for your support and we look forward to doing it all again in 2021.

Stay safe and healthy,

John Bastick, B&T Editor

sponsorsPresented by

Sponsored by

judgesAdam Freedman

Adrian Goldthorp

Alex Kirk

Andrea Ingham

Andrew Waite

Anna O’Dea

Arthur Georgiou

Ashley Earnshaw

Ellie Rogers

Fern Canning-Brook

Gavin McDonough

Gaye Steel

Jasmine Lansdell

Jimmy Hyett

John Volckman

Kagwa Kironde

Kura Tyerman-Mikhail

Laura Aldington

Laura Beamont

Lee Stephens

Liberty McKinlay

Lisa Miller

Red Havas

Imagination

MediaCom

Buzzfeed

Convert Digital

Agency Iceberg

SCA

Vizeum Australia

Facebook

Edelman

VERSA

AANA

The Works

This is Flow

The Idea Shed

Dream Config

M&C Saatchi

Host/Havas

Fuel Communications

Switch Digital

Former DEC PR

Canva

Lucia Elliott

Luciana Borges

Mari Kauppinen

Maria Grivas

Mark Tovbis

Martin Cowie

Matt McCann

Matt Taylor

Nicole Ghobrial

Olia Krivtchoun

Paul Munce

Richenda Vermeulen

Richie Strettell

Sarah McGregor

Sharyn Smith

Simon Hadfield

Skye Lambley

Tara Harrison

Tim Addington

Vanessa Nicol

Virginia Hyland

William Leach

Creighton Ward

BMF

IBM Australia

UM

NRL

OMD

Bastion EBA

Milkmoney

Lexer

Spark Foundry

CX Lavender

Ntegrity

The Idea Shed

Cummins & Partners

Social Soup

Hourigan International

N2N Communications

Intrepid

TAG PR

CHE Proximity

HYLAND

The Leach Partnership

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Sound the trumpets, fire the cannons and let the people rejoice! B&T’s 30 Under 30 Grand Prix winner for 2020. Almost 30 (but not quite!), Liana has a stellar resume and is a very worthy winner among her equally impressive peers. Starting her career at Present Company and, while also spending time at DDB Sydney, R/GA, We Are Social and Special Group, Liana now works at MONA as its social media manager and is doing outstanding things. Please join the whole team at B&T in wishing Liana the heartiest of congratulations!

Liana Rossi Age: 27Employer: MONA - Museum of Old and New ArtPosition: Social Media Manager

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This year, B&T had a whopping 58,581 votes cast for this glorious award. It was a tight race but in the end Max Weipeng Yang came out in front and is our 2020 B&T’s 30 Under 30 People’s Choice winner. We’re not sure what exactly Max had to do to get all the votes he did, but it must have been something good! A businessman at heart, Max founded China Social Soultions in 2015, so perhaps he cut a deal with all his voters? No, we just jest. Congrats, Max. B&T salutes you and your enviable popularity!

Max Weipeng Yang Age: 29 Employer: China Social SolutionsPosition: Head of Strategy and Product

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Marina’s foray into the industry started with a full time gig before she even graduated. Fast forward five or so years later and she found herself lucky enough to work across well-known agencies such as Meerkats, VMLY&R, McCann, The Monkeys, and now Host/Havas. Her end career goal is to become an ECD.

Her time in the industry has seen her achieve a lot, including: getting young men talking about depression for The Lighthouse Foundation; raising millions for Ronald McDonald House; encouraging young women to get into rugby league for NRLW, and helping educate and guide Sydney through one of its worst droughts for Sydney Water.

On what makes her a brilliant future leader, Marina says it is her commitment and investment into the industry through mentoring and industry involvement. She also says having a voice, acting with integrity, being honest, and having high levels of emotional intelligence will see her be a successful future leader.

Lastly, Marina wants to lead by example through her values, all of which exist to make the industry progressive, future-proof, responsible for world-changing work, and welcoming to those from all walks of life.

Marina VasilievaAge: 25Employer: Host/Havas Position: Art Director Melanie’s heart was always

set on a creative career. Beginning in the world of interactive installations, she was a designer fascinated by the potential of technology to improve the world around us. She has collaborated with clients such as Adidas China, Fusion Brazil, NGV, Science Gallery, Dark Mofo and Dementia Australia.

When Melanie realised she hadn’t taken the path of a normal designer, she began to share her knowledge through talks and teaching workshops. In 2018, she started Technecolour, a collaborative workshop environment partnering with like minded organisations such as Code Like a Girl, Melbourne Design Week and SIGNAL to run creative

workshops that teach coding and electronics. She was a mentor at The Lab Online, a network of technology clubs for young people with high functioning autism and she’s also a sessional lecturer at RMIT teaching Creative Coding.

On what success means to her, Melanie says it’s investing her mind and hands into projects she feels are worthwhile, and then seeing those projects live and breathe in the hands of the intended audience. She adds if sharing her journey with design and technology can inspire one other creative practitioner, to reframe what they feel can be possible for them, that is success for her.

Melanie Huang Age: 29 Employer: AKQAPosition: Lead Designer Research and Development

Stephanie always knew she wanted to do something creative; her friends had favourite movies, she had favourite ads. She attended CSU where she completed a double degree in Advertising and Marketing, Diploma in Communications and later a Diploma in Graphic Design. Her first job was as a hybrid, working as half Account Executive, half Junior Copywriter at a boutique creative agency where she worked on brands like Oral-B, Wrigely and Dettol.

Some of her key achievements to date include creating The Miracle Ham ad for the ALDI 2019; turning World Children’s Day into #WorldChildrensSay for UNICEF in a social takeover; playing with the Dulux dog to push paint; launching

an activation for Weight Watchers by hosting The World’s Biggest Degustation Dining Event; winning awards in the Effies, Sirens, Shots, The World Animation Celebration Festival, The Animattikon Project and Vimeo Staff Pick of the Week and loads more.

On what needs changing in the industry, Stephanie believes we need more female input because it’s women who should be making decisions about how women are portrayed in ads. She also believes the industry also needs to start shifting towards doing more good, and that adland should be using creativity to help people and make their lives better, to offer real value and in turn create brand love for clients.

Stephanie Allen Age: 27Employer: BMF Position: Creative

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P R O U D S P O N S O R

Congratulations to B&T’s 30 Under 30. From all of us at CHEP.(Check your DMs.)

Christie didn’t grow up in a family of business owners so it was a real surprise to not only them, but herself, when she started Brand Catalyser (BC) in 2017 – a niche cross-border and cross-cultural advertising agency focused on customer experience and acquisition across the Australian and Chinese landscape.

After many years working with premium Australian advertising agencies, she noticed a glaring gap. A number of top-tier Australian clients wanted to launch into the Chinese market, but agencies felt the risk wouldn’t pay off, preferring to focus locally instead. So, she started BC.

Some of Christie’s key achievements include: Launched AusRecent in 2014 with fellow university student; oversaw the Australian Trade

Commission’s ‘Win Your Future Unlimited’ global digital campaign; worked with three of Australia’s premium advertising agencies; guest lecturer and tutor for RMIT University’s Advertising Media undergraduate subject and guest speaker at Google & MYOB’s 2019 Startup Grind.

On what can be improved in adland, Christie says the advertising industry has long been a male-dominated field and while a lot has changed, there is still a long way to go. She believes the industry can improve by being more adatpvie in the way it does things and who its hires. She says adland must strive to incorporate diversity at all levels – gender, cultural background, capabilities and more.

Christie Ding Age: 29 Employer: Brand Catalyser Position: General Manager

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rFergus studied a Bachelor of Commerce, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, where he won the Swinburne Venture Cup twice, leading to immersing himself in the start-up scene. He founded City Streat, which resourced semi-homeless to gain sustainable employment, Find My Future, a digitally gamified career exploration tool and career management system, and Buzzlocker Securities, to name a few.

He also started My Careers by reimagining and reinventing the way students interact with the diverse range of educational resources in Australia. My Careers is a smart online tool for students, educators and parents to guide students towards rewarding futures.

Fergus holds a Directors position for Go Girls Foundation, a social enterprise who protect, honour and celebrate Women at risk of issues including domestic violence, long-term unemployment and semi-homelessness.

On what sucess means to him, Fergus says success is more than an emotional result to an outcome. He says that’s happines,s and happiness is result reliant, success is continually in process, under construction, a consistent approach. Success reminds Fergus more of joy; it’s alive in what he sets out to do no matter what the outcome.

Fergus CreeseAge: 29Employer: My Careers Position: CEO

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Deirdre’s career began in September 2015 with a full-time position with The Australian Women’s Weekly’s newly launched food website, Food To Love. Nine months later, however, she was lured back into the world of radio to head-up the digital team at ARN. There, she dedicated 18 months to growing youth radio brand The Edge’s online presence.

It was during that time that she was nominated for her first Australian Commercial Radio Award in 2017, for Best Newcomer Off-Air. Then in October that year, she saw the role of Digital Content Lead advertised at Triple M Sydney and knew it was the perfect next step. Since then, she’s been promoted to Assistant Digital Content Director for the Triple M Network, has been nominated for her second ACRA and has

conceptualised, scripted and directed multiple client campaigns, including a three-part native integration series for Mazda.

On what makes Deirdre a future leader, she says she is a future leader because sh will never accept that she is the best; she willl never think that she has achieved enough, learned enough or created enough. She says she is empathetic, takes note of how she feels supported and when she feels supported so she can replicate that with hery team. She says she always strives to surround herself with the best people for the job. And, she also believes ground-breaking moves don’t come from erring on the side of caution, nor trying to replicate old successes. They come from a culture of trust, respect and bravery.

Deirdre FogartyAge: 29Employer: Triple M/ Southern Cross AustereoPosition: Assistant Digital Content Director

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r When Harry was a kid, he watched his dad struggle to grow his boat licensing business, so he signed up with an SEO agency for help. They locked him into a 12-month contract, promising to “triple the amount of people coming through”, but they failed to deliver on that promise.

So Harry spent his free time after school learning, performing tests, and practising. All of a sudden he was ranking for “boat licenses Melbourne”, a popular search term that multiple agencies were competing for.

He was approached by multiple agencies who offered to take him on as a junior employee. At age 14, he accepted an offer and began his career in SEO.

Within 6 months he became a team leader, then at 16, managed the entire search division.

Harry started Studiohawk in 2016 from nothing. In just 3 short years he was recognised by Forbes as one of the most successful millionaire SEO entrepreneurs (millionaire SEO entrepreneurs). And at 22, he is the sole director of Australia’s largest dedicated SEO agency with a team of 18 full-time SEO Specialists.

On what makes Harry a future leader, he says he’s passionate about giving junior SEO specialists opportunities to train and grow, while he also works with the ACCC to champion best practice SEO to keep everyone safer on the internet.

Harry Sanders Age: 22 Employer: StudioHawkPosition: Director

In the first year of Elissa’s bachelor of Arts in Communications degree, she landed an internship at Mamamia. During her second year of university, she worked part-time at Mamamia, and by her third year, was in a full-time junior writing position. She made the leap from editorial to podcasting not long after finishing university and was part of the launch team for the Mamamia Podcast Network.

Within a few short years, she had become the Managing Producer of Podcasts overseeing a team of four producers, executive producing shows Mamamia Out Loud and No Filter and creating bespoke shows for clients that generated hundreds of thousands in revenue. One show, The

Split, created for Westpac, won Gold at the International Native Ad Awards in 2019. In 2019, she was head-hunted for the role of Head of Audio at Pacific Magazines. She’s since been charged with building a podcast strategy for the Seven Network.

Speaking to what needs to be improve in the podcast industry, Elissa says the industry in Australia is still relatively new, but more needs to be more done to differentiate podcasts and radio shows being turned into podcasts. She also says more needs to done to educate clients about the benefits of advertising in podcasts. Elissa says the industry needs to start taking podcasting seriously because it’s a huge growth medium.

Elissa Ratliff Age: 29 Employer: Pacific Magazines Position: Head of Audio

Tahlia is the editor of Punkee, Junkee Media’s Gen Z-focused website. She came to Punkee in May 2018 after three-and-a-half years at BuzzFeed Australia. Since she started at Punkee, it has seen enormous growth.

In her time at Punkee, it has dominated coverage of three hugely successful Bachelor titles: The Bachelor, The Bachelorette and Bachelor In Paradise, Punkee has also owned Married At First Sight: last year’s season saw Tahlia and a staff writer publish more than 150 articles, on top of the usual day-to-day coverage of Australian and global pop culture news.

According to Tahlia, success is multi-faceted. She says success to her is building up a site that was in the early stages of figuring out what it was when she joined, and seeing it thrive, but also knowing he team is in a happy, stable place.

Tahlia bleives success is also seeing the passionate, energetic and enthusiastic fans of Punkee, who go to Punkee for its coverage knowing. She says it’s rare in online media to find a community that is ultimately joyful and positive, and that’s something she is immensely proud of.

Tahlia PritchardAge: 29Employer: Punkee Position: Editor

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Liana started her career at Present Company in 2014, working Pringles and Procter & Gamble’s COVERGIRL. A winning pitch took her from part-time uni student to full time Content and Community Manager. She was tapped by DDB Sydney, where she became the Social Content Manager. Liana delivered #comeonin for Sydney Opera house (the most awarded mobile campaign globally in 2016)—picking up 10 Cannes Lions including gold in mobile, silver in digital, a D&AD pencil and more.

Leaving DDB Sydney with Pete Galmes, her mentor turned partner, they joined the team at Revolver/Will O’Rourke to make social content and freelanced with the likes of R/GA, We Are Social and Special Group.

She was then approached by MONA – Museum of Old and New Art in Tasmania, to run all their brands on social. Liana moved to Tassie and has been the Social Media Manager for 2.5 years. They have launched an Airline twice (called Air Mofo), won Gold in Destination Marketing and gone viral with their beer/art/festival shenanigans.

Speaking on what needs to be improved in the industry, Liana says there needs to be more diversity within marketing and creative departments that aren’t necessarily driven by quotas. She says marketing needs to reflect the world we live in, including gender, ethnicities, countries of origin, cities of origin, ages and sexuality.

Liana Rossi Age: 29 Employer: MONA - Museum of Old and New Art Position: Social Media Manager Maxine is the Google

Marketing Manager. She began her career in 2010 when she was one of five accepted to Mars Graduate Sales Program. In2011-2014, she worked at Unilever Australia as the Category Sales & Assistant Brand Manager. Then, she transitioned to marketing, working as Arnotts’ marketing manager for four years, delivering growth on Campbell’s in declining market. She led 6 New Product launches, a PR campaign with Foodbank driving awareness of hunger in Australia (which won a POPAI industry award).

Nowadays, she works at Google. She exceeded expectations on growth deliverables for the largest portfolio of SMBs. She cemented Google brand advocacy from heavy hitting local businesses like Koala

and South Australia Tourism, educated 500+ marketers across various industries with events such as Retail Workshop (designed to educate marketers on retail tools/strategies).

As a young mother, and a marketer at the fourth largest company in the world and Australia’s most trusted brand, Mazine says success is about finding the perfect balance. She says success is being able to ‘have it all’, realise your ambitions and balance them to bring fulfilment. As a mother, Maxine says it’s challenging to juggle the demands of personal life with those of a full time career. She says having clear priorities, communicating these and carving out dedicated time to separate the two allows her to drive success in both areas.

Maxine HusmanAge: 29Employer: Google Position: Product Marketing Manager

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Over the past 5 years, Tom has taken Lawpath to a pre-revenue business to the most recognised online legal company in Australia, with a client base of over 100,000 Australian businesses. Since assuming operational control in 2017, Tom has helped accelerate the growth of the business.

He has been responsible for the entire acquisition and retention infrastructure of Lawpath, including the project management of the website, the management of demand generation and development of its sophisticated nurture sequences. His contribution to Lawpath has seen the company win awards such

as the Legal Innovation Index, Anthill Smart 100 and Westpac Business of Tomorrow. In 2019, he was a recipient of the ‘One to Watch’ Award in the CMO50 and a finalist for ADMA’s Young Marketer of the Year award.

On what makes Tom a future leader in the marketing space, he says he strives to keep at the forefront of new technology in the marketing space. He says he is an advocate of continual learning and tactical experimentation, and encourage teams to avoid complacency in an ever-evolving marketing landscape.

Tom Willis Age: 29 Employer: LawpathPosition: Chief Marketing Officer

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Data-minded and people-loving. Measured yet experimental.

Smart and creative.Congratulations 30 Under 30.

INTELLIGENT IMAGINATION

Leona wasn’t an ‘A’ student. She didn’t go to university. She started out in her mum’s hairdressing salon, where she learned the power of communication and hard graft – using that to land her first gig in media as a sales rep. Later, she joined a brand agency, excelling to win two awards: ‘Rising Star’ and ‘People’s Champion’.

After a travel sabbatical, she joined a boutique agency in an omni-channel role. She decided she then wanted a challenge in the dynamic, complex realm of digital media at Initiative. She joined in 2018 as a Digital Manager, guiding the digital strategy on Officeworks.

2019 saw her selected for Initiative’s exclusive ‘APAC Pitch Academy’ in Bangkok. Later, she applied herself to lead the digital media strategy on two major pitches. Recently, she’s been nominated for Verizon’s ‘Rising Star Media Academy’.

Leona says a leader is not necessarily someone who holds rank, authority or experience over another, but rather eadership is a choice. She says a great leader understands their most profoundly held values and recognises the importance of ethical behaviour. They exhibit their core values and ethics in every word, in every action.

Leona Irvine Age: 29 Employer: Initiative Position: Associate Digital Director

Maddison “fell into media” at 21 after landing a job in NYC babysitting for the CEO of Standard Media Index. She was then hired as a data analyst, which gave her the foundation to take on her dream role at that time – a planning executive at a luxury agency. She was just 22 and architecting Bvlgari campaigns in New York.

Fast forward 8 years, she’s Initiative Sydney’s youngest Team Director. She manages Carnival, KPMG, LEGO and Revlon. Some of her highlights include: leading 8 new business pitches; growing her team whilst maintaining the highest employee engagement

scores in Sydney; and being named Campaign Asia’s APAC 40 Women to Watch. On what needs to be improve in the industry, Maddison says the industry is at a point of inflection.

She says the ‘good old days’ are giving way to a gender-equal, supportive and diverse industry.

For conditions to change for good, the industry needs to come together to give people the ability and psychological safety to affect change. She says the industry’s issues stem from treating people as machines versus valuable change agents that make a difference.

Maddison KeoghAge: 29Employer: Initiative Position: Director

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As an identical triplet, Tim’s life seems to be ruled by threes. He was an investment executive working on one brand. He then progressed to client manager working across a portfolio, and he is now a strategy director working across 7 clients.

He has won three medals in my career. Gold – Young Lions Competition Australia 2019; Silver – Young Lions Competition Australia 2015; Bronze – Young Spikes Media Asia Pacific 2015. And, he’s had three career highlights. His presentation for Young Lions was used by the GroupM CMO in

his training as the best in class example on how to tell stories in presentations. As strategic lead across Uber, Ebay and Gumtree, he has helped achieve the highest client rating scores ever on the accounts. And, his channel strategy on Uber Eats was picked up by the global CMO of Uber and deployed across 26 markets.

On whatm makes him a future leader, he says in the spirit of threes: he builds strong relationships, he is curious and open to trying new things and he is level-headed in a high-pressure, high-stress industry.

Tim Hull Age: 28Employer: MediaComPosition: Strategy and Planning Director

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James’ early career spanned a number of marcomms disciplines, including; event management (LOST Events) and experiential marketing (Red Guerrilla) before transitioning into a career in PR (Red Agency and Herd MSL) for the last five years. Recently, he’s led a step change in measurement, evaluation and insights for HerdMSL – pioneering the ROAR (results, outcomes, analysis and recommendations) framework for our clients.

His achievements in the business have been recognised by his appointment to the Publicis

Groupe’s Next Generation Board (NGB) and his internal appointment as HerdMSL Innovation Lead

James says Public Relations needs to improve in the area of measurement and evaluation to better demonstrate its value to marketing and procurement departments. He also says PR has an image problem, (and the irony of that isn’t lost on him). He says the challenge isn’t rooted in branding. James believes PR needs to improve the way it demonstrates the value of the work to both clients, and non-PR internal stakeholders.

James KeanAge: 28Employer: Herd MSLPosition: Innovation Lead Louise’s started her journey

at a Senior Account Executive level and worked to formally introduce the Content Unit in late 2018, at which point she also made my first hire to the Unit. The Content Unit drives clients to address the changing media consumption habits of consumers, so they can create and distribute personalised and integrated communications programs that go beyond traditional media relations.

In the 12 months since launching the Content Unit, she has won a retained

account and approximately 20 projects, and provide strategic counsel and content execution across all Hotwire account teams.

According to Louise, success is woven into her personal values—love, humour, and support. She says if she can excel in making those around her feel like they’re in a stable working environment, where they can rely on each other, and enjoy moments of humour and friendship, she considers that to be a successful day.

Louise Morrisey Age: 29 Employer: HotwirePosition: Content Director

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Maya uncovered a passion for health PR through internships at the Museum of Human Disease, Cosmax Prestige Brands and OneProfile Communications. She landed an Account Executive role at health PR agency Palin Communications, executing product launches, awareness/advocacy campaigns and medicine registrations/reimbursements.

Some of her key achievements include: Current Chair of the Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA)’s NSW ‘Young Guns’, Winner, Fundraising Campaign, PR Daily Nonprofit PR

Awards 2019, Highly Commended (National), Thought Leadership, PRIA Golden Targets 2019, Honourable Mention, Awareness Campaign, PR Daily Nonprofit PR Awards 2019, Winner, Consumer Campaign (NSW), PRIA Golden Targets 2018 and Winner, Best PR Campaign, PRIME Awards 2017.

Maya says what makes her a future PR leader is her mindset, award-winning work and passion for the industry. She is a strong advocate for the PR industry, and the value it delivers. She is also a big believer in celebrating the success of others and helping to develop their strengths.

Maya IvanovicAge: 27Employer: Palin Communications Position: Account Manager

Melanie’s passion for media started nearly 7 years ago at News Corp where she moved through roles in Sales for the Australian and Prestige Brands, gaining traction as an exec, then a team leader and finally into the digital team. It was here she found her calling in project management and process.

After four years, she moved upstairs to the News Life Media team, into a client solutions role, delivering integrated solutions for the WHIMNS network. A career highlight in this role was learning how to manage multiple stakeholder’s agendas between editorial, commercial and product on a deadline, whilst also not losing sight of what

consumers want to engage with. Melanie wore many hats in the role, which led her to her current role and journey at News, and the one she’s most proud of.

Melanie says she will know when she’s succeeded when she sees failure as a learning opportunity, an opportunity to solve problems, and deliver better outcomes. She says success isn’t just ticking boxes for a client, or setting a process and forgetting it. It’s about setting process and delivering. Melanie believes success is the ability to see failure, create something better out of it and deliver that message.

Melanie Ochmann Age: 29 Employer: News Corp Position: Senior Project Manager

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Melissa’s career has spanned across televised live commercial events with Nickelodeon, radio sales and implementation with Nova Entertainment. She currently works at Pedestrian Group. Across the last two years with Pedestrian, she’s worked across 65 integrated campaigns. She’s lead the ongoing partnership with Stan and helped launch their most prestigious Originals event.

Within her first 12 months at Pedestrian, she attained her senior role and was given the opportunity to train and mentor new starters. She was recently promoted as

the client lead to implement this same creativity and streamlined process within the Openair Cinema team.

On what needs to change in the industry, Melissa says the media industry has more than double the rate of anxiety than the national average, yet only 46% of workplaces in media have a mental health policy in place. Melissa believes processes and regulations need to be put into place and help create a safe place for young people in tge industry. She says it’s tiime to take action and start the wave of lowering the rate of mental illness and burn-out for the future generations.

Melissa Gray Age: 26 Employer: Pedestrian GroupPosition: Senior Creative Project Manager

Rebeccah began her work in communications following a fundraiser she organised for World Vision’s 40-hour famine while still in high school. When she graduated, she was approached by World Vision to apply for a communications role in their Youth Advocacy team – VGen. After working in not-for-profits for the best part of four years doing various social media and comms roles, she moved agency side. She was invited to join Kamber as a Client Executive specialising in project management and communications, and two years later she’s a Client Manager.

She’s managed projects of all sizes including an 8-month video production project

which saw Kamber producing 180 videos for the Spotlight Retail Group from start to finish. She’s managed the redevelopment of websites for both clients and Kamber, including the redevelopment of a portion of The Good Guys website.

On what makes her a future leader, she says it’s due to the work she’s done working in NFPs. She says being a leader in project management isn’t about making sure people know that it’s her project, budget and timeline. Rather, it’s about making sure that the work she does empowers people to work to the best of their ability while developing and supporting them as leaders in their own right.

Rebeccah ChurchwardAge: 23Employer: Kamber Position: Client Manager

Alicia’s career began six years ago in Brisbane when she secured a job as a Digital Sales Coordinator at Mi9, where she was soon promoted to an Account Executive. In this time, she was nominated as the Media-i QLD Digital Sales Person of the Year 2015 – the first time Mi9 had an Account Executive listed in Media-i. She was also part of the winning Sales Team of the Year. Five months later she accepted a promotion to Sales Executive, based in Sydney.

Within the year, she was recognised by her clients in winning Media-i NSW Digital Sales Person of the Year 2016. Since then, she has worked across several client groups where she has delivered growth for Nine Digital; progressing to Senior

Sales Executive, and in 2018 she was the youngest person in Nine Digital’s history to become a Group Business Manager.

Most recently Alicia was one of 16 women selected to take part in Nine’s leadership program, Women Leading at Nine, alongside female leaders across the country – some of whom are ten years plus Alicia’s senior. Alicia is also part of the team leading a project with UnLTd to integrate Nine’s charity partners into Nine’s sales culture.

On what needs changing in the industry, Alicia says it needs to be open to change, be agile and adaptable, and be able to come together to leverage the power of a united industry.

Alicia Doessel Age: 28 Employer: Nine Position: Group Business Manager After graduation, Rosie

got her first opportunity with London’s maverick design agency Williams Murray Hamm. Over 3 years she managed some of the agency’s biggest clients including Carlsberg, Morrisons and Castrol.

From here, she moved to The Agency of SomeOne where she led the global strategic relaunch of Merlin’s Madame Tussauds and SEALIFE making them the agency’s biggest clients to date. In 2018, the founding partners of SomeOne in London offered her the chance to build and manage the Sydney agency as Managing Partner. In 18 months, the agency has won 12 big, household name

clients such as Cancer Council, Hisense, Torrens University, HSBC and AMP and continues to grow throughout 2020.

On what defines success to her, Rosie aspires to reach a point in which she can dedicate more time to develop company culture, nurture the talents of the team and cultivate an even more enriching environment to work in. She believes it is important to make sure everyone feels there is a balance between doing great work and having fun, to make sure people feel fulfilled, are challenged by interesting projects and enjoy coming in to work every day.

Rosie BrennanAge: 29Employer: SomeOne Sydney Position: Account Director and Partner

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Suzi fell into advertising after planning to do journalism. She was selected by Leo Burnett from 200+ applications to the Communications Council Graduate Program. She rose through the ranks over 4 years at Leo’s working across huge national brands like BONDS, Peters Ice Cream, Jay Jays and Make-A-Wish.

She was then headhunted to progressive experience-led agency, Taboo, working across TAC, Telstra, SÜK Workwear, H&M, MECCA, WorkSafe and more. Some of her key achievements include account managing the research, creative refinement, digital development, school pilot program and launch of a tool to help end online bullying – reword. She also attended Cannes Lions in 2016 to

see this passion project recognized by the industry, and her projects have won awards across every major awards show including B&T, Webby Awards, One Show, ADFEST, WARC, Epica, IPA and Clio. In particular, reword was awarded 5 Effies and 11 Lions (2 gold in each), and 13 Spikes including Grand Prix for Good.

On what makes her a future leader, she says she’s been hearing she’ll be “the next CEO” for a long time. She says she loves being a ‘suit’. Rosie says ‘suits’ truly are the powerhouse of the agency; keeping everyone on track, informed, inspired, motivated, optimistic, and sometimes caffeinated. She also says she’s always been determined to make the places she works and inhabit better.

Suzi Williamson Age: 27 Employer: TabooPosition: Account Director At university, Max fell in love

with economics. So, he wanted to find a job where he could professionalise his passion for behavioural economics, enabling him to provide novel solutions to real world problems. He was offered an internship in AMPs product innovation team, but quickly realised his ambition was at odds with the conservative nature of the company.

A couple years down the road, he discovered creative strategy. He was working as a digital media consultant, when two strategists presented their award entry for Young Lions. It was at this moment, he knew he

had found his “thing”. In the 5 years that have passed, he’s refined his version of behaviour-led creativity has accomplished the following: NGEN Gold 2017 & 2019, Young Lions Australia Runner-Up, Miami Ad School “Top Dog”, Young Spikes Asia Finalist and launched a top 100 Australian business podcast on strategy called “Son Of A Pitch”.

On what good leadership is, Max says it means knowing you don’t have all the answers, all the time. He says good leadership is continuously learning from others… no matter how many Cannes Lions are in your trophy cabinet.

Max LearmontAge: 25Employer: M&C SaatchiPosition: Strategist

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Rebecca’s career path hasn’t been linear. She moved from investment (Mediacom) to digital sales (News Corp), to communications planning (Wavemaker) to strategy. In 2014 and 2016, she completed ADMA Creative School and AWARD School. In 2019, she co-created a small business, Smoggys, a brand of brightly patterned facemasks to raise money for the RFS.

Her achievements are eclectic; from supporting regional Australia by winning the national Boomtown competition (2019), to helping cancer charities by leading the strategy for award winning work ‘Dream Job’ for DreamLab App (2017,2018), to helping the bottom line of her agency by leading the strategy and presenting in 8 successful pitches.

These achievements have also helped raise her industry profile; being shortlisted in 4 young-achiever awards (2018-2019), being a top 5 media finalist in the Cannes Young Lions competition (2019), and being the only Wavemaker to win Wavemaker Of The Year…Twice (2016, 2019). This culminated in worldwide recognition, winning M&M Global’s Millennial Of The Year in 2019.

Rebecca defines success as having the audacity to behave like a Maverick among knockdowns and failures. She says it’s continuing to have self-belief, the courage to drive change, and the desire to continue to learn and improve. Success lies in the persistence and personal growth that happens behind achievements and wins.

Rebecca Drummond Age: 29 Employer: Wavemaker Position: Strategy Director Starting as a graduate

intern in GroupM’s mGrad Programme in late 2015, Thomas made it his mission to never allow his title or day-to-day role get in the way of sinking his teeth into an interesting problem. He was promoted rapidly through a number of media trading roles before 2018 saw him move into Mindshare’s strategy team, where in his first ever strategic response he designed a new retail media framework for Volvo that would help pave the way for the brand’s MFA Grand Prix a year later.

In March that same year, he received a nomination from Mindshare’s leadership team to a sit on GroupM’s shadow board, nCo (comprised of young leaders under 30 from across the country), and

was promoted to Chair after just 6 months. His proudest achievement through this role was co-authoring a new wellbeing strategy for the group.

2019 was his most prolific year yet, culminating in being named Mindshare’s “Purple Power Player of the Year”, with his strategy role first expanding to cover a national patch of clients and then an APAC audience planning remit for sister agency mSIX.

On the greatest challenge to the industry, Thomas says it is the current mental health crisis and a culture of stress, anxiety and burnout. He says the industry cannot continue to tolerate depresison, and a high staff churn rate as a result.

Thomas DaviesAge: 27Employer: Mindshare Position: Strategy Manager

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Cameron started his entrepreneurial journey by moving overseas at a young age. He found himself in Spain from 2015 where he worked on Superyachts to fund his UK venture “Now”, a dating app focused on real life interactions. He moved to London and raised $250k from angel investors, and boot strapped the startup to win the UK’s best dating app award in 2017.

Recognised by WeWork as an advocated entrepreneur in their co-working office in London. “Now”, was acquired by SCNG Corp in 2018. The same year he founded Appello, which services for clients globally, with more than 60 employees. The

company was voted as top 5 leaders in software development Australia, and top 100 globally. He’s regularly keynoted in San Fransisco, New York, Sydney, Brisbane and London.

Cameron says one of the biggest issues plaguing the industry at the moment is the focus on short-term gains. He says this means a lot of startup founders forget to focus on what will create real value for their customers in the long run. Yet he also believes as the technology ecosystem matures, much more sustainable and value-driven companies will continue to arise from ideas of fast money and overnight success.

Cameron Woodford Age: 26 Employer: Appello Position: Founder/CEO

As Director of Engineering at CHE Proximity, Hoang lead the engineering department consisting of 40 architects, developers, quality assurance consultants and marketing automation specialists.

Born in Vietnam, he started programming at the age of six. At 12-years-old, he was recognised by Vietnam’s Guinness Record as the youngest person to have received a professional certification from Microsoft, gold medal and a software patent from the World Intellectual Property Organisation (a specialised agency of the United Nations), and for competing in over ten national and international Information and Communications Technology competitions.

In 2011, he moved to Melbourne as an international student to complete a

Bachelor of Information Technology through a scholarship at La Trobe University. He was offered an Associate Lecturer position teaching Computer Intelligence, but some immigration issues led him to a career as a developer. From here, he worked his way up to become a solution architect at several agencies. Eventually, he became the Director of Engineering at CHEP and has helped with exponential department growth since he joined more than two years ago.

Hoang believes that ‘success’ is an ever-evolving state of mind. His own definition of success is not one big triumphant moment; he celebrates every small moment where technology is spread and applied to elevate lives. Success is being a part of that process.

Hoang NguyenAge: 28Employer: CHE Proximity Position: Director, Engineering

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Ranked 300 among 500,000 applicants in national entrance exam, Mohadeseh studied a bachelors and masters in engineering in one of the best universities in Iran with first class honours. She pursued a data-science consulting career at Arya-Hamrah for 2.5 years where she built up experience in delivering and leading data-science projects for clients from different industries such as finance and telecommunications.

She then decided to advance her skills in Artificial Intelligent (AI) technology by doing a PhD at University of Melbourne. She finished in just 2.2 years (which was record-breaking at School of Computing at UoM), while she was also a researcher at CSIRO, lecturing at university. She

became a mum at the same time. She decided to join Mondo, a subsidiary of AusNet Services in energy industry in May 2018. She is currently a practice lead and manager at corporate level, leading the data-science function. Mohadeseh built a team of 7 data scientists and engineers and initiated data-science community of practice to upskill the existing talent across the business.

On what makes her a future leader in tech, Mohadeseh says it’s her passion to make an impact. She has courage to challenge the norms, make an impact and inspire. And, she says over the course of her career, she has always advocated for empowering young professionals and women in tech.

Mohadeseh Ganji Age: 29 Employer: Mondo - AusNet ServicesPosition: AI and Advanced Analytics Practice Lead Manager

congratulationsto all the winners and thanks for watching

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