Tag: Empowered Women Awards 2023

Singapore – What started out as a series of inspiring exclusive conversations with remarkable women leaders in marketing has now sprung up to present a much larger platform to recognise the far-reaching influence of empowered female forces in the industry. 

‘Empowered Women Awards 2023’ is the inaugural awarding exercise of MARKETECH APAC for women leaders in the marketing industry from the APAC region. After months of rigorous nominations and a meticulous judging process, we’ve finally uncovered who amongst the impressive roster of leader nominees has stood out to be hailed as the winners of the Empowered Women Awards 2023.

On June 27, 2023, winners were finally announced through a virtual awarding ceremony. 

There had been five special categories that segmented winners into who the Empowered Women are in Marketing, Agency, Technology, Platforms, and SME.

Meanwhile, the event also served as an afternoon filled with learnings and engaging insights 

A fireside chat between Michelle Eve Guzman, marketing director of Cebu Pacific Air, and Simone Tam, group and creative chief executive officer of Dentsu Hong Kong, discussed inspiring the next generation of leaders and how women in the industry are levelling up their stewardship. 

An A-list-led panel discussion also saw women marketing leaders of top brands pooled together to talk about how female leaders in the industry are building high-impact brands from the ground up. 

Moderated by Eileen Ooi, CEO of Omnicom Media Group, the panel comprised Danielle Ong, head of East, Southeast Asia & ANZ at MessageBird; Winnie Tan, founder & CEO of TripZilla.com; and Neha Basin, director of brands communications at ZALORA Group. 

The group talked about comprehensive strategies for building a brand identity, fostering a culture of brand innovation, and ultimately, how leaders can drive their teams to achieve business goals. 

For the full list of the winners of the Empowered Women Awards 2023, check out the run-down below:

TOP WINNERS:

[In alphabetical order based on their last name]

  • Neha Bhasin, Director of Brand Communications at ZALORA Group, on using the influence of fashion to amplify voices in diversity and inclusion. Learn more about her achievements here. 
  • Patricia Freijo, the Vice President of Customer Growth at TrafficGuard, on widening the representation of women in tech, one empowered stride at a time. Learn how she weathered challenges in being a female voice here. 
  • Ayaan Mohamud, Regional Vice President of Marketing for APAC at impact.com, on leading the company through effective and results-driven strategies, as well as strengthening industry partnerships. Check out her leadership story here.
  • Simone Tam, Group & Creative CEO of Dentsu Hong Kong, on being at the forefront of a massive corporate restructuring in Adland. Read about her journey as an empowered female creative rising through the ranks to be regarded as one of the veterans here. 
  • Winnie Tan, Founder & CEO of TripZilla.com, on rebuilding the foundations of the business she once started from scratch. Read about how she cushioned the disruption of the pandemic on travel brands here.

ALL WINNERS: 

[In alphabetical order based on their last name]

  • Syahriza Badron, General Manager at FCB SHOUT, on being the agency’s driving force in securing new business wins and implementing creative experiences. Learn more of her business-forward leadership strategy here.
  • Geetha Boyani, Head of Performance at 2Stallions Digital Marketing Agency, on how she made the big career jump to bolster agency efficiency and productivity. Check out how her career transition empowered her leadership here.
  • Vianne Cai, Head of Marketing Solutions, LinkedIn China, on pioneering LinkedIn’s marketing solutions in the Chinese market. Read about her inspiring leadership journey here. 
  • Allison Chew, Head of PR, Brand and Marketing, AIA Singapore, on scaling the insurance company’s CSR initiatives with meaningful impact on both business growth and society. Learn how she directed its most successful advocacy-led campaigns here. 
  • May Chin, Head of Product – Growth, Experimentation & Analytics at ZALORA Group, and her quest to blend creative experiences into her product experience leadership. Learn how she employs these strategies to democratise female leadership internally in our story here.
  • Mikaela Crimmins, Head of Strategy & Experience at Orchard, on leading the company as a digital agency powerhouse through grit and inclusivity. Check out her various agency achievements and initiatives here.
  • Masayu Difa, Client Director for Indonesia at Lion & Lion, on building the digital brand voice of a top beauty brand in Indonesia. Find out how she’s able to lead the agency into continuous growth and success here.
  • Danielle Eleazar-Ocampo, Head of Marketing for New Verticals at foodpanda Philippines, on amplifying the brand beyond food delivery. Learn more about her achievements as a woman leader here.
  • How Juliana Reina Encarnado, Vice President and Head of Corporate Communications and PR of Converge ICT Solutions Inc., drove the company into a leading ISP provider via media share and marketing communications. Learn more of it here.
  • Heidi Hamester, Digital Design Lead of TASK, on using human-first creativity to bring forward martech solutions that enhance experience for brands and consumers. Learn how she’s able to leverage the power of visual communications as an empowered woman leader here.
  • Germaine Hendrik, Head of Marketing of APAC at Quantcast, on being a strong female representation in the world of adtech. Learn how she is helping drive business growth in the adtech platform all over APAC here. 
  • Heily Hindrea, Head of B2B Product at ZALORA Group, and how her B2B expertise empowers the company’s offering in the region. Check out her strategies here.
  • Jennifer Lee, Beverage Marketing Lead of PepsiCo Malaysia, on being the leader behind the beverage brand’s most engaging and successful campaigns. Learn how passion for marketing led her to becoming the empowered woman leader she is today here. 
  • Joanne Lim, Head of Marketing of Virgin Active Singapore, and her ‘jack-of-all-trades’ leadership strategy to bring back Virgin Active Singapore into recovery: Learn more of these strategies here.
  • Claudia Low, Regional Creative Content Director of Lion & Lion, on shaping the brand voice of the marketing agency. Learn how she’s breaking stereotypes by being the only female leader in her role here. 
  • Katherine Ng, Managing Director of TZ APAC, on being a strong female force in the industry of tech. Learn how she is actively contributing to the industry discourse on Web3 here. 
  • Sybil Ng, Account Director for Asia at Quantcast, on braving the wave of media industry hardships and rising to change business challenges: More on her journey here.
  • Katie Nguyen, Senior Regional Marketing Manager for Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines at Insider on implementing critical contributions to help Insider’s status as a B2B unicorn company: Check out the contributions here.
  • Amelia Peng, Business Director of Malaysia at Lion & Lion, and her quest in extending range of services for its agency service portfolio: Learn more how she achieved positive results here.
  • Nattarach Pongpipattnakul, Senior Marketing Manager of Tyson APAC, Tyson Foods International APAC, and how she is using her leadership to accelerate brand awareness for Tyson: Check out what she has achieved here.
  • Jessica Faye Tan, Head of Marketing at Moneymax, on elevating the brand to promote local financial literacy content and advice. You can check out how she did it here.
  • Lisa Tan, Head of Sales at Carousell Media Group, on being a forward-looking sales leader through innovative ideas in order to boost the advertising arm’s sales processes and efforts. Check out here story here.
  • Jirava Virayavardhana, Chief Executive of Ogilvy Thailand, on being a veteran at one of the top advertising agencies and sustaining longevity in leadership. Learn about her four principles in people management here. 
  • Livia Wang, Chief Brand Officer of Access Brand Co, on how her vision and innovation sets her apart from the crowd and within the company. Check her story here.

Syahriza Badron, the general manager of FCB SHOUT, has been named as one of the winners of ‘Empowered Women in Agency’ category at MARKETECH APAC’s inaugural recognition initiative for women leaders in the industry, Empowered Women Awards 2023.

Badron’s journey to the top leadership at the agency started off with her joining as an account director in 2014 and then climbing to the role of head of business development in 2020. She then ended 2020 with a promotion to general manager, where she is responsible for driving the agency’s exponential growth.

Spearheading agency success through active networking and leadership

When the industry thinks of a certain agency, more often than not, they associate easily with those who founded it and have been in the agency for the longest. But few know other influential figures behind the agency, who have been instrumental in pushing the company towards success in the industry.

This was the case for Badron, often referred to as the “other S” in FCB Shout. Whilst founders Shaun and Shi Ping concentrate on bolstering FCB Shout’s reputation, Badron is committed to taking the agency to new heights of success.

Such drive was exemplified by her desire to never rest on the agency’s current achievement and instead reach much higher levels. For her,  relying solely on the existing client roster is insufficient to achieve the agency’s ambitious goals. Amidst uncertainty in the advertising world, she spearheaded efforts to acquire new clients.

She further added that with acquiring clients now likened to a competitive battlefield, she knows that providing excellent work is only a part of the equation and that it is crucial to deliver solutions tailored to meet her client’s business and financial needs to win pitches.

This has then resulted in a massive win for the agency in 2022, where she led the team in securing business wins from clients such as Sunlife, Casio, Amway, Sacoor Blue, DKSH, Mr DIY, Allianz, AIG, and Pepsi, amongst others. Moreover, the agency–under her leadership–has won several industry awards as well as expanding its workforce and improving employee compensation and benefits.

In summary, her leadership has been nothing short of exceptional, as demonstrated by the agency’s stellar reputation, impressive business performance, and strong company culture, making it one of the most respected creative agencies in Malaysia.

People before profit: The guiding principle of true leadership

Despite all of these business wins and positive news, Badron still believes in the principle of ‘people before profit’ in her leadership. This is why under her leadership, she focuses as well on offering a range of incentives and benefits to talents in the agency.

With this in mind, the agency managed to reduce staff turnover by 22% and received a 97.5% confidence rating in FCB SHOUT’s future from the annual staff happiness survey.

Moreover, she has built both a career and a reputation as a fierce leader, which has been exemplified by her successes in leading clients to achieve their business goals through the development and implementation of effective communications strategies during her tenures at international and local boutique agencies.

“You’re going to encounter people who straight-up say “no” to your face. Keep pushing forward, keep hustling and keep believing in yourself and eventually, those “nos” will turn into “yeses”, she said.

Advocacy for the industry through engagements

Badron remains committed to promoting the advertising industry exemplified by her active involvement in various industry events and initiatives, including speaking engagements, and thought leadership publications. 

She also hosted a content marketing workshop, which saw 150 regional marketers in attendance, as well as providing valuable insights on brands tapping into the ‘Hijrah movement’ or the travel of Muslims to the holy city of Mecca for pilgrimage, and how brands are responding to these new type of conservative consumers.

Check out who else made it to Empowered Women Awards 2023 Winners’ list.

Neha Bhasin, ZALORA Group’s director of brand communications, is named as one of the recipients of the ‘Empowered Women in Platforms’ award. MARKETECH APAC’s Empowered Women Awards 2023 is the inaugural recognition exercise by the digital media to laud outstanding women marketing leaders in the industry. 

Neha’s tenure with the SEA-focused e-commerce platform hasn’t been very long, but her expertise and talent in brand marketing enabled her to quickly establish her reputation as an effective and excellent leader. Prior to joining the ZALORA team, she was notably at the helm of Amazon India’s marketing business. 

From art director to strategic marketer 

Neha’s successful career as a marketer dates back to a solid ground in art and content direction. Not originally manoeuvring within the business side of marketing, she used her passion for creative content to expand her horizons as a professional. 

Originally hailing from India, the woman leader got her start in the Indian franchise of top fashion and lifestyle magazines such as Marie Claire, Maxim, and Cosmopolitan. During her time with renowned editorial titles, she shaped their visual style and voice and was even recognised in award-giving bodies for delivering exceptional cover layout and design. 

Using her prowess and experience in art direction, she forayed into the world of e-commerce where she would seal her mark in brand marketing.

Prior to landing her role in Southeast Asia’s biggest fashion marketplace – ZALORA – she secured leading positions to helm the brand solutions and marketing as well as creative content of two top e-commerce platforms, both in the local and international scene: India’s largest fashion e-commerce company, Myntra-Jabon, and Amazon India.

A track record of driving ROI

Since joining ZALORA in 2021, Neha has been hitting it home in both business growth and brand communications through the creative marketing campaigns she’s led. 

One of them would be ZALORA’s celebration of its 10th birthday, the ‘Tentastic’ campaign. Aside from marking the anniversary of the platform, the campaign was developed with the objective of growing and sustaining engagement with Millennials and Gen Z consumers. 

Said campaign achieved a 2% increase in ‘add to cart’ rate and a 122% increase in ‘app installation’ rate which drove app installation growth of 49%. 

Another successful campaign under her direction is the ‘ZALORAYA’ 2022. 

In the said year, when the vibrancy of Hari Raya festivities was being brought back to life, Neha spearheaded the trailblazing ZALORAYA campaign, which didn’t only share excitement and nostalgic sentiment amongst consumers, but also served as an instrument to further move the needle in inclusivity. Through the campaign, categories of modest and ethnic wear – which are not usually seen in mainstream fashion – went live on the ZALORA platform. 

Banking on hands-on leadership 

Handling teams that are still fairly young, Neha practices a hands-on approach to leadership and believes that by doing so, she’s able to empower and nurture members in intelligently exercising their creative talent and generating trailblazing ideas. 

Despite the diverse career history she’s had, she makes sure her most valuable principles in people management remain intact. One of these is not ceasing to treat talent as the company’s most valuable asset. 

Neha never misses the opportunity to recognise her team’s hard work by constantly attributing campaign successes to them – which would not have been possible without sound collaboration and strong ownership of outcomes that she has firmly reinforced. 

At the end of the day, her measuring stick of good leadership is when she’s able to encourage her circle of influence in directing their agencies and capabilities to meaningful aims that would benefit everyone on a larger scale.

“An empowered woman is a Force for Good – someone who strives to explore possibilities, who leads, learns and guides others in pursuit of enacting positive change,” commented Neha.
 
Aside from Neha, learn more who’s made it to MARKETECH APAC’s Empowered Women Awards 2023 Winners’ list.

Lisa Tan, Carousell Media Group’s head of sales, bags an award at the Empowered Women Awards 2023 to be recognised as one of the ‘Empowered Women in Platforms’. The inaugural recognition exercise by MARKETECH APAC aims to laud outstanding women marketing leaders in the industry. 

Lisa’s addition to Carousell’s advertising arm in 2022 is a comeback for the leader as she served the company within an accounts role for three years from 2018 – 2021. Aside from Carousell, she brings with her experience in business development in companies such as ZomWork and EternityX. 

Helping advertisers to be at the right place & time 

Even though Lisa will only be just completing her first year with the Carousell Media Group team, she has already led several notable projects and campaigns that have contributed to the success of the company. One of these is the launch of the Carousell Shopping Ads in late 2022. 

Carousell Shopping Ads is the company’s solution that provides the most relevant ads to consumers via an optimised product feed triggered by the consumer’s search queries on Carousell’s marketplaces, giving an efficient and effective way for advertisers to boost traffic to their e-commerce stores. For this, Lisa developed a sales strategy to expand its reach to clients. 

Lisa is a forward-looking sales leader where she’s able to introduce innovative ideas in order to boost the advertising arm’s sales processes and efforts. Through her help, she’s able to put forth lead-generating strategies such as ‘comparison’ of other existing products in order to illustrate Carousell Media Group’s strengths in harnessing product searches.

Leading a regional sales team 

As head of sales of the advertising arm which has a regional presence, Lisa’s leadership remit, at the onset, is far and wide-reaching. 

One perfect example was when she helped untangle a challenge experienced by the Philippines team, which is hindering them to work smoothly with other sales teams. As a leader, she believes that success is achieved through a culture of innovation and collaboration.

Amidst being based in the company’s headquarters in Singapore, Lisa helped grow the value of transparency and accountability within the regional teams of Hong Kong and the Philippines to ensure the company’s state of business in these markets is on the path to sustainable success. 

An empowered woman willing to pay back 

For Lisa, being an empowered woman leader in the industry would be a lost cause if she’s not able to help build the same level of transformational confidence in other women. With this, mentorship is one of her non-negotaible aims as a leader. 

Her team comprises 70% female employees and as the head of her department, she doesn’t waste opportunities to nurture and take the charge in helping her female staff flourish in their expertise. 

Lisa’s mentorship and support have been especially important in the tech industry, where women are still underrepresented. Her efforts have helped to take steps forward in breaking down barriers and creating opportunities for women to excel and thrive in the industry. 

“Mentoring female leaders is deeply personal to me as I stand on the shoulders of all the mentors who have supported me. I want to help more women leaders to get a seat at the table so that they have a chance to let their amazing work speak for itself,” commented Lisa.

Aside from Lisa, check out who else snared a spot in the Empowered Women Awards 2023 Winners’ list.

Winnie Tan, the CEO and founder of digital media for travel, TripZilla.com, is the winner of our ‘Empowered Women in SME’. MARKETECH APAC’s Empowered Women Awards 2023 is its first-ever dedicated awarding initiative to laud outstanding women marketing leaders in the industry. 

Winnie has always been a passionate traveller and this led her to building Travelogy.com, even before she founded the well-renowned industry digital media platform, TripZilla. The former is the foundation for the latter, where Travelogy.com builds travel portals and tools for travellers in Southeast Asia.

Prior to being the entrepreneur that she is today, Winnie boasts a diverse experience, serving several companies within the capacity of sales and partnerships. 

Picking up the broken pieces of ‘travel’ from the pandemic 

Winnie’s passion for travel and media led her to build the TripZilla platform, but little did everyone would know in the industry that brands would be hitting a massive roadblock and have everything collapse. 

In 2022, two years after the global pandemic and when everything is slowly going back to normal, Winnie found herself rolling up her sleeves again and putting back the pieces of TripZilla she once built from scratch in 2010. 

With endurance and resilience, Winnie directed her team to rebuild the products that were once removed from the digital travel media during the pandemic. 

Even more so, with a reach of over 20 million monthly, TripZilla wanted to take an active role in the resumption of travel. Winnie managed to expand the team, revive processes and grow sales numbers, and eventually, steered the company back into profitability by the end of the year.

Tenacity at a time of unpredictable industry pivots 

Winnie has always been a tenacious leader, but the catastrophic events over the last three years demanded more of this grit from the woman leader. 

She is determined to keep the team together and things going regardless of the circumstances. Even from the very beginning, Winnie did not sit through the changes despite the fear in uncertainty, but instead, had adopted a bias towards action. 

The digital media had four localised websites, namely for TripZilla Philippines, TripZilla Indonesia, TripZilla Malaysia, and TripZilla Singapore. As early as February 2020, Winnie pivoted the editorial direction of each of the platforms. These media properties focused on ‘Culture’ and ‘Domestic Experiences’, where the team also bravely innovated to work with brands, even outside travel.

Under Winnie’s leadership, TripZilla adapted quickly as the situation evolved and as a result, had a greater range of clients now both from Travel and non-Travel.

Learn-master-teach

As a leader, Winnie operates by the principle of ‘Learn-master-teach’. Even more so within oneself, she believes that effective leaders must make the effort to spread the wisdom of this approach as well as one’s other learnings from being in a position of leadership. 

Being at the helm of her own founded business, she uses her experience and knowledge to ‘mentor’ both on an audience-level and personal scale. 

Winnie is a welcomed speaker at conferences and is often asked to comment on issues related to travel, marketing, and entrepreneurship. As a startup founder and experienced technopreneur herself, Winnie is a mentor at hackathons at events like WebinTravel Startup Pitch and Startup Weekend Singapore.

She purposefully carves time and space to do these as she believes access to a mentor is important for those with aspirations to progress to leadership roles. In today’s time where there continues to be a glass ceiling to be broken, women in business especially need role models to guide them and be their sounding boards. 

“There is a glaring underrepresentation of women at the C-level. It is time to create a change and companies must actively empower women to assume executive roles,” Winnie remarked.

Aside from Winnie, check out who else made it to Empowered Women Awards 2023 Winners’ list.

Germaine Hendrik, the marketing lead of adtech Quantcast for APAC, is one of the winners of ‘Empowered Women in Tech’ at MARKETECH APAC’s Empowered Women Awards 2023. The awarding exercise is an inaugural effort by the digital media to recognise the outstanding women marketing leaders in the industry. 

Germaine is a seasoned marketer with a diverse roster of experience working with top companies Standard Chartered and Isentia Strategy & Content. She joined Quantcast in 2020 as a marketing specialist, and within only 2 years, was elevated twice. Currently, she helms the marketing of the adtech firm for the whole of APAC region. 

Handling a 2-person team to answer to region-wide marketing remit 

Germaine’s responsibility when she was appointed as the APAC marketing lead of Quantcast in 2022 had a unique challenge – with 8 different markets covered by the adtech in APAC, she only had two people under her team to manage its marketing business in the region. 

Nevertheless, this didn’t stop her from leading the company to achieve remarkable marketing initiatives. From events, to content, and digital marketing, Germaine was able to leverage the team’s capabilities to deliver communication strategies at a diverse range. 

Under her direction, the team was able to deliver flagship content that drove an increase of 7000 new customers via the Quantcast website and over 1000 high-quality leads for sales. Amongst her other key contributions, through 14 owned and sponsored events, Quantcast was able to reach over 300,000 customers and prospects in the wider marketing industry. 

Ultimately, despite the small headcount, she was able to lead Quantcast’s marketing team to drive USD7.9mil in marketing-generated revenue across APAC. 

A data-driven leader for the new-era marketing 

Quantcast as a first and foremost data company would demand from Germaine a consistent leadership approach that is agile and forward-looking with a data-driven strategic foresight. Needless to say, this is the kind of leader Germaine had been. 

Germaine says that part of being the head of marketing in such kind of business is being able to use data to make decisions that aren’t just for marketing, but for other departments that marketing touches. With this, she needs to be a marketing visionary in order to be in tandem with trends that constantly work in advanced ways.

“This means that I need to always have a clear vision for the region I manage and be able to communicate it to my team, and hold them accountable for the strategies I devise,” she says. 

In line with this, she also believes that the value of resilience is extremely important. Adapting to new trends and challenges takes a resilient approach, particularly to keep one’s team motivated and moving forward. 

“This includes navigating the recent economic downturn, changes in data privacy regulations and directions in the business as a result,” added Germaine.

Taking the charge in diversity and inclusion 

As an empowered woman leader, Germaine goes out of her way to ensure that diversity and inclusion are actively practised within her team and the company. 

On a regular basis, Germaine reviews her team’s performance and ensures that they have access to opportunities for career advancement, promotions, and pay where relevant with company policies. She also makes the effort to eliminate potential bias that may be at play by having active participation in all company processes. 

As part of the leadership team in APAC, she sits in on at least one interview during the hiring process for any individual, not just the ones hired for marketing. She believes that having a presence in these processes helps her to contribute to the elimination of gender bias in recruitment, and helps the hiring managers establish objective criteria for performance. 

In moving the needle in women empowerment, Germaine, most especially, is an active member of the Quantcast Women’s network. Through this platform, she uses her knowledge and skills to help provide women in the business with the training and support they need to succeed in a wide variety of roles. 

“When women succeed at the workplace, so do men, and vice-versa. True equality is when people are celebrated for their successes, not their gender,” remarked Germaine. 

Aside from Germaine, check out who else made it to Empowered Women Awards 2023 Winners’ list. 

Katherine Ng, the managing director of web3 ecosystem builder TZ APAC, snares the award as one of the winners of ‘Empowered Women in Tech’. MARKETECH APAC’s Empowered Women Awards 2023 is an inaugural awarding exercise by the digital media to recognise outstanding women marketing leaders in the industry. 

It hasn’t been very long since Katherine joined the Singapore-headquartered company, TZ APAC. Nevertheless, her leadership, driven by her seasoned expertise in marketing and tech, has allowed her to deliver relevant contributions not just to the company but to the whole industry. 

Starting out as TZ APAC’s Head of APAC Marketing and Operations in 2020, she has been elevated to currently assume the leading role of managing director. 

Going up the stage to deepen Web3 industry knowledge 

As much as Katherine is laser-focused on deepening the discourse of Web3 within her own network at TZ APAC, she makes sure that at the industry level, she grabs opportunities to speak to a wider audience and expand the conversation and circulation of knowledge on Web3. 

At the well-renowned convention, Singapore Fintech Festival, in 2022, Katherine took the Global Plenary stage. She was also one of the talking heads at a high-level roundtable which comprised influential figures to discuss the latest Web3 affairs, speaking about building resilient web3 companies and communities in APAC. 

In other commendable ways, Katherine pushes the needle in expanding the rich ecosystem of Web3. Behind the launch of the TZ APAC Tezos Incubator program in 2022 is Katherine’s contribution and leadership. The program aimed to support blockchain and Web3 startups in the region.

Putting a premium on ownership 

With an intricate and complex nature of work such as Web3, Katherine honours the need for a team to have the freedom to explore and be creative. With this, she encourages the value of ownership as a leader. 

With a track record of achieving business objectives, Katherine is highly results-driven and holds herself and the team accountable for delivering on their commitments. She encourages those around her to be innovative and entrepreneurial in their approach which, in turn, led to the development of new solutions that have driven growth for the company. 

Her unique touch in relationships also makes her unique as a leader. She possesses effective communication skills and a talent for articulating complex ideas in a clear and concise manner; this has helped her build strong relationships with clients and partners.

Continuing to create strides for women in the tech world 

Tech continues to be a male-dominated industry and her presence as a leader in this area serves as a testament that gender diversity and inclusion are essential for a company’s growth and success. Her leadership style and results-driven approach have helped pave the way for women in the industry. 

One of her notable achievements as an industry ally is becoming a board member at ACCESS Singapore, which is a blockchain association committed to being a collective industry voice for regulators and its members. Within this role, she advocated for greater transparency by rallying a blockchain-based e-voting solution developed by Electis to vote in new board members that include leading voices across Southeast Asia’s blockchain ecosystem. 

Moving forward, Katherine is committed to embracing equity more than equality. The concept of equality states that all people receive the same opportunities and resources. In order to achieve inclusive, diverse, and equitable outcomes, equity acknowledges that every person has a unique starting place in life and works to equalize access to resources and opportunities. 

“At TZ APAC, we celebrate women empowerment — encouraging women in the workplace to be confident, speak up, and believe in their sense of worth,” remarked Katherine. 

“At TZ APAC, we do our best to celebrate women empowerment in the workplace and encourage women to speak up, be confident, and believe in their sense of worth,” she added. 

Aside from Katherine, check out who else made it to the Empowered Women Awards 2023 Winners’ list. 

Masayu Difa, client director at Lion & Lion Indonesia, has been named as one of the ‘Empowered Women in Agency’ at MARKETECH APAC’s Empowered Women Awards 2023. The awarding exercise is an inaugural effort by the digital media to recognise the outstanding women marketing leaders in the industry. 

Masayu began her journey with Lion & Lion in Indonesia as its client lead in 2019. After 2 years in the position, she was elevated to become the agency’s associate client director, and in 2022, inaugurated in her present role as client director. 

The force behind L’Oreal’s highly engaging digital presence 

Since acquiring the digital marketing business of global beauty brand L’Oreal in Indonesia, digital agency Lion & Lion has been making waves in establishing and expanding its social media presence in the market. One of the leaders behind its success is Masayu Difa. 

Masayu led the team in expanding the L’Oreal brand portfolio in Indonesia where from Maybelline solely operating in the market in 2019, it has been widened to add three more in 2021 – L’Oreal Paris, Garnier, and NYX. Add to this, one of the marketing leader’s major accomplishments was securing La Roche Posay, L’Oréal’s science-forward skincare brand, as a client the year after. 

Masayu’s strategic marketing foresight and creative expertise enabled her to drive the team in successfully launching Maybelline New York’s and Garnier’s TikTok accounts, as well as L’Oreal Paris’ new social media presence. Her effective leadership resulted in Maybelline achieving the impressive milestone of 1 million followers six months ahead of schedule, along with an impressive 11.4 million likes. Garnier also made significant progress, garnering 465k followers and 5.5 million likes in just seven months.

A Biology graduate making her way to the creative world

Masayu’s roots are as interesting as it gets. With a successful career in the marketing world, no one would have known, right off the bat, that her area of focus back in college is Biology. But by following her genuine passion for advertising and marketing, she was able to propel herself to milestones within the field that eventually got her to where she is now. 

Fresh out of college in 2010, Masayu didn’t wait a sec and immediately sank her teeth in account management in the creative industry. Her original academic background didn’t stop her from braving some of the most high-impact teams, and in turn, made her secure a seat in well-renowned agencies such as Geometry Global, McCann Worldgroup, and Grey Group.

She has been able to excel in the area through hard work and dedication, and her commitment to continuous learning and growth is what enabled her to attain her current success in Lion & Lion as one of its respected and notable leaders. 

A leader who isn’t afraid to ‘get dirt’ on her hands 

According to Masayu’s team, she is a leader that has a bias for action – both in managing herself and in leading her team. She banks on the practical approach, where she’s truly hands-on and leads her team by example. 

In the words of John Campbell-Bruce, the regional managing director of Lion & Lion, “she is the person who gets in there, and gets things done, and she would never ask her team to do something that [she] herself would not do.” Masayu leads with a sense of purpose and direction, inspiring her team to perform at their best and achieve their goals.

One of the key qualities admirable in her is her ability to set clear expectations and empower her members to grow and develop. The team can vouch for Masayu that she fosters a culture of openness and transparency, where the team feels comfortable sharing their ideas and feedback, leading to increased collaboration and innovation.

Masayu reminds, “Be yourself, without worrying about judgement. Your authentic self is one of the most valuable assets you can offer to your work, in addition to your expertise and skill sets.”

Aside from Masayu, check out who else made it to Empowered Women Awards 2023 Winners’ list.

Simone Tam, the Group & Creative CEO of Dentsu in Hong Kong, clinches an award to be one of MARKETECH APAC’s ‘Empowered Women in Agency’. The recognition initiative, Empowered Women Awards 2023, is an inaugural effort to honour empowered women leaders in the industry. 

Simone is an advertising and marketing veteran, having started her journey in agencies way back in the 90’s. Her creative expertise is nothing short of commendable as she sharpened her agency prowess with some of the most respectable firms. Her early career saw her serving in FCB and then the DDB Group. She spent a number of years at mcgarrybowen before finally landing her current position at Dentsu Hong Kong.

Distilling 13 creative outfits into an integrated division of 6

From the period of 2012 to 2019, Dentsu, the renowned global advertising agency network, began an aggressive growth journey where it made more than 200 acquisitions, twice the trajectory in the market. Whilst the group was continuously acquiring new talents, it became a compilation of many different companies working in silos. For Hong Kong, this meant 13 individual agencies.

The said agencies all had different management teams with 13 P&Ls, all operating without any relationship to one another. Enter Simone in the picture. In 2021, her focused leadership as one of the CEOs of the 13 units quickly escalated when she was tapped to be the Group CEO of the entire Hong Kong division. 

The year 2021 saw Simone driving the network’s transformation agenda and restructuring the organisation into six agencies; most importantly, she created a single leadership team and one P&L across the group of 6 agencies. In 2022, for the first time ever, Dentsu Hong Kong was ready to operate as one integrated agency group.

Operationalising a growth strategy – one that’s sustainable 

There’s growth, then there’s sustainable growth. The former is less elusive given the right mindset of a team, but the latter – much more challenging to achieve with the incredible need for strategic foresight. With Simone’s impressive leadership direction and approach, she’s built a team structure for Dentsu Hong Kong that is thriving and sustainable. 

She knows that in order for talents and clients to be well taken care of, value must be afforded from the inside. Just like with any great culture, the building blocks are effective practices — and this is exactly where she drew her influence from.

To breathe life into the ‘one dentsu’ vision, Simone leveraged town halls, sharing sessions, and workshops in order to create excitement for employees for the said company maxim. In addition, she scheduled bi-weekly one-on-one sessions with all 14 direct reports to share leadership wisdom and ensure alignment with management. 

Ultimately, she fortified this unity in leadership and shaped a high-performing culture by introducing the ‘Care to do Better’ motto to the entire organization This eventually turned into practice that awarded teams and individuals who championed their ‘Care to do better’ attitude.

Empowering the industry as a true advertising ally 

Simone’s passion and expertise for advertising transcends her drive to perform excellently in one entity, but to contribute to the betterment and evolution of the entire industry.

For the past six years, she sat on City University’s Advisory Committee for the Graduates Program to provide career guidance and design internship programs for undergraduates. As a guest lecturer at HKU Business School, she taught in its MBA class on creative effectiveness.

More notably, because of her belief in the power of the industry to create meaningful influence and change society, together with her creative partner, she led a 100% pro-bono project that produced a game helping autistic children build social & problem-solving skills.

With insights gathered from autism advocates, parents, therapists, and educators, the project ‘Critical Core’ enabled players to develop and adopt a magical character and work through a series of encounters with teammates whilst role-playing the adopted persona.

She commented, “I believe every industry, every leader needs to work on women empowerment until glass ceiling is no longer a term we use.”

Aside from Simone, check out who else made it to Empowered Women Awards 2023 Winners’ list.

Allison Chew, the head of PR, Brand, and Marketing at AIA Singapore, is recognised at MARKETECH APAC’s Empowered Women Awards 2023 as one of our ‘Empowered Women in Marketing’.

Since 2020, Allison has been spearheading the PR, Brand, and Marketing department of AIA Singapore, a leading life insurer in Singapore. Her rich professional background combines experience from both the client and agency sides – giving her a holistic understanding of the PR, brand, and marketing spectrum. Allison has led the marketing teams of some of the biggest corporations in Singapore, such as Singtel. Meanwhile, on the agency side, she has previously worked at acclaimed international agencies, Dentsu and McCann Worldgroup.

Developing brand campaigns with a heart

AIA Singapore’s brand promise is enabling people to live ‘Healthier, Longer, Better Lives’. Beyond the brand and communications objective of its marketing campaigns to remain top-of-mind amongst consumers, Allison has developed innovative initiatives to engage Singaporeans with genuine social advocacy in mind.

One of her notable achievements is scaling up the brand’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives by launching creative and impactful campaigns, resulting in business growth, increased engagement, and loyalty. Recognising the potential to strengthen AIA’s commitment to social responsibility, Allison launched the AIA Better Lives Fund in 2021, strategically consolidating the company’s diverse CSR initiatives into a unified entity.

One such remarkable initiative under AIA Better Lives Fund was the ‘Grant-A-Wish’ campaign. Leveraging the popularity of football in Singapore, Allison led her team in partnering with Tottenham Hotspur Football Club (Spurs) players by auctioning their match-worn shirts and exclusive merchandise and featuring them in a social challenge – The AIA Header Challenge – on Instagram and TikTok. These activities generated over 3.6 million engagements across Facebook and Instagram and raised about S$100,000.

Amongst other significant campaigns under her helm was the launch of the AIA Green Pledge of S$5 million in 2021 to the National Parks Board’s (NParks) registered charity, Garden City Fund. This initiative would see the planting of 16,666 trees in Singapore’s parks and nature reserves over five years, making AIA’s contribution towards more green spaces across the city to the OneMillionTrees movement and Garden City Fund’s Plant-A-Tree programme the largest by an organisation to date.

Nurturing consumers’ passions

One of the challenges of marketing a brand within the insurance space is making such a complex industry understandable and relatable to customers.

Under Allison’s leadership, AIA Singapore was able to embrace its inherent brand character while remaining adaptable to consumers’ needs. Allison led the team by ensuring their ears were kept on the ground, constantly listening to consumers’ needs and passions. With Singaporeans being fervent football fans, Allison identified the opportunity to leverage AIA’s football assets given its global principal partnership with Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, building stronger relationships and positive associations between the brand and its customers and community.

By leveraging football, Allison spearheaded the development of engaging campaigns and experiences that allowed the audience to connect with AIA on a more relatable level, which is fundamental in forging brand affinity and positive reputation building. These campaigns established a compelling and dynamic brand image that also differentiated AIA from its competitors. Allison’s leadership and strategic thinking have played a pivotal role in positioning AIA as a forward-thinking insurer that leverages sports to connect with audiences.

With this strategy, Allison launched a series of CSR initiatives with football as their theme, under the wider AIA Better Lives Fund umbrella. Aside from the ‘Grant A Wish’ campaign, Allison also elevated AIA Singapore’s flagship fundraising initiative, ‘AIA Better Lives Charity Golf and Dinner” in September 2022, by inviting Teddy Sheringham, a Spurs legend, to participate in a breakfast session with the media followed by the golf tournament and charity dinner event.

In a similar vein, Allison leveraged AIA’s partnership with Tottenham Hotspur Football Club with the support of its International Development Coaches in the AIA Kids’ Football Clinics, which encouraged children and their families to live healthier, more active lives. Through its partnership with Spurs, AIA Singapore was able to use sports as an anchor – which correlates to its Healthier, Longer, Better Lives brand promise. This contributed to the AIA Better Lives Fund, administered by the Community Chest, which aims to create greater access to opportunities for education, growth, and development of its beneficiaries. This has highlighted AIA Singapore’s authenticity as a brand that is committed to promoting healthy living and doing good for the wider community.

An empathetic and empowered leader

Allison leads by genuine empathy, treating her team members as individuals with unique talents and invaluable perspectives. Her leadership is guided by mentorship, paving the way for her team to achieve success on a professional and personal level.

Under her guidance, the team thrived in an environment where they are engaged and empowered to do their best. As a result, her team members have grown to be recognised as experts in their fields. By leading with empathy and purpose, Allison is a mentor and a friend to her team. She has made a lasting impact not only on the people who have personally worked with her, but also on the company as a whole.

“As a woman leader at AIA Singapore, I’m inspired by our diversity-focused culture and my fellow female colleagues, who always strive for excellence, and are never afraid to speak up,” remarked Allison.

Check out who else made it to the Empowered Women Awards 2023 Winners’ list.